THE ADRENAL SECRETION AND THE HEART. 



427 



as a source of compensation. That nutrition of the left heart, 

 auricle and ventricle, constantly filled with arterial blood, can 

 result from a flow of the latter through the Thebesian vessels 

 seems clear, but nutrition can hardly be associated with a 

 similar process in the right heart, with nothing but venous 

 blood to propel through the Thebesian channels. That nu- 

 trition, the recognized prerogative of arterial blood, owing to 

 its oxygen, cannot be the active factor here is evident. 



The right heart seems, judging from the anatomical ar- 

 rangement of the parts concerned in the process, to play a 

 physiological function of a special kind. While the Thebesian 

 openings are larger in the auricles than in the ventricles, in 

 the left auricle they are also fewer than in the right; but even 

 more suggestive is the fact that, while some openings in the 

 right auricle are supplied with valves, none have been found 

 in those of the left. Again, both ventricles are supplied with 

 foramina; the right ventricle is particularly well provided with 

 them, while they are difficult to find in the left one. That the 

 septal wall should show them most clearly on the right side is 

 also suggestive. Evidently a similar condition exists between 

 the auricles, as suggested by Bochdalek and confirmed by 

 Pratt; but the fact that limited information supplied by works 

 on anatomy usually covers only those of the right auricle 

 points to greater prominence of the latter. Thus, Gray 8 

 states that the venaB Thebesii open "on the inner surface of 

 the right auricle." Finally, the openings supplied with valves 

 are in the right auricle, as we have seen; but they are also 

 stated to be most conspicuous in the neighborhood of the 

 great vessels; hence it must only be the Thebesian openings 

 around the great vessels of the right auricle the vense cava3 

 and the pulmonary artery that are provided with valves. 



If we can now ascertain whether the current which enters 

 the Thebesian vessels from the right auricle is shut out in this 

 location, or secured within the channels, according to the man- 

 ner in which the valves close, i.e., inwardly or outwardly, 

 we will be able to decide whether venous blood from the vense 



Gray: "Anatomy"; edition, 1901, p. 622. 



