The George Fahr Lecture

Abstract

This is a general theoretic consideration of certain mechanical peculiarities of the human heart. It includes a discussion of mechanical advantages of the average size and average pressures, the effects of various pressures and ventricular volumes on ventricular work and "load," mechanical advantages of the structural arrangement of muscular fibers and manner of contraction, as well as the time course of ventricular work and power produced during a cardiac cycle. The role of the trabeculae carneae and papillary muscles in the emptying of a normal sized ventricle is also discussed.