The Heartbeat: Evidence and Presupposition from Days of Yore and Far Yonder

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Let we, who are supposed experts of the heart and know that there’s a tiny node at the roof of the right atrium that fires impulses automatically to the demand of the body with nary our care or intent, pause for a moment to appreciate what it took for our forefathers to put us in this position of knowledge; and, by the same awareness, be humbled to realize that there’s a lot more beyond what we know and understand. Voluminous scientific evidence gathered from ages and from all corners of the world have revealed so much information in attempt to search for the anatomic, physiologic, down to embryogenic fundamentals of the cardiac electrical system to answer the question: “How is one heartbeat formed?” How is the conduction system configured? After fertilization, the immediately busy blastocyst travels from the ampulla of the fallopian tube to be imbedded in the endometrium while cell division continues along the way. Along with it, a trophoblast develops as an essential component of the placenta to begin feeding the growing embryo. All these happen within 6 days after the honeymoon.1