Auricular Flutter

Auricular flutter is that condition in which the auricles contract rhythmically and coordinately at a greatly accelerated rate, the lower limit of which has been arbitrarily placed by Lewis¹at 200. The rate of the ventricles is usually slower than that of the auricles. This difference in rate is due to the fact that the ventricles fail to respond to every impulse originating in the auricles. The term "auricular flutter" was first applied clinically by Jolly and Ritchie²in 1911; but the condition had been previously described as occurring in both humans³and animals.⁴Before the term was generally accepted, we find auricular flutter referred to as "jugular embryocardia," "auricular tachysystole," "auricular tachycardia," and "auricular tachyrhythmia."⁵From the time that this disturbance in mechanism had been first recorded, until 1914, when Ritchie published his book, fifty-three cases, including those of Ritchie, had been reported. This fact, especially in view of