432 



Nachdi'uck verboten. 



The Arrangement of the Bronchial Blood Vessels. 



(Preliminary Communication.) 



By W. S. Miller. 

 (From the Anatomical Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin.) 



With 3 Figures. 



The discovery of the bronchial artery is usually ascribed to 

 RuYSCH, who made claim to the honor in the following words: "Hanc 

 arteriam a nemine adhunc esse observatam, intrepide affirmo." Accord- 

 ing to Hyrtl, Galen knew the artery but had no name for it, and 

 as CoLUMBO denied its existence it was forgotten until it was again 

 described by Marchettis. Wohlfahrt seems to have arrived at a 

 just conclusion when he says: "Sufficit, arteriam hanc ex hominum 

 memoria penitus elapsam tenebrisque occultatam a Ruyschi fuisse 

 restitutam atque in lucera revocatam." 



Rutsch after describing the origin of the bronchial artery and 

 its mode of entering the hilus of the lung, says, "it follows the 

 bronchi to their very end, until, having broken up into capillaries it 

 is lost to view." In regard to anastomoses he says, "in various places 

 this bronchial artery is united with minute anastomosing branches of 

 the pulmonary artery". We have thus presented to us in the earliest 

 description two questions which have occasioned much discussion and 

 not a little discord, namely: Is the bronchial artery distributed along 

 the entire length of the bronchi, and does it anastomose with the 

 pulmonary artery? 



Following the announcement by Ruysch of the presence of 

 bronchial arteries for some time the main question was in regard to 

 their existence. This having been settled in the affirmative, attention 

 was next directed towards their distribution within the lung, the 

 presence of bronchial veins, and the relation of the bronchial to the 

 pulmonary blood vessels. 



Notable contributions have been made to these problems by 

 Wohlfahrt, Haller, Reisseisen, Guillot, Rossignol, Le Fort, 

 ZucKERKANDL, and others whose work will be discussed in a later 

 contribution. 



