BOOK REVIEWS A History of Electrocardiography. By George E. Burch and Nicholas P. DePasquale , with a new introduction by Joel D. Howell. San Francisco: Norman Publishing, 1990. Pp. 309. $95.00. On occasion, an event transports one back to a different time and a different place. This may be a photograph, a whiff of perfume, a movie, a piece of music or, as in this case, rediscovering a book. A History of Electrocardiography was written by Drs. George Burch and Nicholas DePasquale and was first published, in a limited quantity, in 1964. I first became familiar with it a few years later, as I developed an interest in electrocardiography and cellular and basic electrophysiology . The original book had been unavailable for years,jealously guarded by those who had a copy and coveted by those who did not. To my delight, Norman Publishing reissued the book with an introduction by Dr. Joel Howell, a distinguished historian of science at the University of Michigan. As I was late in reading the original version, I was late in becoming aware of the reissue of this gem. So somewhat belatedly, I would like to bring to the attention of many of you that this book is once again available. On opening the book, I was carried back to my training in the 1960s. To me, there was and remains something mystical and mysterious about interpreting the squiggles on the electrocardiogram and relating them to pathophysiology and to disease. I held in awe many of my teachers who unlocked these mysteries with such seeming ease, and I wanted quite desperately to be admitted to this fellowship. The 1960s was an exciting time for those of us interested in the electricity of the heart. We witnessed an explosive growth in our knowledge of cellular electrophysiology; in the use of DC electroversion, electrophysiologic provocative stimulation, and intracardiac electrocardiography; and in the application of computers to the interpretation of electrocardiograms, to signal processing , and to electrocardiographic research. Any right-thinking cardiologist knew (and, interventional cardiology notwithstanding, perhaps still does know) that the heart was an electrical organ. Drs. Burch and DePasquale did us a great service in humanizing the basis of our electrophysiologic and electrocardiographic science and, in turn, reminding us of the continuity of our science. We receive enlightenment from our teachers, work for a time on problems and make our contributions, and pass on what we know to the next generation. I remember fondly Dr. Burch's discussion of the early history of electrocardiography shortly before his death at a meeting of the Association of University Cardiologists, an organization he was instrumental in Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 38, 1 ¦ Autumn 1994 | 139 founding and which is dedicated to preserving the continuity among generations of academic cardiologists. He thought we should remember and value, as best we can, those who came before us in academic cardiology, and this comes through in the book. The original book resulted from an interest developed for a lecture for the centennial celebration of the birth of Willem Einthoven in 1960. As is pointed out in the Introduction, the book was in part an oral history resulting from contacts with many of the pioneers ofelectrocardiography or with their students. As a result, many of the passages are extremely personal and vivid. The figures range from the scientific to a painting of Einthoven's home on the banks of the Old Rhine. I frequently use slides of two figures in my lectures. One is Einthoven 's demonstration of the subject and the electrocardiogram obtained during the recording of lead I. The subject was bedecked with a nightcap and both arms were immersed in containers of saline—an indelible memory of the correct lead axes! Moreover, the electrogram was transmitted by telegraphic wire to a remote site—how modern! The second is a picture of Augustus Waller's bulldog Jimmy, standing in two buckets of saline attached to a capillary electrometer that was used to record the potential difference between the paws. Jimmy patiently stood in such buckets on and off for 18 years, and his...