176 REPORT—1840. 
Galen and Vesalius to include a strong force of suction, by 
which the venous current was much forwarded, and the auri- 
cles were more or less emptied; and this power of inhalation 
or suction has been adopted by numerous living authorities, 
ex. gr. Prof. Bouillaud, Dr. Hope and Dr. Copland, and has 
even been extended to the auricular diastole, ex. gr. by Dr. 
Alison and Dr. Elliotson. The exertion, however, of any such 
force has been distinctly refused to the diastolic state by 
Harvey, Lower, Senac, &c., and appears, Dr. Joy remarks, to 
rest on no satisfactory experimental evidence whatsoever. 
6. In addition to active pulsations observed in certain ani- 
mals in the veins (as in horses, rabbits, dogs, fowls, frogs, &c.), 
there have been noted by several experimentalists, of whom it 
is sufficient to name the great Haller, certain passive pulsa- 
tions, viz. an abrupt diastole of the vein attending the first 
part of the heart’s systole or the auricular contraction, and an 
abrupt systole of the vein attending the first part of the heart’s 
diastole on the dilatation of the auricle; but the connexion 
between the venous regurgitation and the auricular systole has 
been doubted by several apparently, and even denied by Dr. 
Elliotson. . 
7. Reverting to the auricular functions, the systole of the 
auricles has usually been regarded as unattended by any in- 
trinsic sound. Dr. Hope denies that any such sound occurs, 
and on mechanical grounds seems to affirm that it is not pos- 
sible; and Dr. Joy calls the auricular systole a “ silent” act*. 
Six months, probably, or more, however, before the Committee 
for 1840 had even begun their experiments, Drs. Pennock and 
Moore had, unknown to the Reporter and his friends, detected, 
as they conceived, an auricular systolic sound, in a series of 
very interesting experiments, of which an account is pub- 
lished in the American Journal of Medical Science, Part L., 
for February, 1840. 
Some other often-agitated and still unsettled points have 
appeared to the Reporter, in like manner, to stand in need of 
further examination; ea. gr. 1. the sizes of the ventricles, &c. 
with respect to each other; 2. the production of sound by 
certain muscles, while vigorously contracting ; 3. the rhythm 
of the cardiac and arterial pulses, &c. &c. Finding on all the 
preceding points considerable differences of opinion, and per- 
ceiving that, in many instances, the decision of highly-distin- 
guished and leading physiological writers was at variance 
with the best hitherto-recorded experiments and observations, 
the Reporter found forced on his mind the conviction, that on | 
all or most of those points further data were wanting, and 
* Library of Practical Medicine. 
