| Reference number | AP/68/9 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Unpublished paper, 'The electromotive phenomena of the mammalian heart' by W M [William Maddock] Bayliss and Ernest H [Henry] Starling |
| Date | 1891 |
| Description | The authors present experimental results and observations on the electromotive phenomena of the mammalian heart. Their methods of research are described as such: 'The heart being exposed, two points of its surface were connected by means of non-polarisable electrodes with the terminals of a capillary electrometer. An image of the meniscus was thrown on to a moving photographic plate, on which were also recorded the contractions of the ventricle, a time tracing (eight or 100 per second), and in many cases the time of stimulation (when artificial stimuli were used), or the period of excitation of the vagus (when it was desired to slow the heart). In nearly all experiments we used dogs.' The authors find that 'in animals whose hearts are in as normal a condition as possible the variation is always diphasic, the negativity at the base preceding that at the apex. The result is the same whether the pericardium be intact or opened, or whatever points of the ventricular surface are led off.'
Annotations in ink throughout.
Subject: Physiology
Received 23 October 1891. Read 26 November 1891. Communicated by Professor [Edward Albert] Schafer.
Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 50 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the electromotive phenomena of the mammalian heart'. |
| Extent | 39p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| Physical description | Ink on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| Access status | Open |
| Related material | DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1891.0030 |
| Related records in the catalogue | RR/11/14 |
| RR/11/111 |
| RR/11/112 |
| RR/11/113 |
| RR/11/114 |
| RR/11/115 |
| RR/11/116 |
| RR/11/117 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA8017 | Sharpey-Schafer; Sir; Edward Albert (1850 - 1935) | 1850 - 1935 |
| NA7858 | Bayliss; Sir; William Maddock (1860 - 1924) | 1860 - 1924 |
| NA7857 | Starling; Ernest Henry (1866 - 1927) | 1866 - 1927 |