THE 



CANADIAlSr RECOED 



OF SCIEi^OE. 



VOL. VIII. JULY, 1900. No. 4. 



The Rate of Propagation of the Venous Pulse.^ 



By Dr. W. S. Morrow, 



Lecturer in Physiology, McGill University. 



[From the Physiological Institute of the University of Breslau.) 



This research was undertaken at the suggestion of Prof. 

 Karl Hlirthle, of Breslau, to determine the rate at which 

 the venous pulse travels. Before I began my experiments 

 Prof. Hiirthle had satisfied himself that a venous pulse 

 could frequently be observed in the veins of the neck and 

 extremities of normal dogs. 



He had also devised very sensitive apparatus for record- 

 ing the same (Hilrthle's venous manometers). Tracings 

 of the pulse in the veins of the extremities of normal dogs, 

 taken with this apparatus, are shown in Figures 1 and 2. 

 Other investigators had also observed the venous pulse 

 in the extremities of normal animals, and still others 

 (2 and 3) had studied it in normal and pathological human 

 subjects, but no one had undertaken to measure the rate 

 at which it travelled. It seemed probable that this would 

 be found different from that of the arterial pulse, on 



1 This research was reported in German in Pfliirger's Arcliives for March. 

 15 



