'It warms the cockles of my heart'
What a strange expression that is and yet I’d never really thought about its origins until today but it has been in use since the late 17th century.
Cockles are a type of shellfish, specifically marine bivalve molluscs supposedly associated with the heart because they have a similar shape when viewed from certain aspects. The German name for the cockle is Herzmuschel, meaning heart shell. One theory is that the heart’s ventricular fibres resembled the ridges on a cockle shell.
Richard Lower (1631-1691) was an English physician who studied the heart and experimented with blood transfusions. In 1667 he and Sir Edmund King transfused sheep’s blood into a man. This followed a series of transfusions in France by Jean-Baptiste Denis in 1667. He treated a sick young man with a transfusion of lamb’s blood and the man survived, as did the second man. His third and fourth patients died. Subsequently, in France and elsewhere, blood transfusions were not used until the middle of the 19th century. The first successful blood transfusion of human blood was conducted by James Blundell in 1818.
In 1669 Richard Lower produced a paper, Tractatus de Corde (A Treatise on the Heart) in which he wrote about the ventricles of the heart, the cochleae cordis. From this was derived ‘cockles of the heart’, when the heart was considered the seat of emotions.
Thus, the cockles of your heart are the deepest reserves of pleasurable warm emotion.
My co-blogger has done some great posts on medical history, but I don't remember Lower and King. Thanks for describing their important contributions
ReplyDeleteIt's a fascinating subject - well, most of the history of medical practice is.
DeleteI am certainly glad someone looked into developing the transfusion systems.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the superstitions associated with transfusing animal blood into humans?
DeleteInteresting indeed, especially that centuries ago some survived with animal blood transfusions. As we now know, the heart is a complicated machine but without emotions.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how long the survival was with transfused animal blood.
DeleteThe only interest l have in cockles and the
ReplyDeletelike is to consume...I love shellfish and
crustacea...
Oh! And dear old Molly Malone...! :).
In Dublin's fair city
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"
Alive, alive, oh
Alive, alive, oh
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"..
♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫ ♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫ ♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫ ♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·
I blogged about Molly Malone a while ago.
DeleteI had never heard Herzmuschel and looked at a photo of cockles. Now I understood I have eaten them often in Italy "Spaghetti alle Vongole" Vongole is the Italian word. I never had a blood transfusion but Rick was a blood donor for years and got a silver medal from the Belgian Princess Astrid the sister of the King.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Rick. It's a very valuable thing to do.
DeleteI had wondered where that expression came from. Thank you for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteWe use so many odd expressions, really.
DeleteThat is fascinating that people were transfused with lamb's blood...and lived!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how long they lived . . .
DeleteNot really an expression I would use. I think of it as cockney - Eliza Doolittle.
ReplyDeleteIt's not something I say every day but I do use it occasionally.
DeleteThat's interesting! It boggles my mind, though, that people received blood transfusions with lambs' blood and survived ...
ReplyDeleteI think it's a lovely expression though, all the more now that I know its origins! xxx
I think it's a pleasant expression, too. x x x
DeleteVery interesting! That's something I say often and had zero idea why I was saying it! Thanks for the education.!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that it's crossed the pond, but then, why not?
DeleteAh, one of my (very Scottish) Granny's sayings. The explanation is a bit argh, though. I'm very squeamish...
ReplyDeleteSorry to tickle your squeamish bone . . .
ReplyDelete