AN ANATOMICAL STUDY ON THE 



followed afterwards by the contraction of the rest 

 of the heart. 



It is only fair to report what I have observed 

 to the contrary. The heart of an eel, of certain 

 fishes, and even of other animals, may beat without 

 the auricles. Even if it is cut in pieces, the separate 

 parts may be seen to contract and relax.^ So even 

 after auricular movement has stopped, the body 

 of the heart may beat and pulsate. But may not this 

 be characteristic of those animals more tenacious 

 of life, whose basic humor is more glutinous or 

 sluggish, and not easily dissipated? The same thing 

 is noted in the flesh of eels, which continues to 

 wriggle even after skinning and slicing in pieces. 



In an experiment one time on a pigeon, after 

 the heart had stopped, and even after the auricles 

 were motionless for some time, I placed my finger, 

 warm and kept wet with saliva, upon the heart. 

 By this warm application it recovered life and 

 strength, the auricles and ventricles beat, alter- 

 nately contracting and relaxing, apparently recalled 

 from death.*^ 



^ An astonishingly brief significant observation from which may- 

 be deduced the three fundamental and characteristic properties of 

 cardiac muscle: automaticity, contractility, and rhythmicity. 



® The first recorded "perfusion" of an isolated heart, again demon- 

 strating the basic properties of cardiac muscle. Only an Englishman 

 could append at that time the last phrase of this paragraph without 

 thought of its theological consequences. Galileo was forced to renounce 

 his scientific ideas before a Papal tribunal in 1632, and in Germany 

 the horrible Thirty Years War was in full swing. 



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