Development in clinical electrocardiography since Einthoven

Abstract

T he history of men of science reflects the history of science. Willem Einthoven, a humble, intelligent, and creative thinker, was a great man who was representative of the best in the history of medicine. Unfortunately, most of the history of medicine is a history of errors in a struggle for survival and self-aggrandizement. In the midst of such noncreative activity, occasionally has come a man to advance knowledge and man himself. So it was with Einthoven. The full significance of great accomplishments is only partly realized at any one time, since the significance of great things grows endlessly. A creative development came with the sensitive, accurate, and reliable string galvanometer, a deliberate, methodical, and creative development from the brain Jf a great and modest man (Fig. 1). Modest and dedicated were even his associates. The early studies of electrocardiography in Einthoven’s laboratory were of high quality. History of the subsequent developments in clinical electrocardiography outside Leiden reveals considerabIe variation in quality of investigations and reports, and reflects more accurately the average state of clinical research and care of patients. As with the writings of great men, those of lesser men reflect and record forever their personalities. May this continue, for then the true history of medicine is recorded, whatever it may be. To select and edit the works of man can only distort the work of man. Perusal of reports in clinical electrocardiography reveals progress and development resembling that in other medical fields. Among the many contributors to the progress in electrocardiography were a few outstanding minds. Thomas Lewis, James Mackenzie, Alfred Cohn, H. E. Hollmann, W. Hollmann, K. F. Wenckebath, Frank Wilson, Ernest Starling, W. M. Bayliss, Carl Wiggers, Augustus Waller, James B. Herrick, Horatio B. Williams, W. H. Craib, H. C. Burger, and F. Schellong represent a few, in addition to Einthoven himself, who have been the stalwarts of research and development in clinical electrocardiography. Sir Thomas Lewis, who was most responsible for the early developments, was primarily interested in cardiac arrhythmias, whereas F. N. Wilson was the central figure of a slightly later electrocardiographic period who made extremely important contributions to other aspects of electrocardiography. The history of the development of clini-