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This book deals in a masterly fashion with microcirculation in vivo from both experimental and clinical points of view. The "terminal vascular bed" is defined as the functional unit of smallest arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and smallest (postcapillary) veins. In the Anglo-American literature the expression "capillary bed" is used practically synonymously for the same unit. In Germany, however, Richer includes the smallest arteries which still have blood pressure-regulatory functions; in America, these arteries are not included. For practical purposes, the terminal vascular bed is the submacroscopic part of the circulation comprised of blood vessels with diameters smaller than 60μ. For observation of the microcirculation, thin membranes, thin edges of organs, and transparent chamber techniques have been used. In man, observations on nail folds and on conjunctiva are easy. In other areas of the skin, preliminary horny layer-stripping, as pointed out by Davis and Lorincz, has considerably helped visualization.
The old idea