Abstract
The article analyzes the six sections (I.1.a – I.2.c) of Chapter I of J. Farre’s essay book “On Malformation of the Human Heart” (London, 1814), first translated into Russian, in which congenital heart diseases (CHD) are presented characterized by a mixture of arterial and venous blood. In these sections J. Farre described the clinical observations of patients who had a heart with a single ventricle (single heart) and a heart with two ventricles (double heart). The second group of observations included patients whith open foramen ovale, an atrial septal defect, and a combination of an open foramen ovale with a patent ductus arteriosus. Such descriptions reflect the clinical and anatomical approach to the diagnosis of heart disease, which originated in clinical medicine at the beginning of the 19th century. The article is provided with brief biographies of historical figures mentioned in the text, comments on the facts and events mentioned in it, as well as anatomical observations presented in the book, which do not always coincide with modern views on a particular CHD. For example, in the observation in which J. Farre described a heart with a single ventricle (amphibian heart), in fact, a heart with hypoplasia of its left parts (hypoplasia of the left heart syndrome) is presented. The article is supplied with an original illustration by J. Farre and 4 anatomical observations of the authors, similar to those described in the book, but interpreted from the point of view of modern pediatric cardiomorphology.
References
- Glyantsev S.P., Gordeeva M.V., Vilkanovskaya A.S. John Richard Farre and his book-essay «On Malformation of the Human Heart» (London, 1814). Children’s Heart and Vascular Diseases. 2020; 17 (4): 299–308 (in Russ.).
- Glyantsev S.P., Gordeeva M.V., Vilkanovskaya A.S. «On Malformation of the Human Heart» J.R. Farre, M.D. (London, 1814). Part 1. Title-page, Index, Preface, Introduction. Children’s Heart and Vascular Diseases. 2021; 18 (3): 219– 28 (in Russ.).
- Farre J. On Malformations of the Human Heart. London, 1814.
- Glyantsev S.P., Yazhborovskaya A.S., Gandzhaliev A.A., Zarginava G.G. Underdevelopment (hypoplasia) of left heart: from the first observations to the modern understanding of pathology of syndrome. Children’s Heart and Vascular Diseases. 2015; 2: 43–54 (in Russ.).
- Glyantsev S.P., Shcherbak A.V. Ductus arteriosus and foramen ovale at fetal and adult blood circulation: about its discovery, description and eponyms developing. Children’s Heart and Vascular Diseases. 2017; 14 (1): 5–15 (in Russ.).
About the authors
- Sergey P. Glyantsev, Dr. Med. Sci., Professor, Head of the Cardiovascular History Department; ORCID
- Margarita V. Gordeeva, Senior Research; ORCID
- Alyona S. Vilkanovskaya, Resident; ORCID
