Excerpt from Diseases of the Arteries Including Angina Pectoris, Vol. 2 of 2 But in the decrescent form of arteriosclerosis the story is otherwise; in this series of changes the heart may indeed be involved in a common fate with its vascular extensions. More or less, as accidents may fall out, if it is suffering it is not from overwork, for in these cases the arterial pressures are not excessive, but from a more or less progressive and insidious intrinsic decay. If, enfeebled by degeneration, loss of elasticity, stiffness and tortuosity, and the formation of vortices or otherwise, the arteries offer more frictional resistance, this hindrance does not attain to large proportions; the pressures rise a little, and velocity falls a little the heart may perhaps undergo some slight increase in volume, but the whole arterial system is put under no extraordinary strain. What happens is that the individual does less work; and thus, under economical conditions, he may live long enough, if less effectually. Not infrequently, in a slow case, as life advances, and the quality of the arteries becomes gradually a little-worse, the heart does not deteriorate pari passa with the vessels, but takes upon itself a little more work, and does it quietly. Thus by a gradual readjustment of conditions a moderate accumulation of stresses is supportable, and life goes on fairly well. Let us not then be too ready, even in old people, to talk thoughtlessly of cardiosclerosis as a part of arteriosclerosis. Morbid Anatomy of the Heart in Arteriosclerosis - In discuss ing the arteries in this context we saw that it was not always easy to discriminate differences of cause, if any, by their anatomical changes. In respect of the heart however some such discrimina tion is more practicable. I have said that the heart in the series I have called Hyperpiesia differs from the heart in the course of that kind of arteriosclerosis which I have indicated by the name of Decrescent. As in all fields of pathology, transition cases occur to blur or to complicate the description, but here not to any very confusing degrees. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.