Heberden, an English physician, a little over a century ago, pointed out that there existed in cases of true angina pectoris a degeneration of the coronary arteries. These are the arteries which supply the heart itself with blood. As might naturally be expected, their degeneration seriously impairs the function of the heart muscle. The first patient in whom the condition was diagnosed during life was the distinguished anatomist, John Hunter. Hunter was of a rather irascible temperament, and after he had had several of these attacks, and a consultation with Heberden convinced him of their significance, he is said to have remarked, "I am at the mercy of any villain who rouses my temper." Sure enough. Hunter died in a sudden fit of anger within the year after making the remark. Charcot, the distinguished neurologist, suffered from attacks of angina pectoris, and was asked by his family to consult a distinguished heart specialist for them. He said: "Either I have degenerated heart arteries, or I have not. I believe that I have not, and that my attacks are due to a nervous condition of my heart. If I should consult the physician you mention, and he were to tell me that my attacks are due to degeneration of the heart, he would advise my giving up work. That I am not ready to do, and so I prefer to take my own assurance in the matter." A few years later he was found one morning dead in bed. In many of the cases of death in bed, especially where some complaint of pain has been heard during the night, death is due to that condition of the heart arteries which causes angina pectoris, though it may be the first attack which proves fatal.