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 Anaesthesiology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
3. Dept. Of Anaesthesiology 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 selfpropelled
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 litres 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.