244 
FIFTH REPORT- 1835 . 
the touch; when receding, they became hard to the touch, were 
diminished in size, and flattened. Immediately after the reces¬ 
sion of the auricular appendices, the ventricles with a rapid 
motion assumed a somewhat globular form in their middle part, 
which projected upwards, and their apex at the same time was 
considerably elevated. During their continuance in this state 
the ventricles were hard to the touch, and if grasped with the 
hand at the commencement of the movement, they communi¬ 
cated a shock, or impulse, and separated the fingers. When 
the ventricles had remained for a short time in the state just 
described, they suddenly sank downwards, or towards the spine, 
and became elongated, broad and flat, and soft to the touch. 
This succession of motions having been observed for some 
time, a small glass tube was introduced through a puncture into 
the left auricular appendix, and the blood was seen to rise in 
the tube during the recession of the appendix, and to subside 
during its upward movement. A similar tube w T as introduced 
through a puncture into the right ventricle, and a jet of dark- 
coloured blood was thrown forth during the globular and har¬ 
dened state of the ventricles, and subsided when they became 
flat and soft. A puncture was made in the pulmonary artery, 
close to the right ventricle, and through it a stream of blood 
issued, synchronously with the jet from the ventricle. A tube 
having been introduced, through a puncture, into the left ven¬ 
tricle, and one of the mesenteric arteries having been exposed 
and opened, the jet from the ventricle was observed to precede 
the jet from the artery by an interval easily appreciable. The 
femoral artery was opened, and a similar observation was made 
as to the interval between the jet from the left ventricle and the 
jet from that artery. Previously to opening the chest of the 
animal the Committee had satisfied themselves that the beat of 
the heart, felt through the sternum or cartilages of the ribs, pre¬ 
ceded the pulse, felt in arteries at different distances from the 
heart, by intervals of time which seemed proportioned to those 
distances ; and they were also satisfied that the jets of blood from 
the femoral and mesenteric arteries were synchronous with the 
pulses felt in those arteries. 
Exp. 2. A calf having been placed on its right side, a portion 
of the ribs on the left side was removed, the sternum, and a 
part of the cartilages on that side being left in their natural po¬ 
sition, and the pericardium was opened. It was now seen that, 
when the ventricles assumed their hardened state, their apex 
and a considerable portion of their anterior surface were closely 
applied to the sternum ; and when the hand was interposed be¬ 
tween the latter and the surface of the ventricles, a strong com- 
