[The string of Einthoven's string galvanometer]

The Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) published in 1901 his construction of a string galvanometer. With this apparatus he opened the era for electrocardiography. As the quality of his instrument largely depended on the string of the string galvanometer it is surprising to note that in his publications Einthoven never mentioned the exact way of producing the string. However, Einthoven's hand written laboratory notes are preserved at the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden. From these notes it comes clear what problems Einthoven had with the string. To get a very thin thread of quarts he first used the method of shooting the thread as was described by Boys (1887), later the blowing method of Nichols (1894). The silvering of the thread was done first chemically, later by cathode spray. In all cases premature breaking of the thread was a nuisance. Because of these failures Einthoven might have decided not to publish any details.