Practical manual of the diseases of the heart and great vessels ... / By F.A. Aran ... Translated from the French, by Wm. A. Harris, M.D.

  • Aran, F. A. (François Amilcar), 1817-1861.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical manual of the diseases of the heart and great vessels ... / By F.A. Aran ... Translated from the French, by Wm. A. Harris, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which follows the movements of the diaphragm, but rather the point at which the large arteries are detached from the heart. Dr. Hope has shown, and M. Gendrin has confirmed it by his experi- ments, that this point, where the motion of the heart and the large vessels arising from it termi- nates, this axis of the movements, corresponds to the half of its extent, and to the centre of the pul- monary artery; that is to say, to the middle of the space embraced between the origin and the divi- sion of this artery, or rather to the middle of the space comprised between the synchondro-sternal articulations of the second and third left ribs. At their origin, the two large arterial trunks which arise from the heart are placed above each other; the aorta, which is posterior, extends, by about one-third of its volume, beyond the border of the pulmonary artery, on the right side. If we draw from one side to the other a hori- zontal line, along the inferior border of the two third ribs, this line passes over the valves of the pul- monary artery, which it leaves, situated a little to the left of the median line; the valves of the aorta are situated behind the preceding, but about half an inch lower, so that the artificial line just described, on one side, passes above the base of the valves of the pulmonary artery, whilst, on the other, it corresponds to the free extremity of the valves of the aorta. It is over the track of this line, and consequently on a level with the inferior border of the third rib, that the murmurs produced by the diseases of those valves, are found at their maximum. From this point the aorta and pulmo- nary artery arise; the pulmonary artery, at first, in contact with the sternum. afterwards inclines to