The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1914-02-13
THE HUMAN HEART
Work of This Marvellous TWofoIG
Pumping Machine.
HAS A LANGUAGE OF ITS OWN.
In Tones That Cannot Be Misunder-
stood 1t Tells Whether 1t Is Strong
or Weak and if Aiing Notes the
Place and Cause of Its Troubles.

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 the syllables ''lub-dup" close to
each other. These syllables are heard
in quick succession, and then comes
a pause-the diastole or resting period
of the great force pump. The sound
''lub'' is that of the blood flowing
out under muscular pressure, and the
dup" is the closing of the aortic
valves. If this sound dup" is not
heard it 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 is
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 a door with great force
the slam is very loud, and If 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 is
high arterial tension, due to what is
termed an aneurism.
If the sound 'lub" is weaker than
normal it would indicate a 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 a '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 like
duff" and if the mitral valve does not
work well the first syllable is softened
into fluff" If both valves work poor
ly the sound is Huff duff-luff- duff"
but if both valves are very much out
of order the sound is like that of a
bellows, "oho-oho."
Most persons speak of the heart as
if it were 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 tn
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 it 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 aorta
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 is that much
less.
1t is true, then. that when the physi
clan listens to the beating Of a pa.
tents heart through his stethoscope
the heart speaks to him in unmistak
able language. When it 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 it. When the heart says ''luff-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" he digs down into his bag
and goes to work at once, for all is rad
ically wrong.-Detroit News-Tribune.