The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1914-11-19
The HUMAN HEART
Work CT This Marvellous TWOfoId
Pumping Machine.
HAS a LANGUAGE OF ITS OWN.

In Tones That Cannot Be Misunder-
stood II Tells Whether It Is Strong
or Weak and if AiIirg Notes the
Place and Cause of Its Troubles.
When the doctor puts his ear to your
chest or applies the stethoscope. which
only conducts the sounds more clearly.
what does he hear: The sound of
the normal heart is like the prOnuncia-
ton of he syllables "lub-dup' close to
each otter. These syllableS are heard
in quick succession, and then comes
a pause-the diaStole or resting period
of the great force pump. The sound
Tub" is that of the blood flown"
out under muscular pressure. and the
dup is the closing of the aortic
valves If this sound dup is not
heard 1t shows that the aOrtic valves
are destroyed or not working
The latest explanation of this first
sound. Tub" is that it is caused by
the muscular contraction of the heart
and the impulse of the heart against
the chest wall. The first sound is
heard more clearly over the apex Of
the heart. the point of the chest near
est to the ventricle. The second sound
is best heard over the aortic valves
which lie beneath the left side Of the
chest just by the third rib
If you close door with great force
the slam is very loud. and if the ten
sion in the aurta is very high the
sound dup is louder than usual.
This is most important to the physi-
clan. for he then knows that there is
high arterial tension. due to what is
termed an aneurSm
If the sound hub" is weaker than
normal it would Indicate a weakness
of the heart muscle and this is the case
III feverS. In typhoid fever. for in
stance. when this first sound is very
weak. we know that the heart is so
weak as to make the case alarming
\ heart is said to have a "murmur"
when the sharp dup" disappears and
the listening physician hears a softened
noise called "murmur" If you try
to say dup" with your lips open the
sound uttered will be like that the doc
tor hears In the diseased heart whose
valves do not close properly. The
sound produced is something ike
duff" and il the mltral valve does not
work well the first syllable is SOftened
into Huff" If both valves work poor
ly the sound is ".utf duff huff duff
but if both valves De very much out
of order the sound is like that of u
bellows. "oho-oho'
Most persons speak of the heart as
/ if it were a single organ. but actually
it is two hearts joined together. the
right and the left heart. The right
sends the blood through the lungs SO
that it may be aerated, or acted upon
by the oxygen in the inhaled air while
the left heart sends the blood through
the body in order to nouriSh the It's
sues.
Both of these hearts receive the
blood from the large veins into the
auricleS, which by contracting send
the blood on into the yentricleS. and
when these powerful muscles contract
the right ventrice pumps the blood
into the pulmonary artery on the way
to the lungs and from the left ven.
tricle into the aOrta, which distributes
the blood all over the body, so that
after having nourshed the nerves and
muscles it returns through the veins
to the heart, there to be pumped into
the lungs for puritica ton by the oXN-
gen before again passing through the
sytSem.
The difference in the sounds of the
right and left ventricles is traced to
the difference in resistance Of the aOrta
and tse pulmonary artery. The put
monary artery resists with only one
third the strength of the aorta. so the
pumping force required is less and the
noise of the closing gates is that much
less
1t is true then, that when the phys
clan listens to the beating Of pa
TENTS heart through his stethoscope
the heart speaks to him in unmistak.
able language When it plainly says
dup" he knows that all is we'll
with this important organ, and he pats
the patient on the shoulder. saying
Nothing serious; you'll be all right in
a day or two" When. however. the
heart says "lub-duf" he knows that
the aOrtic valve is not working prop
erly and takes the proper steps to cor
! rect it. When the heart says 'iuff-dup"
he is sure that the mitral valves are
! out of order, and he tries to reach
them.
When the heart says "luff-duff' he
draws "A solemn face. for both valves
are out Of order. and when it says
''oho-oho' be digs down into his bag
and goes to work at once, for all is rad
! ically wrong Detroit News-Tribune.