Ae Fond Kiss *

I trust that you are all enjoying the Feast of Saint Valentine. Valentinus is said to have been imprisoned and executed by the Romans for performing weddings for soldiers, who were forbidden to marry. Hence his connection with love and romance.

The heart has long been thought of as being the source of human emotions, for example in antiquity by the philosopher Aristotle and the anatomist Galen, hence its appearance on today's Valentine's cards and the like. So, today, I bring you a 19th century anatomical model of a human heart. May it stir your passions on this special day. Enjoy yourselves.

* Robert Burns, 1791