Hello, my name is Ridzerd van Dijk (born January 24, 1950) from The Netherlands. I started in January 2011 a WordPress weblog with quotes and fragments of Rudolf Steiner, in Dutch. I thought it is a good idea to bring also quotes in English, to reach more readers who are interested in Steiner and his work.
Greetings, Ridzerd (September 26, 2012)
Today (January 2022) there are already 2022 email followers. Thank you very much, everyone.
The great Rudolf Steiner Quotes Site 
Is there a way to leave comments on the English site as there is on the Dutch site? Now we can only leave comments in this section “About”.
It would make this site more interesting with comments, but it’s too much for me to read and answer the comments, because I have in total three Steiner sites: Dutch, English and German. Moreover, my knowledge of the English language is very limited.
What you can do, is go to Facebook to the sites Anthroposophia Esoterica or Anthroposophy Q & A. Nesta Carsten shares almost every day there this quotes and there is also the possibility to comment.
Thank you Ridzerd for your reply. Anthroposophy Q & A looks interesting.
Thank you, Antoine, this text is too much for me in English, but probably very interesting for many readers.
By the way Ridzerd, I always get notified of new posts, but never of new comments, although I’ve ticked the appropriate box more than once. Hope it works this time. Is there a quick fix? if not no problem, will visit “About” from time to time as I do now. Thanks.
Hello Antoine, I cannot find an option to send notifications of new comments, but I have changed something on the site. On the page About the latest comments are now on the top. And on the right of the website you can scroll down to Recent comments.
Dear Ridzerd, dear all,
for those wishing to delve deeper,
this scientific article refutes the commonly held belief
that heart = pump.
long but compelling reading.
THE HEART IS NOT A PUMP:
(The following article was published in the Fall-Winter 1995 issue [Volume 5, #1] of “Frontier Perspectives,” the journal of the Center for Frontier Sciences at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa.)
THE HEART IS NOT A PUMP:
A REFUTATION OF THE PRESSURE PROPULSION PREMISE OF HEART FUNCTION
by
Ralph Marinelli 1; Branko Fuerst 2; Hoyte van der Zee 3; Andrew McGinn 4; William Marinelli 5
1. Rudolf Steiner Research Center, Royal Oak, MI
2. Dept. of Anesthesiology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
3. Dept. of Anesthesiology and Physiology, Albany Medical College, NY
4. Cardiovascular Consultants Ltd., Minneapolis, MN. Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, MN
5. Hennipen County Medical Center and Dept. of Medicine, University of Minnesota, MN
Abstract
In 1932, Bremer of Harvard filmed the blood in the very early embryo circulating in self-propelled mode in spiralling streams before the heart was functioning. Amazingly, he was so impressed with the spiralling nature of the blood flow pattern that he failed to realize that the phenomena before him had demolished the pressure propulsion principle. Earlier in 1920, Steiner, of the Goetheanum in Switzerland had pointed out in lectures to medical doctors that the heart was not a pump forcing inert blood to move with pressure but that the blood was propelled with its own biological momentum, as can be seen in the embryo, and boosts itself with “induced” momenta from the heart. He also stated that the pressure does not cause the blood to circulate but is caused by interrupting the circulation. Experimental corroboration of Steiner’s concepts in the embryo and adult is herein presented.
Introduction
The fact that the heart by itself is incapable of sustaining the circulation of the blood was known to physicians of antiquity. They looked for auxiliary forces of blood movement in various types of `etherisation’ and `pneumatisation’ or ensoulement of the blood on its passage through the heart and lungs. With the dawn of modern science and over the past three hundred years, such concepts became untenable. The mechanistic concept of the heart as a hydraulic pump prevailed and became firmly established around the middle of the nineteenth century.
The heart, an organ weighing about three hundred grams, is supposed to `pump’ some eight thousand liters of blood per day at rest and much more during activity, without fatigue. In terms of mechanical work this represents the lifting of approximately 100 pounds one mile high! In terms of capillary flow, the heart is performing an even more prodigious task of `forcing’ the blood with a viscosity five times greater than that of water through millions of capillaries with diameters often smaller than the red blood cells themselves! Clearly, such claims go beyond reason and imagination. Due to the complexity of the variables involved, it has been impossible to calculate the true peripheral resistance even of a single organ, let alone of the entire peripheral circulation. Also, the concept of a centralized pressure source (the heart) generating excessive pressure at its source, so that sufficient pressure remains at the remote capillaries, is not an elegant one.
Our understanding and therapy of the key areas of cardiovascular pathophysiology, such as septic shock, hypertension and myocardial ischemia are far from complete. The impact of spending billions of dollars on cardiovascular research using an erroneous premise is enormous. In relation to this, the efforts to construct a satisfactory artificial heart have yet to bear fruit. Within the confines of contemporary biological and medical thinking, the propulsive force of the blood remains a mystery. If the heart really does not furnish the blood with the total motive force, where is the source of the auxiliary force and what is its nature? The answer to those questions will foster a new level of understanding of the phenomena of life in the biological sciences and enable physicians to rediscover the human being which, all too often, many feel they have lost.
Overview
Implicit in the notion of pressure propulsion in the cardiovascular system are the following four major concepts.
(1) Blood is naturally inert and therefore must be forced to circulate.
(2) There is a random mix of the formed particles in the blood.
(3) The cells in the blood are under pressure at all times.
(4) The blood is amorphous and is forced to fill its vessels and thereby takes on their form.
However, there are observations that challenge these notions. It is seen that the blood has its own form, the vortex, which determines rather than conforms to the shape of the vascular lumen and circulates in the embryo with its own inherent biological momentum before the heart begins to function. Just as an inert vortex in nature pulses radially and longitudinally, we tentatively assume that blood is also free to pulse and is not subject to the pulse-restricting pressure implied in the pressure propulsion concept. The blood is not propelled by pressure but by its own biological momenta boosted by the heart.
When the heart begins to function, it enhances the blood’s momentum with spiraling impulses. The arteries serve a subsidiary mimical heart function by providing spiraling boosts to the circulating blood. In so doing the arteries dilate to receive the incoming blood and contract to deliver an impulse to increase the blood’s momentum.
History
The history of the pressure propulsion premise goes back to Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci. The concept of the heart functioning as a pressure pump that forces the blood, assumed to be amorphous and inanimate, into its vessels and taking on the shape of its vessels was suggested by Borelli 1, a student and a close friend of Galileo, who observed the spiraling heart and compared its function to wringing the water out of a wet cloth. Borelli did not confirm his conjecture with experiments but was supported by misleading drawings of the left ventricle found later in Leonardo’s work. In Leonardo’s Notebooks the left ventricle wall was shown to be of uniform thickness as one expects to find in a pressure chamber. (See Fig. 1-A.)
However, quite the contrary, the left ventricle wall thickness varies by about 1800%, as we found by dissecting bovine hearts. The thickness ranges from 0.23 cm in the apex to 4.3 cm in the equatorial area. The apex wall is so soft and weak that it can be pierced with the index finger. The peculiar variability in the ventricular wall thickness is not in keeping with the idea of the heart being a pressure generator. However, one could conceive of such a wall configuration as maximizing the moment inertia with no static pressure in the ventricle.The thin, flexible, cone shaped apex and suspension from the aorta suggest the accommodation of a twisting function especially, when taking into account the spiral orientation of the myocardial muscle layers2. (See Fig. 1-B.)
The rotary motion of the heart, arteries, and blood has been measured or detected by several investigators 2, 18, 19. With slight variations, the erroneous sketch in Leonardo’s Notebooks has been used in most biology, physiology, and medical texts during the last few hundred years as well as in most modern anatomy texts in the last decades. Thus, false sketches have served to bear witness to a false premise. (See Fig. 1-C.)
William Harvey (1578-1657) attended the University of Padua while Galileo was on its Faculty. He seemed to be deciding in favor of momentum propulsion from his own experiments focusing on the blood flow and pressure propulsion probably under the influence of Borelli who focused on heart motion. At times he implied a momentum propulsion concept: “The auricle (atria) throws the blood into the ventricle” and “the ventricle projects the moving blood into the aorta.” “The blood is projected by each pulsation of the heart.” At other times he used expressions that imply a pressure propulsion concept. “The heart squeezes out the blood.” “The blood is forced into the aorta by contraction of the ventricle.” In a few cases he speaks of the pressure of the blood. However, he also used neutral terms, “the blood is transferred, transfused, transmitted, and sent” – from place to place.
Subsequent investigators who helped to firmly establish the pressure propulsion concept were as follows: Stephen Hales (1677-1761) who inserted a glass tube into the artery of a horse and assumed that the column of blood was balanced out by static pressure. Jean-Leonard-Marie Poiseuille (1799-1869) discovered that arterial dilation was in phase with ventricular ejection. Therefore, he assumed that the dilation was the passive response to the pressure in the blood. Among other things he substituted a mercury manometer for the blood manometer of Hales. Carl Ludwig (1816-1895) invented the recording manometer by adding a float with writing pen and moving chart to Poiseuille’s mercury manometer, and ushered in the age of continuous pressure recording. Finally, Scipione Riva-Rocci (1896-1903) perfected the sphygmomanometer in 1903 and brought the consideration of blood pressure into clinical practice.
The Problem and Its Proposed Solution
The problematic situation in cardiovascular physiology was expressed by Berne and Levy 3 who wrote: “The problem of treating pulsatile flow through the cardiovascular system in precise mathematical terms is virtually insuperable.” A fundamental aspect of this problem relates to the fact that the major portion of our knowledge of cardiac dynamics has been deduced from pressure curves. In fact our knowledge of the system has two independent sources: experimentally determined facts and logically deduced concepts from the pressure propulsion premise. The situation is so confusing that some life scientists are considering chaos theory and mathematics to try to find the order in the system. It will be shown that the chaos derives from a mix of facts and conjectures and not from the nature of the phenomenon itself.
It is our purpose to demonstrate that Borelli’s premise is incorrect and to propose the concept that the blood is propelled by a unique form of momentum. First, the aortic arch does not respond as expected if the blood in it were under pressure. The aorta is a curved tube; as such it has the basic form of the widely used pressure sensitive element of the Bourdon tube gage*.
When the curved tube of the Bourdon gage is subject to positive pressure, it is forced to straighten out as one sees in a garden hose. When subject to a negative pressure, the tube’s curvature is increased. During the systolic ejection (period when blood is ejected from ventricle), the aorta’s curvature is seen to increase, signifying that the aorta is not undergoing a positive pressure, but rather is undergoing a negative pressure 4.
We demonstrate that this negative pressure is that associated with the vacuum center of traveling vortices of blood. Thus the motion of the aorta, when considered as nature’s own pressure sensor, contradicts the pressure propulsion premise. Of course, the swirling streams of the vortex have potential pressure, so any attempt to measure pressure will result in a positive pressure reading due to interrupted momenta.
Movement without applied pressure is movement with momentum, as we observe so dramatically in the long leaps of racing cats. It is also manifest in nature in flowing water in open streams, traveling tornadoes, and jet streams which are actually horizontal spirals of air and moisture that can be thousands of miles long and move around like meandering rivers in the upper atmosphere. A thrown ball in its trajectory also moves without pressure.
What about the measured blood pressure? The concept under consideration here is the well known ratio of force to area:
pressure = force/area (force per unit area)
The pressure is an arithmetical ratio derived from the average force of the moving blood, and as such, indicates the phenomenon of the moving blood indirectly. In a momentum system the pressure is a potential while the object is in motion and becomes manifest when the velocity is impeded:
momentum (mass x velocity) = impulse (force x time)
The blood moves with various velocities in its vortex streams. At the moment of impact of an object moving with momentum, the velocity decreases while the pressure of a certain magnitude appears.
Rudolf Steiner, scientist and philosopher, pointed out on several occasions that the blood moves autonomously 5, and that the pressure is not the cause of blood flow but the result of it 6. The clinicians of old used elaborate methods of describing the nature of the arterial pulse and the ictus cordis or the apex beat, which is the impulse of the heart against the chest wall. Many descriptive terms such as thready pulse of hypovolemic shock, collapsing or water-hammer pulse of aortic incompetence and `heaving’ apical impulse of left ventricular hypertrophy, convey the intuitive understanding of the real mechanism of the heart’s action.
An attempt to characterize left ventricular function by indices such as the maximal velocity of contraction (Vmax) and the maximum change of left ventricular pressure with time (dP/dtmax) suggests the felt inadequacy of the simple pressure propulsion concept.
Flow and Pressure
Considerations
When fluid mass is subject to force in the form of a pressure, it will first resist movement because of its inertia and viscosity. In a pressure driven system the pressure rises faster than the fluid moves; the pressure will peak before the fluid velocity peaks. However, when one simultaneously measures pressure and flow in the aorta, the peak flow markedly precedes the peak pressure. This phenomenon was observed as early as 1860 by Chauveau and Lortet and, as reported by McDonald 7, it contradicts the law of inertia in the pressure propulsion concept. (See Fig. 2.) While this phase relationship actually confirms the momentum propulsion principle, it nevertheless remained a source of conjecture for a considerable period of time in the 1950s until it was `rescued’ with the help of elaborate mathematical modeling for oscillating flow.
An observation in favor of the concept of the blood having its own momentum was reported by Noble 8 in 1968. By simultaneous pressure measurements in the left ventricle and the root of the aorta of a dog, he demonstrated that the pressure in the left ventricle exceeds the aortic pressure only during the first half of the systole and that the aortic pressure is actually higher during the second half. He found it paradoxical that the ejected blood from the ventricle continues into the aorta despite the positive pressure gradient. The erroneous concept of left ventricular pressure exceeding the aortic pressure during entire systole proposed by Wiggers in 1928 is still depicted in many modern texts of physiology. (See Fig. 3A and B.) Noble proposed that this type of pressure pattern could be a result of momentum flow; however, this idea was overshadowed by the edifice of pressure propulsion.
The concept of pressure propulsion sent physiologists and scientists from diverse fields on a crusade that resulted in numerous hypotheses and theories about the cardiovascular system mechanics. The saying that, “fluid dynamists in the nineteenth century were divided into hydraulic engineers who observed what could not be explained and mathematicians who explained things that could not be observed,” still stands true to this very day.
Embryological Observations
Steiner 6 indicated that embryology provides the clues for solving the problem of the circulation. In relation to this, Bremer 9 performed a remarkable series of observations of blood circulation in the very early chick embryo before the formation of the heart valves. He described the two streams of spiraling blood with different forward velocities in the single tube stage heart. Nevertheless, the blood is noted to have a definite direction of flow within the conduits and moves without an apparent propelling mechanism.These streams spiral around their own longitudinal axes and around each other. The streams appear to be a considerable distance apart, do not fill their vessels, and appear to be in discontinuous segments.
In a movie made by Bremer of the beating embryonic heart, one observes that the spiraling blood is boosted by the pulsating heart without creating turbulence in the blood. This suggests that the momentum transfer occurring between the heart and blood is in phase; the heart must somehow sense the motion of the blood and respond to it in turn with a spiraling impulses at the same velocities as the blood, thereby combining blood and heart momenta.
It is assumed that heart muscle layers have the same velocity distribution pattern as the concentric streams of a free vortex to enable heart and blood motions to couple in multi-velocity phase. It was significant to observe that the movement of the heart occurred with minimal inward motion of the heart wall. That the streaming of the blood can be observed before the functioning of the heart is supported by observations that the circulation in the early chick embryo is maintained for around 10 minutes after the heart had been excised 10. Moreover, the inherent mobility of the blood was highlighted by Pomerance and Davies 11, who found an embryo that lived to term without a heart but was born dead and grossly disfigured. Thus, the composite view of the embryonic cardiovascular system tells us that the blood is not propelled by pressure, but rather moves with its own biological momentum and with its own intrinsic flow pattern.
Alternations of Liquid and Gas Vortices in the Blood
The existence of apparently empty space between and within the spiraling liquid stream can be explained as space filled with gas or vapor. However, this hypothesis appears absurd when considering that even small bubbles in the arterial side of circulation can result in significant embolism. Each 100 cm of arterial blood contains 0.3 ml of free physically dissolved oxygen, 2.6 ml of carbon dioxide and 1 ml of nitrogen.
The importance of the small amount of dissolved oxygen is recognized only in extreme cases of anemia when it becomes a significant alternative source of tissue oxygenation. When viewed in terms of a highly differentiated distribution of solid, liquid and vapor/gas components of the composite vortex, this amount of free gas assumes critical importance.
The fact that the gas is elusive in the escaping liquid blood is very much in accord with the finding that the blood, as individualized liquid and gas vortices, moves with pressure-free momentum. The vortex in tornadoes is a very stable cohesive configuration with a vacuum center strongly held together by a centripetal force system. It does not have the physical properties of amorphous gas under pressure that tends to expand.
To further elucidate our observations, we contrived a model ventricle with a sealed, inverted cone-shaped, 0.5 liter clear glass flask filled with water. The instrumentation consisted of installing two tubes within the flask connected to pressure transducers to record vacuum in the vortex center and the potential pressure impulse in the momentum of the swirling water. The signal of pressure versus time was displayed on the oscilloscope screen and also fed to the computer for further analysis. The `ventricle’ was operated by holding it in the hand and giving it a wobble and twist simultaneously to create a vortex. To enhance visibility, we filled the canister with methylene blue colored water.
Even the most energetic operation resulted in virtually no motion of the water. With some experimenting we determined that unless the model ventricle had about 1/3 of its volume as air space, a vortex could not be formed. This led us to reason that the highly organized gas/rarified plasma is a necessary component of the blood vortex. This also raises the question of how the gas and fluid elements can express the life property of locomotion.
The idea of the composite blood cells-plasma-gas vortex is in accord with the `gaps’ in the flow of the embryonic vessels. To evaluate how valid our model ventricle was, we measured its potential impulse pressure (blood pressure as it is typically measured) in the swirling water and the vacuum in its center and found them to be in the range of +130 to -180 mm Hg, respectively. (See Fig. 4.)
Furthermore, we constructed a glass `ventricle’ with an attached `aorta’ and showed that up to 50% of the volume of the liquid could be ejected by subjecting it to a rotary-wobbling impulse, without the inward motion of the `ventricular’ wall.
A Well Known Vortex Function
It is well known that the pattern of blood flow through the heart significantly contributes to heart valve dynamics as has been shown by several studies utilizing contrast cineradiography and more recently color Doppler imaging. Taylor and Wade 12 confirmed stable vortex flow patterns behind the cusps of mitral and tricuspid valves visualizing the fine stream contrast injection. Furthermore, the vortex formation in the aortic sinus has not only been demonstrated in the model heart, but also visualized with three-directional magnetic resonance velocity mapping 13. Without the vortex formation in the aortic sinus, it is conceivable that with the blood rushing out of the left ventricular outflow tract at one to two meters per second, the coronary arteries would be ill perfused, as is the case in severe aortic stenosis (narrowing), where high velocity blood flow does not allow for formation of the normal supravalvular vortices.
Evidence of Momentum Flow in the Adult
Not only is the blood flow well maintained in the embryo before the formation of the valves; there are reports of adults in whom both infected tricuspid and pulmonary valves were surgically removed and not replaced by prosthetic valves, without significant problems 14. Werner et al. 15 using two dimensional echocardiography observed that the mitral and aortic valves were open during external chest compression and that cardiac chambers were passive and did not change in size.
The Perpetual Vortex in the Ventricle
The widely used technique of cardiac output measurement using the thermodilution method is fraught with significant deviations of individual measurements. This technique is based on the principle of warm blood mixing with the bolus of cold saline in the ventricle and detecting the rise in temperature of the resulting mixture in the pulmonary artery. A final value is obtained by averaging the results of several measurements.
By measuring electrical conductivity at various locations in the left ventricle of a dog, Irisawa 16 was unable to show uniform mixing of saline. The conductivity records showed the swirling streams of blood of different concentrations of saline within the ventricles during systole and diastole (the dilation or expansion stage of the heart muscles that allows the heart cavities to fill with blood), further supporting the concept of the highly organized vortical patterns inside the chambers of the heart.
Brecher 17 conducted an experiment on a dog that demonstrated a region of continuous negative pressure in the ventricle by observing the continuous flow of Ringer’s solution from a vessel outside the heart through a cannula positioned in the left ventricle via the atrial auricle. This further confirms our concept of the persistence of the vortex in the ventricle with its negative pressure center and positive pressure impulse potential in its swirling periphery throughout the cardiac cycle. Thus the heart as a minimum functional organ consists not only of its tissue but also of the perpetual vortex of blood which provides the perpetual vacuum in its center that probably helps to pull the blood back to the heart from capillaries and veins. The persistence of the vortex explains the anomaly to engineers of a supposed pump that retains 40 % of its charge with each ejection; a pump is expected to eject close to 100 % of its charge. As a pump concept it is absurd; as presented herein it is ingenious. Pettigrew 2 found three columns of spiraling blood in the left ventricle.
Orbiting Blood Corpuscles
In contrast to the parabolic velocity profile assumed by small particle suspensions in rigid tubes of small diameter under pressure, the cellular elements in the blood arrange themselves in a flow pattern in vivo, such that the heavier red blood cells orbit nearest the center with lighter platelets in more distant orbits surrounded by a sleeve of plasma at the vessel wall. Such an ordered arrangement of blood particle configuration in a sectional view of the arteries denies an omnidirectional pressure propulsion mechanism and confirms the vortex/momenta premise.
One can demonstrate this phenomenon of differentiation by mass in the vortex by allowing spheres chosen for convenience, same size (3 mm diameter), differently colored for different weight, to swirl freely in water. It will be seen that the heaviest spheres orbit nearest the center of rotation. The vortex orbital velocities increase as the orbits approach the center of rotation. On the contrary, during the time that a force couple is applied to rotate the vessel, creating a forced vortex, all of the spheres are forced out to the periphery where the velocities are the greatest as in a centrifuge.
To further confirm the existence of the free vortex velocity pattern in vivo, we probed the blood flow in the carotid artery by positioning a Doppler transducer at 900 to the wall to sense the blood’s swirling motion and processed the Doppler echoes through a variable band pass filter looking for frequency (velocity) distribution patterns. We detected echoes from groupings of particles at 400 to 650 Hz, 650 to 900 Hz and below 200 Hz Doppler-shifted frequencies. These three groupings indicate three separate orbital regions and velocities. Preliminary observations point to a highly ordered distribution of the blood’s cellular and plasma components.
Also, when moving through larger arteries the red cells are in toroidal shape, with their mass at the periphery to maximize the moment of inertia, and are assumed to rotate about their individual axes due to the phenomenon of vorticity (the creation of micro-vortices between swirling layers in the main vortex moving at different velocities). Thus we can expect to find that the billions of red cells are actually traveling in their own unique space as further evidence of the extreme order of the blood motion.
The Spiral Theme
The spiral theme is also apparent in the heart and vessel form and function. The musculature of the heart and arteries all the way down to the pre-capillaries is spirally oriented, and both the heart and arteries move spirally to augment the momenta of the blood 2,(18), 19. The literature on anatomical and physiological considerations of the twisting motion of the heart and vessels is comprehensive and has recently been reviewed 2. The fact that arterial endothelial cell orientation closely follows the blood flow patterns is well established 18, (19).
In a group of patients undergoing reconstructive vascular surgery of the lower extremities, Stonebridge and Brophy observed by direct angioscopic examination that the inner surface of arteries was organized in a series of spiral folds that sometimes protruded into the lumina. They commented that the folds occur as a result of spiral blood flow, which may be more efficient, requiring less energy to drive the blood through tapering and branching arterial system 19. They also observed the vortexing blood with fiber optics in the region of the endoluminal folds. In relation to this, enthusiasts know that rifled gun barrels forcing spin on the bullet make it more stable in flight and therefore more accurate in reaching its target. In the vessels the blood “grooves” its own conduits for the purpose of enhancing its torsional impulse. However, these spiral folds are not found in excised arteries; they are dynamics of living tissue.
Physiological Conclusions
The autonomic vortex movement of the blood discussed herein is inherent to the blood motion. It is not an accidental local disturbance often explained as turbulence or eddy currents, nor a localized phenomena with a single functional purpose as in heart valve dynamics. From a broader view it is to be expected that blood should so move, considering that fluids in nature tend to move curvilinearly, which is their path of least energy. The extreme expression of this tendency in nature, in terms of order, stability and minimal expenditure of energy are tornados and “jet” streams.
Potential Clinical Consequences
These observations should foster an accelerated understanding of the cardiovascular system through a reexamination of the vast amount of valuable experimental data gathered world wide. Since we have observed that the blood has a highly ordered dynamic form and an ordered blood corpuscle motion, and orientation, we should be able to develop devices and techniques to detect small deviations from group and individual norms and thus form a basis for very early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, which remains the number one cause of death in the U.S. Novel, more effective therapies for cardiovascular disease hopefully will also evolve from this new perspective on cardiovascular physiology.
End notes
* The Bourdon tube gage is named after its inventor, Bourdon. Its pressure sensitive element consists of a circularly bent tube that is flattened to increase its sensitivity to pressure. When the tube is subjected to an internal positive pressure it tends to straighten; when subjected to an internal negative pressure its radius of curvature is increased. The deformation of the tube is proportional to the pressure and is transmitted via links and gears to motions that turn a pointer on a scale calibrated to indicate pressure.
Acknowledgments
We thank Larry W. Stephenson, M.D., Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and Beverly Rubik, Ph.D., for their comments on this work.
References
1. Borelli, De Motu Animalium. Rome, 1681.
2. Marinelli, R., Penney, D.G., et al. 1991. Rotary motion in the heart and blood vessels: a review. Journal of Applied Cardiology 6: 421-431.
3. Berne, R., Levy, M., 1986. Cardiovascular Physiology. St. Louis, MO: C.V. Mossy Co., p. 105.
4. Rushmer, R.F., D.K. Crystal. 1951. Changes in configuration of the ventricular chambers during cardiac cycle. Circulation 4: 211-218.
5. Steiner, R., 1990. Psychoanalysis and Spiritual Psychology. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, p. 126.
6. Steiner, R., 1920. Spiritual Science and Medicine. London, England: Rudolf Steiner Press, 24-25.
7. McDonald, D.,1952. The velocity of blood flow in the rabbit aorta studied with high speed cinematography. Journal of Physiology 118: 328-329.
8. Noble, M.I., 1968. The contribution of blood momentum to left ventricular ejection in dog. Circulation Res. 26: 663-670.
9. Bremer, J. 1932. Presence and influence of spiral streams in the heart of the chick embryo. American Journal of Anatomy, 49: 409-440.
10. Manteuffel-Szoege, L., 1969. Remarks on blood flow. J. of Cardiovasc. Surg. 10: 22-30.
11. Pomerance, A., Davies, M. 1975. Pathology of the Heart London, England: Blackwell Scientific Publications, pp. 538-39.
12. Taylor, D.E.M., J.D. Wade. 1973. Pattern of blood flow in the heart. Cardiovascular Research 7:14-21.
13. Kilner P.J., Z. Y. Guang, et al. 1993. Helical and retrograde secondary flow patterns in the aortic arch studied by three-directional magnetic velocity mapping. Circulation 88: 2235-2247.
14. Arbulu, A., I. Asfaw. 1981. Tricuspid valvulectomy without prosthetic replacement. J. Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 82: 684-691.
15. Werner, J.A., H.L. Greene, et al. 1981. Visualization of cardiac valve motion in man during external chest compression using two dimensional echocardiography. Circulation 63: 1417-1421.
16. Irisawa, H., M. F., Wilson, R.F. Rushmer. 1960. Left ventricle as mixing chamber. Circulation Research 8:183-87.
17. Brecher,G.A. 1956. Experimental evidence of ventricular diastolic suction. Circulation Research 4:513-18.
18. Lowell, L.B., L.S. Adamson. 1980. Relationship between blood flow direction and endothelial cell orientation at arterial branch sites in rabbits and mice. Circ. Res. 48: 481-488.
19. Stonebridge, P.A., C. M. Brophy. 1991. Spiral flow in arteries? The Lancet 338:1360-61.
Also by Ralph Marinelli:
The Heart is not a Pump: A Refutation of the Pressure Propulsion Premise of Heart Function,
Torsional Ventricular Motion and Rotary Blood Flow, What is the Clinical Significance?
Galileo Versus Newton.
Antoine – do you have Human Heart, Cosmic Heart by Thomas Cowan MD? He speaks of this as well. Some (very few at this point) doctors are now recognizing Bremer’s work, and therefore what Steiner said over 100 years ago.
Thanks a lot Sarah. Just checked the book on Amazon. The reviews are impressive. Will order it soon. Never thought the idea of the blood pumping the heart ♡ and not the other way round was alive and kicking in a modern book.
So sad how common-sense truths get ridiculed for ages before being accepted as such.
Hi Antoine – glad you found the book!
Yes, it seems to take a long time for these things to be accepted.
Hi Ridzerd –
I am researching to find how Mr. Steiner came to Dornach and chose the site but have not yet found any information. I would greatly appreciate if you cn direct to to a book or website. THANK YOU
Hi Steve, I am sorry to say that I don’t know much about this, But I have found something in Wikipedia, but it is all in German. I translated a part with Google, but it is a bad translation. I hope this is useful for you.
On the initiative of Steiners the architect Carl Schmid-Curtius (1884-1931) [17] was commissioned to draw up designs for a plot in Munich-Schwabing. The building project saw a double-dome structure and received the name Johannesbau [18] after the main design Johannes Thomasius from Rudolf Steiner’s Mysteriendramen. Steiner’s involvement in the plans was limited to the design of the stage and to smaller details. The plan for this building, however, met with considerable opposition from the municipal authorities, the neighboring church, and the local residents, and negotiations on the realization of the construction project proved to be lengthy.
In the autumn of 1912 Steiner met the dentist Emil Grosheintz (1867-1946), an active and well-to-do member, who had already attended the Munich Congress during a lecture series in Basel. Grosheintz invited Steiner to his estate in Dornach, the house of Brodbeck. Since Steiner was now in doubt about the agreement to reach an agreement on the construction project in Munich, he was interested in the neighboring and barely built, slightly hilly terrain in the Birstal. Grosheintz offered him the property and Steiner visited it in March 1913 together with an architect. The site seemed suitable for structural and formal reasons – the canton of Solothurn had at that time no building law at all.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetheanum
Dear Ridzerd,
May I send you a private message?
MIchael
Yes Michael, I will send you my e-mail adress.
Dear Ridzerd,
Being a longtime follower of Steiner, the daily quotes are a great way for me to keep fresh my enthusiasm for his vast wisdom. I often send the quotes on to friends and post them on FB. Your work is an important gift for the spiritual world for with each post you plant a seed and where it may end up growing – you never know. PS. The English is always excellent.
Thank you very much, dear Diana. I also appreciate it very much that you send the quotes often to friends and to FB.
The English translations I find mostly in the RS Archive on internet. But there are also many quotes which are not in the RS Archive, That quotes are translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger and by a translator from Lebanon, who wants to stay anonymous. Thank you for the compliments.
Thank you for your work ! Just stumbled upon it. I have been deeply and profoundly influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s writings and conferences since I read about him. I also have a blog in which I write my personal thoughts in French and English.
Also, funny enough, I’m going to Amsterdam in a few days.
I am embracing more and more the fact that my life’s mission is to spread knowledge, and accurate knowledge. Thus, Steiner has been for me such a strong reference in many fields. He talks about lots of stuff that I cannot take for granted, because I don’t experience it as he did.. though I do feel what he talks about, and it is humbling my self, honoring the depth of life, nourishing vital forces in my spiritual bodies that are really hungry and fond of the fruits he produced.
Anyway, thanks again for your work, I’m glad I found you !
Thank you very much. I am glad too that you found my blog!
I am very appreciate of your work! 🙂
Hi Ridzerd – yes have been able to open them just fine the past several days, so maybe WP had a glitch and they fixed it. That’s a good way to know…if I don’t ‘like’ it at least by the end of the day then you know something is wrong! LOL
Yes, indeed Sarah, you deserve the price for the Most Faithful Follower of mij blogs. 🙂
Thanks Ridzerd – these things can be quite the conundrum!
Hello Sarah, I am sorry to say that there is still no answer on the forum of WordPress. I tried again to contact them on the Help page, but it is not working. Maybe it is only for paying bloggers, I pay nothing. But I presume that the problem is already solved and you get the mails every day, because I receive every day a mail notification of your likes on my blogs.
I wanted to ask the Helpdesk from WordPress, Sarah, but when I click there nothing happens. So I mailed the question now to the Forum of WordPress. As soon as I have answer, I will let you know here on the About page.
Yesterday it worked fine, even from my email link. It seems sporadic. Since I first wrote you (above on Jan 29) it’s been fine until today, but I know it did happen a few times prior to that, sorry didn’t make notes of when tho’.
Hi Ridzerd – just letting you know that I’m getting the page not found notice again…even when I do a search on your blog for Morality/Education, it comes up in the listing and synopsis but when I click on either of the ‘read more’ links (the title or Continue Reading), it takes me to the page not found.
Hi Sarah, was this only today or also yesterday or the other days from 30 January untill now? Because I myself got a notice in red letters: Planning failed. So, if it was only today, then there went something wrong only today, but if it are also other days, I shall write to the help of WordPress.
I will – thanks Ridzerd!
Well, this is strange – I clicked on it again to see if it would load the “like” button and now it’s back to “page not found”.
Yes, very strange. I have also sometimes when I want to click on a “like” button of another WordPress blogger, it does not work.
Just wait a few days, maybe the problem will solve itself. If not, let me know, then I mail to WordPress help.
Ah – I just clicked on today’s link again and it came up. twilight zone…
There have been two or three this week including the one today. However, one post earlier this week showed up a couple days later. No, I’m getting the emails so not going to spam, it is on here that I get the page not found. And no, have not changed any settings on my end. One of those computer mysteries! But not to worry, I always check back a day or so later to see if I can get it then. 🙂
Hi Ridzerd,
Have been getting a “page not found” lately when I try to link to the posts from my email. I cleared cache just now but that did not help. Can find it by search but then clicking on the ‘continue reading’ link does the same thing.
Hi Sarah, was it only one post where you got “page not found” or were it more posts? It is hard for me to say what is wrong. Are you sure you have not changed something in the settings of the computer? Have you also looked in the Spam box? I am sorry about this. If you still have problems with it, I shall mail to the forum of WordPress.
Thank you very much, Antoine and Sarah.
Happy Birthday Ridzerd!!
(thanks Antoine 🙂 )
💥 💥 💥 💥 💥 Happy birthday dear Ridzerd ♡ سنة حلوة يا جميل 💥 💥 💥 💥 💥
Regarding the Steiner quote of Jan 8 –about the “banishment” of the spirit back then and perhaps the soul soon–there is a reference is to “a congress like the one held in 1912.” He is referring to a congress in Constantinople, of which there were 7 major ones. starting in the 4th century. I don’t know which one lead to banishment of the spirit, but I do think that “1912” is in error. Farmer John Peterson P.S. We so appreciate this service!
Yes, I think you are right, mr. Peterson. In the German Gesamtausgabe 177 it is also written 1912, so I left it like that. But it must be probably the year 869. I am not sure. Thanks anyway.
Hello Ridzerd, The link to today’s quote isn’t working. Thought you might like to know…Pam Bickell P.S.–The daily quotes mean so much to me. thanks very much.
Hello Pam, I have no idea why the link is not working. In my own e-mail message of today’s quote it is working good. I also received no messages from other readers that the ink does not work. Sorry, but thanks for telling me.
Well, that’s interesting. I will try again. Thanks for letting me know.
Dear Ridzerd,
I wish you and your good readers a fruitful year ahead.
God bless
Tony
Thank you, bro Antoine, I wish you and your loved ones also a good 2017.
And also to my very valued readers of course.
Thank you, Rod. Maybe you have read it already, but here is another quote where Steiner is talking about Cartesius.
Thanks for being here Ridzerd. I too am a avid admirer of Steiner’s work for what he has laid out for those in tune to examine the nature of existence and the spiritual world. I came here by chance looking for a quote a had read in the lectures on the Mission of Michael: Lecture 3. I did not find the exact one here, much of his words overlap or are rephrased in slightly different fashion. I since found what I was looking for. Here it is:
“In regard to our own soul constitution we can say to ourselves: We have to overcome a certain error. I do not wish to burden you unduly with narrow abstractions and philosophical world conceptions, but I have to draw your attention to such a symptom of modern human evolution as the philosopher Cartesius (Descartes) who lived at the dawn of the modern age. He still knew something of the spiritual which plays through the dying nervous system of man. But he made at the same time the statement: “I think, therefore I am.” That is the opposite of the truth. When we think we are not; for in thinking we have merely the image of reality. Thinking would be of no consequence for us if we would exist within reality with our thinking, if thinking were not merely an image. We must become conscious of the mirror-character of our world of mental images, of our world of thoughts. The moment we become conscious of this mirror character we shall appeal to a different source of reality within us. Of this, Michael wills to speak to us. That means, we must try to recognize our thought world in the mirror-character; then we shall work against the Luciferic evolution. For the latter is greatly interested in pouring substance into our thinking, in trying to delude us with the erroneous belief that thinking is permeated by substance. Thinking contains no substance, but merely image. We shall take substance out of other and deeper levels of our consciousness. That is the one condition. We only need to be conscious that our thoughts make us weak, then we shall appeal to the strength of Michael; for he is to be the spirit who points us to that which is stronger in us than thought, whereas we have learned through modern civilization chiefly to look upon thought, and by doing so have become weak human beings because we have considered thought itself to be something real. We may imagine that we are turning ever so far away from mere abstract intelligence, but this is an illusion; for as modern human beings we are in the bondage of intelligence and do not send out of the deeper levels of our being into thoughts themselves that which ought to be in them.”
By the way, it is nice to see someone from the Netherlands interested in Steiner. My wife is 100 Dutch. I believe her parents are from Nieuwegein and have tulip farm that’s a historical landmark.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
~Rod
Rod, Thank you for this illuminating post. It’s getting my day off to a great start! Farmer John Peterson
Ridzerd, I just want to send a big thank you for your daily Rudolf Steiner posts.
What you do is so very good. And inspiring and thought provoking in so many ways.
I really appreciate your doing this – it must take a lot of your time – I know, because it takes up a lot of mine reading them ((:
I wish I had found Dr Steiner years ago, there is so much to learn and do…
Thank you again for your work!
Thank you, Lu, your words are like sunshine on a rainy day. 🙂
Great, Ming, thank you.
dear Ridzerd:
Very pleasantly surprised to see your site this morning, excited!
I come from China, is founder of hiwaldorf.com, which is the largest website on Waldorf in Chinese world. last month, we are trying to develop a little service about Steiner quotations , now the site was build, the link is: http: //steiner.hiwaldorf.com/
I plan to achieve these functions on this website: 1, according to the topic category for easy retrieval. 2, multiple language versions of every Quotes, easy to learn (provides the interface can be translated into other languages). 3, the content of high quality and short, easy to spread.
World is big, it never arrived at the place, someone like you doing the same thing, great!
PS:My English is not good, this message by means of the google translate complete
Thank you very much, Ming Xia. A very good initiative, your blog http: //steiner.hiwaldorf.com/
You can of course copy as much quotes from my blog as you like. I appreciate it very much. The more people read Steiner, the better it is.
Best regards, Ridzerd
Thank you for your encouragement and support! I’ll introduce you and your blog on my site, a very important partner!
Another moving interpretation!
He could be dubbed “Holland’s Bocelli”…
Wonderful song. Powerful singer. It was a nice surprise. Thanks Ridzerd
Yes, he is amazing. Here is his song of a week before in Holland’s got talent.
Ridzerd, Fabulous post with Bob Bullee. Oh, my…now to dry my eyes.
Thanks, yes he sings so wonderful, he deserves to be worldfamous.
Most nights, my wife Haidy reads Steiner to me before we sleep. Her melodious voice envelopes Steiner’s wisdom with additional richness and depth. The next evening, before she reads again, we sometimes review what she read the night before. Like a dream, the content is often hard to articulate or even remember. It was thrilling and illuminating in the moment, and then it seems to vaporize. Of course, it does not vaporize; it resides within, and percolates, synthesizes, and integrates.
Yes, I have also often that I cannot remember what I read the day before. If you ask me what quote I posted yesterday, I don’t know it, I have to look on the website again first.
After Countess Keyserlingk’s young nephew told Steiner in Koberwitz that he didn’t care for school and didn’t have a good memory, Steiner said that a poor memory can help a person get closer to the spiritual world. I’m encouraged!
Indeed encouraging. Nice to hear this.
I’m really grateful for this blog! I love the bite size chunks of wisdom that I can read daily. 🙂
Thank you. Yes, just small snacks. If we do not eat too much, it’s more delicious. 🙂
Very useful blog, many thanks for posting the quotes. It is always interesting how up-to-date everything sounds. Really inspiring! I am always looking forward to th next post and trying then to read the whole lecture.
Thank you, Sani, I am glad the quotes are useful and inspiring for you.
I read the English Translations of Steiner on a daily basis. I learn new things and reinforce and bring back to consciousness content of Steiner’s work which I have previously read. These quotations provide a daily reminder to approach and see the world and events which I encounter with a more in depth perception. Often they arrive with insight into what is presently happening in my life situation. I thank you for all of your daily efforts. Your work is much appreciated.
Thank you very much. Your interest is highly appreciated also.
From what I’ve seen so far I think you did a great job all around, but then again I’m deeply into Steiner. (one of these days I’ll have to actually look at the recipes in the book! 🙂
Sarah, Thank you. That cookbook was a gargantuan project. It’s title was supposed to be “From Field to Fesat,” but after a standoff with the publisher, I finally consented to it’s current title. It was especially important to me to get readers into relationship to the vegetables as they grow in the fields, and the process of growing them. There are no photos of the dishes that would have been created from the recipes…it’s all about the context of the vegetables on the farm.
I can imagine it was. I used to be a small (very small) organic grower here selling to a few local restaurants and the food co-op, so I completely understand the farm to table issue – and what happens on the farm is of utmost importance to what winds up on the table and ultimately in the digestive system – for all domestic creatures. That was several years ago (before the USDA took over) and unfortunately the concept of biodynamic (as well as the entire anthroposophical approach to nutrition) had not yet come to me. I applaud your efforts to continue the CSA as well as the educational aspect. 🙂
Sarah, Thank you for your comments about the cookbook. It’s now out of print, after selling about 23,000 copies. Here’s a link to it on the Angelic Organnics web page: http://www.angelicorganics.com/ao/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=180. I endeavored to have it be about the forces in food, as opposed to the substance. I was and still am tired of the materialistic pre-occupation with food today. Yikes! I took it about as far as I thought I could without alienating lay-people–those not familiar with Steiner or esoterics in general. Then I tried to balance it out with comedy and stories–in case the message struck one as too pious.
Hello, Ridzerd, Rudolf Steiner is a great inspiration for my wife and me. i look forward every day to the quotes you provide. I often send them on to certain of my friends. Thank you so much for the great service you offer. It is a highlight of my day. I’ll add here that I have read over 100 books of Steiner’s lectures and writing. His work is one of the biggest gifts in my life. Perhaps you will find interesting a day long workshop I offered on “The Farm as a Social Organism,” which was very influenced by Steiner’s work: http://angelicorganics.com/Angelic_Organics___Chicago_CSA/Angelic_Organics___Receive_Our_Vegetables_files/Stir_ANGE_ORG.pdf You probably know my friend in Holland, Jan Diek van Mansfelt.
I know you were directing this to Ridzerd… but had to say I just got Farmer John’s Cookbook, great pieces in it regarding nutrition from a spiritual science perspective. Thank you for this link, I love reading all I can (just need more time…)
Thank you very much for your interest in my Steiner quotes. I appreciate it also much that you send the quotes sometimes to friends.
I do not know Jan Diek van Mansfelt, but I have heard his name many times.
Thanks also for the link. I still have to read it.
Thank you. Donna Lee, I am happy that you appreciate my blog. I am also every day astonished about the universal genius Rudolf Steiner .
hello Rizard, I am compelled to tell you how much I appreciate your blog, it is some years that I visit most days, or when not, I catch up on missed posts. Your blog has become a punctuation in my day, food for thought, more important for remembering from the hundreds of past lectures I have heard, the books I have read. Everyday I am astonished anew about the intrinsic wisdom of our friend ‘mr Steiner’ on every subject. Wishing you a continuance of inspired writings! Donna Lee (Italy)
disarming song..
it brings back even more memories 😐
your repertoire of special songs is worth a wink 😉
Memories, memories, without them we are nothing.
Thanks for the 🌺🌼McKenzie song Ridzerd.
Indeed, Antoine.
Thanks for the song! Brought back memories.
Like yourself, I was born in 1950, in San Francisco.The City has changed greatly over the years….now more expensive than New York!
Keep up the Good Work.
Thank You! Now, how can I make a donation?
O, thank you, David, very nice of you. I don’t need a donation, but if you want to donate something, maybe you do it on the RSarchive. You can read there on top the request for donations and how to donate.
http://www.rsarchive.org/
Just made a donation to The Archive. Thanks again for your lovely service. I read your Quotes regularly here in Marin (across the Golden Gate Bridge near SF).Cheers.
Thank you very much, David.
San Francisco, you’re gonna meet some gentle people there…(Scott McKenzie)
Happy Birthday Ridzerd!! Thank you for all you do!
(you beat me to it again Antoine! 🙂
Thank you, Sarah and Antoine.
Here’s your consolation prize Sarah! :
About Horses That Can Count and Calculate
A Lecture given by Rudolf Steiner
Stuttgart, February 18, 1913
Unknown GA
Link:
http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19130218p01.html
Thank you Antoine! 🙂
Here’s something that might interest you Sarah. it has to do with your favoured animal 🐴 :
” Someone who knows about these things will be aware that elemental spirits of a particularly good kind develop if there is a good relationship between a rider and his horse”
Feelings, thoughts and inner impulses develop through the connection certain people have to animal groups that provide good nourishment for those salamandar-like spirits.
[…] through those feelings, the shepherd develops abilities that allow the elementals to murmur the things they know into his ears.”
(Source: Good and Evil Spirits and their Influence on Humanity, collected works of Steiner, Lecture 11, Berlin, 1 June 1908.)
Ah, nice Antoine, thank you! I am blessed with the ability to just be with Horse. The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s ears…I think that proverb had much truth to it.
Happy Birthday Ridzerd 😉
Thank you also, Naomi. Your words are like sunshine on a cloudy day. You are the light in the autumn of my life. 🙂
Thank you so much for these pearls of wisdom that reach my inbox each day, on the days I am unable to read a full lecture at least I have these quotes to keep me nourished.
I am so very grateful for them and for the work you do. Blessings
Hello from Japan.
I have wanted to read books written by Steiner in English, but, as for me, it is very difficult with my poor command of English.
I wanted to read quotes of Steiner at least and, looking for the Internet, arrived here.
You’re very kind.
I come to be able to talk with the foreigner while quoting of Steiner in this little by little.
Thank you very much, Michiko, I am very pleased that there is also interest in Japan for my Steiner quotes.
美智子は、私はシュタイナーの引用のための日本への関心もあることを非常に嬉しく思います、ありがとうございました。
Translated English-Japanese by Google Translate
I study Steiner in your site. As for English,relations of the subject and the predicate in the sentence is written clearly unlike Japanese. Therefore I understand that Steiner wants to say clearly. The words of Steiner are not get tired. In addition, I answer my question from a basic point.
Thank you for opening in such a site.
Hi Michiko,
that’s very cool you’re interested in Steiner. How did you find out about him? Are people in Japan familiar with his work? I’m glad you found your way here!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! I have studied Rudolf Steiner for over 20 years now and recently have been without my books for reading. So happy to have stumbled upon this site. It is wonderful to be able to catch a glimpse of the occult world on here while doing my day to day duties.
Thank you very much also for you interest in my Steiner site, Autumn. Very nice to hear this.
Autumn joins in Autumn. How lively.
If this lovely site did not have such a lovely name, I would suggest Ridzerd called it: Little Flowers of Rudolf Steiner (after Little Flowers of St. Francis). It is really like picking a flower of a different scent and colour on each site visit. 🌹🌼🌷🌻🌺
Welcome to our site and God bless.