Cerebral Blood Flow

The series of studies, of which this is the first, is concerned with the effect of certain changes produced in the brain and its surroundings on the volume of flow of blood through the brain and through the body as a whole. The discovery in the dog of two large venous sinuses which apparently drain a considerable portion of the blood from the brain and which are readily accessible offered a means of approach to the first point. These venous channels have been called the "occipitovertebral sinuses," and their course and the method of obtaining blood from them have been described in detail elsewhere (Pilcher1). They arise from the transverse sinus on each side, course outside the dura overlying the cerebellum and make their way into the vertebral canal. Their point of greatest accessibility is just superior to the arch of the atlas. Experimental evidence has been presented to