Abstract
Previous studies of the blood-pressure changes in living animals, by repeated direct measurements from the femoral or carotid, while accurate from the standpoint of the blood-pressure at the moment of observation, have been of very limited value. When used as a means of following the changes occurring over long periods of time, as in the study of experimental kidney insufficiency, it is questionable whether a single pre-operative reading, with several post-operative ones, afford in themselves any basis for the conclusions drawn. The figures given by Volkmann for the blood-pressure of different animal species show readings from the dog of 104, 123, 143, 157, 166 and 172 mm., a variation so wide that, in the light of our knowledge of the fluctuations of blood-pressure in man, it suggests strongly the fallacy of any conclusions drawn from a comparison of two or three measurements at long intervals.
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