AbstractGet full access to this articleView all access options for this article.Get accessReferences1. Noble D. , The initiation of the heartbeat, Clarendon Press, (1975).2. Van der Pol B. Van der Mark J. , ‘The heartbeat considered as a relaxation oscillation, and an electrical model of the heart’, Phil. Mag., suppl. 6, pp. 763–775, (1928).