Comparison of the blood-flow in the hands in a case with lesion of upper motor neurones (birth palsy) and in a case with lesion of lower motor neurones (infantile paralysis)

Abstract

The blood flow was calculated from the formula

where ϕ is the quantity of blood flowing through the hand in the period of observation, H the heat given off to a calorimeter containing the hand, T the temperature of the arterial blood coming to the hand (taken as rectal temperature), 1 T′ the temperature of the venous blood leaving the hand (taken as the average temperature of the water in the calorimeter 2 ) and S the specific heat of blood. Before being put into the calorimeter the hand was immersed for a sufficient time (usually ten minutes) in a large bath containing water at the same temperature as that in the calorimeter in order that T′ might approximate to the temperature of the calorimeter. All thermometers used were, of course, compared with a standard thermometer. In the cases observed, the two hands were simultaneously immersed in two precisely similar calorimeters. The volume of the hand enclosed in the calorimeter was determined by afterwards immersing the hand up to the proper level in a lipped beaker previously filled with water and measuring the overflow, or by immersing it in a vessel provided with a gauge.