Two unsung heroes of closed-chest cardiac pacing: Green and McWilliam.

In the latter half of the last century, cardiorespiratory arrest was not uncommon due to the anesthetic used (chloroform). Animal studies showed that the heart could be paced. One physician (Green) resuscitated 5 of 7 cardiac arrest patients with single stimuli applied to body surface electrodes. Another (McWilliam) issued a proposal for adoption of closed-chest pacing and provided information on the procedure. The following historical footnote describes these pioneering events in the history of cardiac pacing.