PRELUDES AND PROGRESS Acute coronary occlusion always results in death or does it ?

FREDRICK WILLIUS, a physician and historian of cardiology, claimed in 1945, "The achievement of scientific progress is irrevocably based on past experiences, not alone on the experience of one generation of scientists but rather on the numerous generations which have been predecessors. " ' The recent introduction of thrombolytic therapy with intracoronary streptokinase for acute coronary occlusion has stimulated renewed interest in the consequences of acute obstruction of the coronary arteries.`> Although Pierre Chirac observed the effects of experimental ligation of the coronary arteries in a dog in 1698, there was little interest in this subject until the closing years of the 19th century.5 In 1893, William T. Porter, a young American physiologist, reported that experimental coronary occlusion in the dog was not always fatal. This observation contradicted the results of other investigators who claimed that ligation of the coronary arteries was followed by cardiac arrest in virtually all instances. The scope and sophistication of Porter's experiments on acute coronary occlusion, performed nearly a century ago, will surely surprise present day clinicians and investigators in the field. His thorough studies of the effects of acute coronary obstruction in experimental animals ultimately had a significant impact on clinical medicine. James B. Herrick's recognition of the clinical syndrome of acute myocardial infarction with survival in man can be traced, in part, to Porter's observations. Porter was born in Plymouth, Ohio, in 1862.6 7 The son of a physician, he entered St. Louis Medical College in 1882. The year Porter matriculated the curricu-