Physiological apparatus in the Wellcome Museum. 1. The Marey sphygmograph

Abstract

ONE cHARAcrEsTIc of the new physiology of the nineteenth century was the graphic representation of body function.1It provided a means whereby transient phenomena could be translated into a permanent record and studied at leisure.The dynamics of the cardiovascular system were particularly susceptible to such techniques.In 1860 E. J. Marey devised the first convenient sphygmograph for graphically recording the pulse wave.It received an enthusiastic reception from a small number of clinicians in Great Britain.Though several other models later supplanted it, Marey's original design remained popular throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century.The Weilcome Museum** contains seven sphygmographs of the Marey type (see Appendix).Through these it is possible to trace the technical modifications of the instrument and in turn to make wider comment on the significance of instru- mentation in nineteenth-century physiology and medicine.Such an apparently simple physiological tool as graphic representation has a long and complex history, the origins of which ultimately lie in the development of ballistics.2Attempts to demonstrate the dynamics of the vascular system, on the other hand, go back only to the early eighteenth century and the Haemostaticks of Stephen Hales.3 Hales cannulated the femoral artery of a horse with a glass tube and observed the height of the blood pressure.His experiments, unique

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