THE ADRENAL SECRETION AND THE HEART. 425 



Thebesii was marked by small disks of the hardened mass 

 formed by the oozing out of the celloidin upon the endocar- 

 dium. These foramina were shown to be connected with the 

 smaller coronary veins by fine branches. The still finer rami- 

 fications which, as Langer has demonstrated, lead from the 

 foramina and branch directly into capillaries were here unin- 

 jected; they would appear only when injected from the fora- 

 mina themselves." 



The only connection between the vessels of Thebesius and 

 the coronary arteries that he could find, notwithstanding re- 

 peated attempts, was by capillaries. Bochdalek having ob- 

 served that the foramina of one auricle communicated with 

 those of the other, he was able by blow-pipe injection to verify 

 the correctness of this view, the air of one auricle having 

 passed out through a similar exit into the other. 



To sustain his view that the nutrition of the heart may 

 be carried through the vessels of Thebesius some time after 

 the coronary arteries are absolutely obliterated, a number of 

 experiments are related. Thus, fluid introduced into the ven- 

 tricle of an isolated heart, by means of a cannula passed down 

 to this cavity, and tightly held in situ by a ligature passed 

 around the auriculo-ventricular groove, only found its way 

 through the vessels of Thebesius. Defibrinated blood, inserted 

 into the organ through this cannula, brought on, often within 

 one minute, "strongly marked, co-ordinated contraction of the 

 ventricle." As the blood thus introduced would become venous, 

 the action would become gradually reduced, but renewal of 

 the blood would at once cause the heart to resume its normal 

 action. "With a periodic supply of blood," says the author, 

 "and with favorable temperature and moisture this may con- 

 tinue several hours." That mere mechanical stimulation by 

 distension did not cause the phenomena witnessed is demon- 

 strated by the alternate use of Ringer's solution and defibrin- 

 ated blood. While the solution failed to sustain contractions, 

 blood always succeeded. 



Another experiment served to demonstrate that a true 

 circulation could take place between the vessels of Thebesius 

 and the coronary veins. The organ being disposed as stated 

 above, two of the coronary veins were incised; "a small, but 



