The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1914-04-16
The HUMAN HEART
Work of This Marvellous TWofold
Pumping Machine.
HAS A LANGUAGE or IT'S OWN.
In Tones That carnot 30 Misunder-
stood II Tsils Whether II 10 Strong
or Weak and If Aiiins Notes the
Place and Cause Of its Troubles.

stood Ie teil3 Whether IL 10 SSron9
or Weak and If Aiiins 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-
tion of the syllables ''lub-dupr close to
each other. These syllables are heard
Ia quick succession. and then comes
pause-the diastole or resting period
OF the great force pump. The sound
Sub" is that Of the blood flowing
out under muscular pressure. and the
dup is the closing OF the aortic
valves. IL this sound dup" Is not
heard 1t shows that the aortic valves
are destroyed or not working.
The latest explanation OF this first
sound, .lub.' 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 10
heard more clearly over the apex Of
the heart. the point of the chest near
est to the ventricie. The second sound
is best heard over the aortic valves.
which lie beneath the left side Of the
chest just by the third rib.
IL you close door with great force
the slam Is very loud. and IL the ten
sion in the aorta Is very high the
sound dup. is louder than usual.
This is most important to the physi-
clan. for he then knows that there 10
high arterial tension. due to what Is
termed an aneurism.
II the sound ''lub" is weaker than
normal 1t would indicate weakness
OF the heart muscle and this is the case
in 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.
A heart Is said to have ''murmur"
when the sharp dup disappears and
the listening physician hears softened
noise called ''murmur." Ii 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 like
duff" and IL the mitral valve does not
work well the first syllable is softened
into .luff." IL both valves work poor
ly the sound Is ''luff- duff-luff-duff,"
but If both valves are very much out
Of order the sound Ii like that OF a
bellows, ''oho-oho."
Most persons speak of the heart as
IL 1t were single organ. but actually
1t is two hearts Joined together, the
right and the left heart. The right
sends the blood through the lungs 80
that 1t 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 tis-
sues.
Both OF these hearts receive the
blood from the large veins into the
auricles. which by contracting send
the blood ON into the ventricles. and
when these powerful muscles contract
the right ventricle 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 nourished the nerves and
muscles 1t returns through the veins
to the heart. there to be pumped into
the lungs for publication by the oxy-
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 a0rta
and the pulmonary artery. The pull
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 Ia that much
less.
1t is true, then. that when the physi-
clan listens to the beating Of pa
TENTS heart through his stethosccpe
the heart speaks to him In unmistak-
able language. When Il plainly says
"lub-dup" he knows that all Is well
with this important organ. and he pats
the patient on the shoulder, saying.
Nothing serious; you'll be all right In
day or two" When. however, the
heart says 'lub-duff'' he knows that
the aortic valve is not working prop
erly and takes the proper steps to cor
rect 1t. When the heart says ''luf-dup'
he IL 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 1t says
"oho-oho" he digs down into his bag
and goes to work at once, for all ia rad
icaily wrong.-Detroit News-Tribune.