GASES OF VENOUS BLOOD. 
763 
to corresponding variations in its gaseous constituents. It is therefore 
only possible to give a mean value for the gases of the venous blood 
when the analyses are performed upon samples removed from the right 
ventricle; this procedure can be carried out by passing a catheter from 
the right external jugular vein through the right auricle and into the 
right ventricle. The following table gives the results of the few experi- 
ments of this kind, together with the data of simultaneous analyses of 
the arterial bloi »d : — 
Venous Blood from Right 
Ventricle. 
Arterial Blood. 
Observer. 
Oxygen. 
Nitro- 
gen. 
Carbon 
dioxide. 
Oxygen. 
Nitro- 
gen. 
Carbon 
dioxide. 
]•■ 
g . . 11-9 , 
1-7 
45-3 
19-2 
2-7 
39-5 
Schceffer ] 
(mean of five 
experiments). 
J 
. 
56-4 
49-0 
22-1 
19-3 
36-1 
-Paul Bert. 2 
• 
. 11-7 
36-5 
17-3 
33-4 
- Ewald. 3 
J 
9-5 
34-0 
15-4 
32-4 
> 
. 12*5 
36-0 
W "5 
34-3 
- Finkler. 4 
. 12-5 
24-96 
16-12 
30-65 
J 
9-9 
54*75 
17-25 
4275 
1 Mathieu and 
' 
5-43 
61-08 
20-75 
47'33 
Urbain. 5 
The effect of different conditions on the gases of venous blood. — It has 
already been mentioned that the venous blood is liable to marked 
differences in its gaseous contents, according to the condition of the 
organs from which the blood is received. 
The venous blood leaving a muscle varies according to the condition 
of the tissues 6 ; when the muscle is actively contracting, the percentage 
of oxygen in the blood is much diminished, and the amount of carbon 
dioxide is increased, notwithstanding the increase in the volume and 
velocity of the circulating blood. The experiments of Bernard 7 and 
Zuntz 8 ' show that, after section of the motor nerve, the absorption of 
oxygen and the production of carbon dioxide in the muscle are much 
1 Sitzungsb. d. k. Akad. d. W , Math.-maturw. CI., Wien, I860, Bd. xli. 
S. 589. 
-' ■ ■ La pression barometrique, " Paris, 1878, p. 1038. 
3 Arch.f. d. ges. Physiol., Bonn, 1873, Bd. vii. S. 57". 
4 Ibid., 1875, Bd. x.S. 368. 
Acad. d. sc., Paris, 1S72. tome lxxiv. p. 190. 
6 Sczelkow. Sitzungsb. d. k. Akad. d. Wissensch., Wien, 1862, Bd. xlv. S. 171; 
Mathieu and Urbain, Compt. rend. Acad. d. sc., Paris, 1872, tome lxxiv. p. 190; Bernard, 
"Lecons sur la chaleur animale," Paris, 1876. p. 147: Zuntz. Berl. Min. Wchnschr., 
1878* No. 10, S. 141 ; von Frey, Arch.f. Physiol., Leipzig, 1885, S. 533; Chauveau and 
Kaufmann, Compt. rend. Acad. d. sc, Paris, 1886, tome ciii. pp. 974, 1057, 1153 ; Hill and 
Nabarro, Jovrn. Physiol., Cambridge and London, 1895, vol. xviii. p. 218. 
7 Loc. cit. 8 Loc. cit. 
