1046 



When scanning t4ie osopluigogiani ! was led lo lliink lliat llie 

 aiiriculai- systole runs into the ventricnhir systole without a previous 

 dilatation. This view is borne out hv the auscultatory resnlts and the 

 record of the auricular sounds. 



Indeed, formerly it was taken for granted that only with cold- 

 blooded animals, e. g. the frog, the ventricular systole commences 

 only when the auricular systole has been completed, but that with 

 mammals the relations are more complex. 



In Donders' Physiology 2'"^ Edition 1859 |)age 27 I read; "dasz 

 boi jedem Rhythmus zunachst die beiden stark ausgedehnten Vorhöfe 

 sich znsammenziehen und gleich darauf die beiden Kammern, ferner 

 (lie- Vorhöfe sowohl wie die Kaimnern eiiien Augenblick Ini contra- 

 hirten Zustande verharren". Donders holds that the old theory of 

 Haller, viz. that the auriculai' contcaction and the ventricular systole 

 occur alternately, has been disproved. Schikf's experience coincides 

 with this view. It is remarkable that, in spite of this, Hali.er's 

 theory has found favour again in physiology. The second auricular 

 soujul cannot be accounted for so easily; it may be that eddies come 

 in-to play ; it has also been suggested by D. Gerhardt (cited by 

 Wenckebach 1. c.j that it may possibly proceed from muscular 

 movement at the aui'icular diastole. 



The foregoing evidence has set the conjectures at rest concerning 

 the tirst auricular sound, which has long been a snbject of dispute 

 in the literature. By what has been brought forward here Kreht/s ^) 

 experience has been confirmed, Hürthle's ') "Vorton' , recorded by 

 many researchers, has been substantiated; Fahr's ') initial vibrations 

 have been transferred to the auricular systole; the discoveries of 

 auricular sounds by Battaere '}, Weisz *) and others have been 

 sustained, wdiile moreover a second auricular sound has been added. 



Finally I wish to return once more to the diastolic sound men- 

 tioned heretofore. I presume this to be the third sound of Gibson- 

 EiNTHOvEN. Gibson ') detected in some individuals, with slow hearts, 

 an additional wave, called "b" in the diastolic portion of the curve 

 of the jugnlar vein and occasionally he heard a very feeble third 



1) L. Krehl. Ueber den Herzmuskelton. Arch. f. (Anat. u ) Physiol. 1889. 

 ~) K. HüRTHLE. Ueber die mechanische Registrierung der Herzlöne. Pflüger's 

 Arch. Bd. HO S. 263. 

 3) G. Kahr. 1 c. 

 i) P. J. T. A. Battaerd. i.e. 



5) 0. Weiss. I.e. 



6) A. Gibson. The significance of a hitherto undescribed wave in the jugular 

 pulse. The Lancet, Nov. 16, 1907. 



