Wednesday, April 10, 2019

From the Mercy Archives : 1911 Electrocardiogram


By Nancy Wilms, Mercy Library & Archives Volunteer

                                                                        


When the item above was donated to the Mercy Archives recently, we became curious and wanted to learn more about why the gentleman had his hand and foot in a bucket, attached to electrodes.  So Volunteer Nancy Wilms set out to learn more …  Here’s what she discovered:

In 1901, Willem Einthoven, who is responsible for the “Einthoven triangle” for attaching electrocardiogram leads, invented a new string galvanometer for producing electrocardiograms using a fine quartz string coated in silver.  The unit weighed 600 pounds and required five technicians to operate.  In 1903 he discussed commercial production of the string galvanometer with Cambridge Scientific Instruments Company of London.   This is the unit manufactured in 1911 by The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company of London.  Willem Einthoven won the Nobel Prize in 1924 for inventing the electrocardiogram.    

                                        

Photograph of a complete Electrocardiograph showing the manner in which the electrodes are attached to the patient.  In this case the hands and the one foot are immersed in jars of salt solution.

For more information, see:


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