Word: arrhythmia
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After Elvis Presley was found dead on his bathroom floor in Memphis on Aug. 16, 1977, the county medical examiner ruled that the king of rock 'n' roll had died of natural causes. The verdict: cardiac arrhythmia, perhaps brought on by longstanding hypertension and atherosclerosis. But rumors, fed by a toxicology study showing traces of at least ten prescription drugs in his body, soon circulated depicting Presley as a medication junkie who had fallen victim to his habit. There was even talk of a "drug trailer" with a live-in nurse on the lush grounds of his Graceland...
When the witches await Macbeth's first visit, the circular screen shows a sort of magnified and pulsating green organism. At "A drum! A drum! Macbeth doth come," we hear--indeed we feel--the pounding of heartbeats; but the heart, significantly, is afflicted with arrhythmia. In the scene where Ross calls attention to the solar eclipse, the circle becomes a view of the period of totality with its brightly flaming corona. When Banquo is murdered and Fleance escapes, the circle becomes a blood-red target with a bull's-eye of blue, the color of heavenly innocence...
Scribbled Notes. Eichmann sat grey-faced and haggard through the details. Occasionally, he seemed to have difficulty breathing. His attorney, Dr. Robert Servatius, reported that Eichmann has suffered two mild heart attacks during the trial, but the government-appointed doctor says he has only an arrhythmia (an irregular pulse) caused by nervous tension. When he was accused of having beaten to death the Jewish boy, Eichmann furiously scribbled notes to his lawyer; his mouth twitched, and he ran his tongue over his teeth. At times, his facial tics seemed uncontrollable. He has obviously lost weight, and his pale blue eyes...
When the patients were hitched up to the electrocardiograph, the doctors deliberately stirred up their emotions. Examples: one patient developed a noticeable arrhythmia (irregular beating) when the doctor mentioned his in-laws; a woman patient's heart began skipping when the doctors referred to her illegitimate child; the same sort of extrasystoles (premature contractions of the heart) showed up on the electrocardiograph when they asked a 61-year-old spinster why she had never married...