We are more conscious of our heart than we are of most organs and more wary of its possible failure. Speculation about the heart is at least as old as written history. Some ancient Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman scholars correctly surmised that the heart is a pump for filling the vessels with blood. Aristotle's interpretations, however, were a step backward. Perhaps because the heart quickens its pace when we are emotionally aroused, and because grief causes "heartache," he regarded it primarily as the seat of emotion, doubling as a source of heat to aid digestion. During the Middle Ages, Western medical schools clung dogmatically to the ideas of Aristotle and other ancient authorities. Perhaps the only significant advance came from Muslim medicine, when thirteenth-century physician Ibn an-Nafis described the role of the coronary blood vessels in nourishing the heart. The sixteenth-century dissections and anatomical charts of Vesalius, however, greatly improved knowledge of cardiovascular anatomy and set the stage for a more scientific study of the heart and treatment of its disorders–a science we now call cardiology.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, little could be recommended for heart disease other than bed rest. Then nitroglycerin was found to restore coronary circulation and relieve the pain resulting from physical exertion; digitalis proved effective for treating abnormal heart rhythms; and diuretics were first used to promote excretion of water and to reduce hypertension. Coronary bypass surgery, replacement of diseased valves, clot-dissolving enzymes, heart transplants, artificial pacemakers, and artificial hearts have made cardiology one of the most dramatic and attention-getting field of medicine in the last quarter century.

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