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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'The electromotive phenomena of the mammalian heart' by W M [William Maddock] Bayliss and Ernest H [Henry] Starling

Reference number: AP/68/9

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'.

Reference number
AP/68/9
Earliest possible date
1891
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
39 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator names

William Maddock Bayliss

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Ernest Henry Starling

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Citation

William Maddock Bayliss, Ernest Henry Starling, Unpublished paper, 'The electromotive phenomena of the mammalian heart' by W M [William Maddock] Bayliss and Ernest H [Henry] Starling, 1891, AP/68/9, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_68_9/unpublished-paper-the-electromotive-phenomena-of-the-mammalian-heart-by-w-m-william-maddock-bayliss-and-ernest-h-henry-starling, accessed on 24 March 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_68_9/unpublished-paper-the-electromotive-phenomena-of-the-mammalian-heart-by-w-m-william-maddock-bayliss-and-ernest-h-henry-starling

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