Illustrations of the heart by Arthur Keith: His work with James Mackenzie on the pathophysiology of the heart 1903-08.

Peter D Mohr

doi:10.1177/0967772020980224

Abstract

The University of Manchester Museum of Medicine and Health holds a collection of drawings of human hearts by anatomist Sir Arthur Keith (1866–1955). The specimens were provided by the cardiologist, Sir James Mackenzie (1853–1925) who was using a polygraph to investigate patients with cardiac arrhythmias. Keith’s dissections helped to establish the anatomy and pathology of the atrioventricular conduction system and assisted Mackenzie to interpret his polygraph recordings and understand the origin of cardiac arrythmias.

Highlights

This paper describes a collection of 44 illustrations of the heart in the Museum of Medicine and Health (MMH) and discusses their significance in understanding the human heart’s atrioventricular (AV) conduction system
Why did Keith give Professor Mitchell the drawings and papers in 1950? It is unlikely that he was laying the ground for a biography as Mitchell suspected; My Autobiography had just been published and his collection of personal papers was donated to the archives of the RCS and University of Aberdeen
Keith was impressed that Mackenzie’s research had been done while a busy general practitioner – Keith stated, ‘drawings of hearts, which Sir Jas Mackenzie sent me 1905–07 while he was still plain Dr James Mackenzie of Burnley,’[46] Mackenzie’s links to Lancashire and the Manchester Medical Society were probably sufficient reason to give the drawings to Mitchell.[47]

Summary

Introduction

This paper describes a collection of 44 illustrations of the heart in the Museum of Medicine and Health (MMH) and discusses their significance in understanding the human heart’s atrioventricular (AV) conduction system.

Results

Conclusion