THE CLINICAL VALUE OF HUMAN CAPILLARY STUDIES

Abstract

Although the capillaries as a group exercise the most profound influence on the functions of the living body, their activity, especially in man, has been susceptible of direct study for only a short era in the history of medical science. A great volume of instructive work has since been produced, much of which has been confined to animals other than man. My purpose in this discussion, however, will be to outline briefly some of the more recent observations concerning the activities of the minor vessels of the skin in man which appear to have some value clinically, either (1) in adding evidence which results in changes in certain conceptions of physiology in normals, or pathologic variations in disease processes, or (2) in giving information of direct value in the study of single patients or groups of patients with similar diseases. It should be clearly stated at the outset that although