DEPENDENCE OF THE FORM OF THE ELECTRO- CARDIOGRAM UPON THE SITE OF MECHANICAL STIMULATION OF THE HUMAN VENTRICLES

The relation of the form of the electrocardiogram to the site of stimulation in the ventricles still remains an open question, although patients have been studied from this point of view and many experi-ments on animals have been performed. Einthoven (1) in 1908 was the first to attempt to localize the site of origin of ventricular pre-mature contractions by an analysis of patients ' electrocardiograms. Even at the present time such localization cannot be made with any degree of accuracy in the human heart. LITERATURE Early investigations on the site of origin of ventricular premature contractions as ascertained by the electrocardiogram were abstracted in 1913 by Rothberger and Winterberg (2); we have used their paper in part as a guide for the following review of the literature. Einthoven (3) was the first to direct attention to the atypical complexes of ventricular premature contractions in man. Later, in 1908, be (1) was again the first to attempt the localization of the site of origin of ventricu