Hyperbaric Oxygen and Your Heart

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Hyperbaric Oxygen and Your Heart

 

 

by Medical Journalist Morton Walker, D.P.M., USA

© Copyright 1998 by Dr. Morton Walker

(Explore Issue: Volume 9, Number 1)

http://www.explorepub.com/articles/cardiactherapy1.html

 

 

What's the first treatment an emergency room doctor would administer to

you if you were wheeled into the E.R. with angina pain, or a heart

attack?

 

After evaluating my question, if your answer is " An oxygen mask, " you

are correct.

 

In angina pectoris, you have a literal suffocation of the heart. It

simply isn't getting the oxygen it needs because of an insufficient

blood supply that ordinarily carries cellular oxygen molecules. This

deficiency can be from blocked arteries heading toward the heart, or

from a temporary vasoconstriction of those same arteries as occurs in

stress.

 

In a heart attack, there is an occlusion, also due to blockage or

constriction, but such clogging involves the coronary arteries which

actually feed the heart muscle. This lake of nourishing blood to the

pumping muscle most commonly leads to " myocardial infarction "

(development of a dead part within the heart) and could very well result

in the victim's death.

 

Recognition of oxygen's physiological importance is age-old knowledge,

but only recently has medical science provided us with guidelines as to

how much and when. Simple cause and effect has been the basis of most of

our past wisdom. For example, we feel better when we exercise,

increasing our oxygen intake. Today, many doctors are utilizing

hyperoxia -- forcefully increasing oxygen intake by use of an oxygen

(O2) mask or chamber -- as a part of their overall therapy in reversing

or treating heart disease.

 

There are perhaps only two main reasons why all doctors aren't routinely

using pressurized oxygen hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). First is

ignorance as to its efficacy for a wide variety of ailments, and second

is the unavailability of hyperbaric medicine chambers for the delivery

of oxygen under pressure.

 

 

 

The American Heart Association Endorses HBOT for Heart Attack

After being exposed to the pioneering work of hyperbaricist George Hart,

MD, at the American Heart Association's (AHA) 65th Scientific Session

held in New Orleans on November 16, 1992, the AHA issued a press release

praising the use of hyperbaric oxygen to boost emergency treatment for

heart attack. It advised medical journalists that hyperbaric oxygen

(HBO) as treatment enhances clot-dissolving drugs' ability to minimize

heart damage and save the lives of heart attack patients.

 

The addition of HBOT resulted in earlier relief of chest pain and

electrocardiogram (ECG) changes toward normal in patients treated with

the clot-dissolver, tissue plasminogen activator (TPA). HBOT also tended

to preserve more of the heart's blood-pumping capacity, compared to

treatment with TPA alone, said Myrvin H. Ellestad, MD, director of

research at the Memorial Heart Institute at Long Beach Memorial Medical

Center in Long Beach, California.

 

Laboratory studies have shown that hyperbaric oxygen minimizes cell

damage and death by reducing fluid accumulation in the injured cells.

" We believe the same thing happens in patients, " said Dr. Ellestad. " In

heart attacks, sort of the last straw that kills cells is increasing

cell water, which finally breaks the cell membrane. We believe

hyperbaric oxygen's primary effect in heart attack may be to reduce

edema [fluid accumulation] in heart cells. "

 

The Long Beach group studied forty-six heart attack patients, twenty-two

of whom received only TPA. The remaining twenty-four patients got TPA,

followed by two hours of treatment in a hyperbaric chamber. It provided

a pure oxygen environment with twice the normal atmospheric pressure

(two atmospheres absolute).

 

Patients treated with HBOT felt chest pain relief an average of 271

minutes after the onset of heart attack symptoms, a statistically

significant difference compared to the 671 minutes for patients who

received only TPA. Dr. Ellestad said patients generally reported an

easing of chest pain within ten minutes of entering the hyperbaric

chamber.

 

HBO therapy reduced by 50 percent the time required for the heart to

resume normal electrical activity, as determined by an electrocardiogram

(ECG) finding called " ST normalization. " ( " S " and " T " waves are two

points on an ECG tracing.) The time was 188 minutes for patients who

went into the chamber vs 374 for those who did not.

 

" We've clearly shown that pain goes away very quickly and ST elevation,

which we think is a sign of the heart muscle dying, returns to normal

more rapidly, " said Dr. Ellestad. " To me, the most dramatic aspect of

the study was watching as ST elevation returned to normal after a

patient went into the chamber. That tells me we're salvaging heart

muscle cells. "

 

There's some evidence that HBOT decreases activity by oxygen free

radicals. These are unstable molecules known to damage or destroy cells.

 

 

Two other findings provided additional evidence of benefits from HBO

therapy. Patients sent to the chamber had significantly lower blood

levels of the enzyme creatine phosphokinase, which is released during a

heart attack and indicates the extent of heart muscle damage. Patients

treated in the hyperbaric chamber also had a higher ejection fraction, a

measurement that reflects how well the heart can pump blood.

 

Dr. Ellestad sees potential for even better results with HBOT if

patients can begin oxygen therapy sooner. Transporting patients to the

chamber and preparing them for treatment require about thirty minutes.

He and his colleagues hope to reduce that time at Long Beach Memorial by

relocating the hyperbaric chamber to the hospital's emergency room.

 

Physician interest in HBO treatment for heart attack patients goes back

a number of years; however, the interest had dwindled after the

emergence of TPA and other clot-dissolving agents. Then, an unusual

event prompted Dr. Ellestad and his colleagues to take another look at

HBOT.

 

George Hart, MD, director of the hyperbaric unit at the hospital and an

investigator in the study reported at the AHA 1992 New Orleans meeting,

began having chest pains and decided to treat himself in the oxygen

chamber. The HBOT relieved his heart pain in minutes. Being friends, Dr.

Ellestad checked out what Dr. Hart explained about his HBOT experience.

 

Hyperbaric chambers are not standard equipment at hospitals and medical

centers. If HBOT proved beneficial for a hospital, most likely it could

afford the $80,000 to $90,000 cost for a single-patient chamber. This is

the type used in the test at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. HBOT adds

about $200 to the daily cost of treating a heart attack patient, Dr.

Ellestad said.

 

Besides Drs. Ellestad and Hart, investigators in the study included

Adrian H. Shandling, MD, John C. Messenger, MD, Bruce VanNatta, MD,

Daniel D. Whitcraft, MD, Roger H. Rizi, MD, Ronald H. Selvester, MD,

Michael Hayes, MD, and Clyde W. Smith, MD.

 

 

 

More Studies Show the Efficacy of HBO for Heart Disease

The Long Beach Memorial Hospital's investigation is just one among

thousands proving the efficacy of HBO for heart disease. Medical

professionals and hyperbaric scientists around the world have proven the

benefits of applying HBO for the reduction of actual reversal of most

heart disease signs and symptoms. Their presentations are highly

significant for furthering heart health.

 

Another significant scientific meeting on hyperbarics, the April 26-30,

1989 conference in Orlando, Florida, under the title " New Horizons in

Hyperbaric Medicine -- A Worldwide View, " furnished a platform for an

international panel of hyperbaric experts. There, more specialists on

oxygen therapy were gathered in one place than ever had come together

before. For example, three-and-a-half years before the AHA announcement

of HBOT effectiveness for enhancing clot-dissolving drugs, the renowned

Russian hyperbaricist Serge I. Rodionov, MD, who practices HBOT in

Moscow, told how pharmaceutical agents prescribed for the treatment of

cerebrovascular disease, cardiomyopathy, and heart failure are

potentiated by hyperbarics. Drug effects increased when the heart

patient was placed in a pressure chamber for just one hour per week.

 

By the date of his 1989 lecture, Dr. Rodionov affirmed there were over

3,000 HBO chambers strategically located around the country, which was

then the original Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And, he said,

acceptance of the modality was gaining in the medical community for the

treatment of heart disease. Today, just in the newly formed smaller

nation of Russia itself, 3,000 chambers have been installed and are

functioning.

 

Thirteen Benefits the Heart Receives from Oxygen Under Pressure

The nature of heart disease is such that insufficient oxygen is getting

to the heart. This results in the various discomforts which affect a

patient: difficulty breathing, inability to exert oneself, pressure in

the chest, and other problems. Breathing normal air results in a mere

0.3 ml of oxygen dissolving into each 100 ml of blood. Any other oxygen

is bound by the hemoglobin attached to red blood cells, and it

essentially becomes unavailable. The need in heart disease is to get

more oxygen molecules into the body and brain.

 

To offset this oxygen deficiency, David Steenblock, DO, advocates using

HBO as an internal organ strengthener. For this reason, Dr. Steenblock

attends hyperbaric oxygen informational meetings around the world. The

Mission Viejo, California wholistic osteopathic physician confirms the

importance of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in heart health by providing us

with proof of HBO's efficacy as presented in various international

conferences.

 

From the published scientific papers on HBO, Dr. Steenblock offers

thirteen true benefits that the heart receives from exposure to oxygen

under pressure. Clinical investigations by prime users of HBO from

around the world, especially from Russian exponents, have shown the

following heart advantages:

 

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy applied to the heart during critical loss of

oxygen exerts a remarkable defibrillating effect so that tremulous,

rapid, ineffectual contractions are prevented; total death of the heart

muscle cells is avoided; and abnormal dilation of the blood vessels with

subsequent complications is controlled.1

Using HBOT in conjunction with various drugs enhances the effectiveness

of both the oxygen and the drugs.2,3,4,5

Combining HBOT with drugs completely arrests or considerably reduces

angina attacks in patients otherwise resistant to prolonged drug

treatment.6,7,8.9

Patients with cardiac pain from ischemic heart disease experience total

relief, along with disappearance of dyspnea (difficulty breathing), when

they receive HBOT.10,11

Administering HBOT lowered elevated blood cholesterol in all 220

patients cited in a study conducted by the Russian internist Dr. S.A.

Borukhov and her colleagues.12

HBOT normalized electrocardiograms in all patients in that same Soviet

study.13

For diminished muscular power of the heart, HBO exerts long-term

normalizing effects for circulating blood through the body.14

HBOT exerts antiarrhythmic action on the heart.15,16,17

HBOT increases heart patients' tolerance to hard work and taking on

physical loads.18,19

HBO taken at three atmospheres of pressure (a pressure rarely used in

the United States) protects any individual's heart from damages due to

lack of oxygen.20

One's entire heart conduction system functions better from receiving HBO

treatment (even when prophylactically administered).21

Without taking drugs of any kind, breathing oxygen under pressure

stabilizes impaired fat metabolism and improves liver function for

someone with ischemic heart disease.22

Due to its characteristic of mollifying stress and distress, HBO has

long-term and short-term protective effects for a person with a heart

problem.23

How HBOT Further Enhances the Ailing Heart

As a result of elevating the atmospheric pressure inside the hyperbaric

chamber by 1-1/2 to 2 atmospheres absolute (ATA), plus administering 100

percent oxygen to the cardiac patient by means of a face mask, this ill

person receives a sharply increased amount of oxygen dissolved in the

plasma. Such improved blood oxygen content tends to give the damaged

heart an assist in oxygenating body tissues which provides time for the

myocardium to recover and develop extra circulation around the area of

the infarct, a localized area of decay in the heart muscle resulting

from the interruption in blood supply.24

 

As shown in the studies cited above, hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the

relief of myocardial infarction has tremendous value for recovery of the

patient. It increases oxygen intake for building collateral circulation

in cases of angina pectoris, as well. HBO should not be reserved only

for patients in cardiac intensive care units.

 

Family practice physicians sometimes stop themselves from requesting HBO

therapy for their cardiac patients because they suspect there's a

vasoconstrictive effect of HBO. Erroneously the doctors may conclude

that such treatment is dangerous and shouldn't be utilized on already

constricted blood vessels. That's not true! Medical studies

well-performed according to the scientific method show that hyperoxic

vasoconstriction occurs in healthy tissue only. On the damaged ischemic

tissue, vasodilation that occurs naturally counteracts any

vasoconstriction produced by HBO. Higher amounts of blood flowing to

areas of hypoxia create the opening of collateral blood vessels.25,26

 

When embarking on a trial of HBO therapy it's appropriate to employ

other effective methods of reversing heart disease such as the eating of

a high-fiber and low-fat diet, engaging in an exercise regime designed

for one's personal capabilities, ceasing the smoking of cigarettes or

drinking excess alcohol, and taking chelation therapy (see four books on

this subject, all written by Dr. Morton Walker, The Chelation Way, Avery

Publishing, 1990; The Chelation Answer, Third Opinion Press, 1994; The

Healing Powers of Chelation Therapy, New Way of Life, 1996; and

Everything You Should Know About Chelation Therapy, Keats Publishing,

1997). Additionally advantageous are meditating for stipulated periods

each day, ingesting nutritional supplements, and doing other good things

for oneself. In the matter of prevention or reversal of heart disease,

it would be in this manner of lifestyle improvement that one might

maximize the outcome of adding HBO to the treatment program of a heart

patient.

 

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an assist to the body's own healing

mechanism. By itself, HBO would probably not offer the desired results.

Numerous studies on animals conducted in the 1960's, in fact, showed

unfavorable results using the treatment for heart disease. A closer look

at the studies, however, reveals that they were performed on

anesthetized dogs, laying helplessly on a table with various tubes

running in and out of them. These animals were given drugs to induce

some type of heart malfunction, then hyperbaric oxygen was administered,

usually at far too high a pressure, for either too long or too short a

time.

 

Such procedures on animals don't translate neatly into the human

condition. The human patient can alter his or her risk factors by

improving diet, stopping smoking, increasing exercise, and doing those

various other beneficial things that I've mentioned. Definitely,

chelation therapy taken along with the HBO received at the proper

pressure, for the time needed to effect heart disease reversal, is the

ideal way to go. Retaining risk factors is ridiculous, but that was done

in experiments with the anesthetized dogs. Such experiments were fated

for failure and did fail. Still, the studies were reported in the

clinical journals and threw off physician/readers from following the

correct path as regarding the use of hyperbaric oxygen as therapy for

angina, myocardial infarction, and other heart ailments.

 

As we have stated, very little oxygen is dissolved in blood plasma at

the normal atmospheric pressure of 102 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

HBO therapy forcefully puts oxygen unbound by hemoglobin into the blood

plasma. This increases the blood oxygen level fourteen times to 1433 mm

Hg and thereby delivers much greater quantities of oxygen to

oxygen-starved tissues. Those organs, tissues, and cells that have been

suffering from a lack of oxygen because of poor circulation or damage

then will become revitalized and begin to function more effectively.

 

 

 

The London Westminster Hospital Experience with HBOT

In London, C.J. Gavey, MD, chief of the cardiac department at

Westminster Hospital, pressurized heart-attack patients to save their

lives. For four days, He subjected them to 2 ATA in 100 percent oxygen

for two hours, followed by a rest of one hour in plain air, and then

continued the cycle of two hours in the chamber and one hour out. His

idea was to send oxygen through the unblocked blood vessels to the

ischemic tissues at the edge of the infarct area, preventing the

impending death of additional heart muscle. He figured that this

procedure might avoid the triggering of fatal arrhythmias.

 

Forty men and women who had suffered serious heart attacks within

twenty-four hours were treated this way by Dr. Gavey. They ranged in age

from thirty-five to seventy-two years. Surviving their cardiovascular

accidents as a result of undergoing the HBO procedure directly upon

their admittance to London's Westminster Hospital were 92.5 percent of

the acutely affected patients. Of these thirty-seven initial survivors,

three died within fifteen days, giving a final survival rate of 85

percent.

 

Quite significant was the reduction of heart pain experienced by these

patients. Almost a quarter-century before Dr. Myrv in Ellestad made his

AHA conference presentation, Dr. Gavey reports that twenty-three of his

patients arrived in severe pain and fourteen had difficulty breathing.

Once settled into the pressure chamber, none of the patients felt any

more pain. Within thirty minutes of pressurization, their breathing

problems eased too.

 

Inasmuch as only the really critical cases (those who potentially could

die on the spot) have been administered HBO, such results were quite

heartening to the Westminster Hospital authorities. They considered that

HBO therapy saved some patients from fatal cardiogenic shock. The

optimum hyperbaric regimen for cardiac conditions, however, was not

defined and was still being decided upon twenty-five years after Dr.

Gavey's clinical experiment.27 Dr. Ellestad confirmed Dr. Gavey's

report.

 

How Strange It Is That Cardiologists Don't Prescribe HBOT

If heart disease allows insufficient oxygen to get into the heart muscle

as stated earlier, various symptoms that most of us can identify must

result. With O2 being inhaled at normal atmospheric pressure but not

preventing cardiovascular problems for the more than 1,200,000 heart

attack victims each year in the United States alone, obviously greater

amounts of this life-giving element must be obtained. HBO administered

at the established two atmospheres absolute to force O2 into the body,

allows the doctor to effect 4.3 ml of oxygen being dissolved into each

100 ml of blood. Thus a cardiologist or other doctor is furnishing

therapeutic oxygen amounting to a fourteenfold increase! Simply, this is

Henry's gas law of physics at work.

 

Using modern equipment in this way, any skilled physician can safely

elevate available oxygen for his patient to provide pain relief, to

prevent fatal arrhythmias or shock, and to allow time for collateral

blood circulation to develop. Yet, HBO seldom is used in the U.S. to

reverse heart disease before it becomes near fatal. Isn't it strange

that cardiologists don't routinely utilize hyperbaric oxygen as a valid

therapy? Even odder is that they almost never employ the modality to

benefit their cardiac patients at all. That's because the average

American allopathic physician, traditionally trained primarily in the

use of drugs and surgery, usually fails to have access to and certainly

does not personally own a hyperbaric chamber. Moreover, the doctor

probably is unfamiliar with what taking oxygen under pressure can do for

promoting human homeostasis.

 

We have a most peculiar conundrum here, for which the answer would be

funny if we were not dealing with matters of life and death. Note the

irony: Of the hundreds of published scientific studies applied to heart

disease, the set of elements you will seldom read or hear about is the

mention of diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking habits of the cardiac

patient in conjunction with administering HBOT to him or her. This is a

commonsense procedure: the use of hyperbaric oxygen with one's everyday

healthy lifestyle.

 

Instead, detailed instructions usually are given only for the various

drugs being tested with HBO. Combining hyperbaric oxygen with those

other more vital factors involving lifestyle, poor lifestyle practices

probably being the source of heart weakness or disease in the first

place, could optimize the outcome for an involved cardiac patient.

 

In this article I have focused on hyperbaric oxygenation for

cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack, in which it has found

effectiveness. A few of the heart difficulties for which HBO has

produced results are mentioned.

 

Assuredly, the numerous studies carried out in Russia, Japan, Australia,

England, and other countries illustrate how hyperbaric oxygen therapy

assists the heart's own healing mechanism. Being a noninvasive,

nonsurgical type of regimen, HBO helps the person with a weak heart

carry on his or her normal life with activities while the healing goes

on.

 

 

 

About the Author

Dr. Morton Walker writes full-time as a professional medical journalist.

He specializes in topics concerning wholistic medicine, orthomolecular

nutrition, and alternative methods of healing. Dr. Walker has authored

70 published books plus 1900 magazine and clinical journal articles.

Among his recently published books is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Using

HBO Therapy to Increase Circulation, Repair Damaged Tissue, Fight

Infection, Save Limbs, and Relieve Pain. See page 8 for more

information.

 

References

Dmitrieva, E.M., et al. " Hyperbaric oxygenation in experimental therapy

of acute regional hypoxia of the myocardium and brain. " In: Abstracts

VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp. 276-277.

Glants, B.R. " Therapeutic effects of mercazol in combination with

hyperbaric oxygenation in the treatment of acute myocardial hypoxia. "

In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, p.

275.

Kogan, A.H., et al. " The question of the use of antioxidants,

beta-adrenergic blockers, and cardiac glycosides in oxygen therapy of

acute myocardial infarction. " In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine,

Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp. 275-276.

Yefuni, S.N., et al. " The use of hyperbaric oxygenation in combined

therapy of acute myocardial infarction. " In. Abstracts VII Int. Cong.

HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp. 264-265.

Zamotaev, I.P. et al. " Hyperbaric oxygenation in the treatment of

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Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, p. 269.

Op. Cit. Yefuni, S.N.

Kolomeitseva, S.P., et al. " Hyperbaric oxygenation as an adjunct in the

treatment of ischemic heart disease. " In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO

Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, p. 266.

Kuleschova, M.R., et al. " Physical rehabilitation of patients with

ischemic heart disease using hyperbaric oxygenation. " In: Abstracts VII

Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp. 268-269.

Golyakov, V.N., et al. " Hemostasis in patients with ischemic heart

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1986.

Borukhov, S.A., et al. " HBO effect on clinico-biochemical blood indexes

in patients with ischemic heart disease. " In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong.

HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp. 271-272.

Ashfield, R., et al. " Severe acute myocardial infarction treated with

hyperbaric oxygen. Report on forty patients. " Postgrad. Med. J.

45:648-654, October 1969.

Op. Cit. Borukhov, S.A.

Ibid.

Isakov, Y.V., et al. " Hyperbaric oxygenation in combined treatment of

paroxysmal tachyarrhythmias, in ischemic heart disease. " Kardiologiia

21(4):42-45, April 1981.

Ivleva, V.I., et al. " Effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on the activity

of the sympathoadrenal and Kallikrein-Kinin systems of blood in some

disorders of cardiac rhythm. " Ter Arkh 53(5):66-68, 1981.

Malinovsky, N.N., et al. " The use of hyperbaric oxygenation in cardiac

arrhythmia. " In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept.

2-6, 1981, pp. 284-285.

Timchuk, I.D., et al. " Hyperbaric oxygenation in complex treatment of

patients with disorders of rhythm and conduction of heart. " In:

Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, p. 286.

Op. Cit. Kolomeitseva, S.P.

Kulkybaev, G.A., et al. " Functional state of the cardiovascular system

and lungs of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease under

conditions of hyperbaric oxygenation. " In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO

Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp. 269-270.

Kostyukov, V.V., et al. " Coronary circulation and oxygen regime of the

myocardium at a low cardiac output and HBO. " In: Abstracts VII Int.

Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, p. 276.

Rugenyus, Y.Y., et al. " The effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on the

conductive system of the heart in patients with ischemic heart disease. "

In: Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, p.

271.

Zhumanov, K.D., et al. " A study on metabolic indexes in patients with

chronic ischemic heart disease subjected to hyperbaric oxygenation. " In:

Abstracts VII Int. Cong. HBO Medicine, Moscow, Sept. 2-6, 1981, pp.

270-271.

Op. Cit. Ashfield, R.

" Hyperbaric unit puts pressure on heart deaths. " Medical World News, May

24, 1968.

Tufano, R., et al. " Hyperbaric oxygen effects on pain relief in patients

with vascular disease. " J. Hyperbaric Medicine, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1988.

Visona, A., et al. " Hyperbaric oxygenation in the treatment of

peripheral vascular disease. " J. Hyperbaric Medicine, Vol. 2, No. 4,

1987.

Trimble, V.H. The Uncertain Miracle: Hyperbaric Oxygenation. (Garden

City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), pp. 124 - 127.