Vice President Dick Cheney got an electrical shock to return his heart to its natural rhythm. Funny, we were not aware that an electrical jolt to a stone would cause it to start beating. Maybe the doctors should have attached the electrodes to a different part of his anatomy.

Doctors examining Vice President Cheney yesterday discovered an irregular heartbeat and applied an electrical shock to restore a normal rhythm, the White House said, the latest in a long string of episodes that have raised concern about the health of the man next in line for the presidency.

Cheney went to his doctors complaining of a lingering cough, but during the checkup they determined that he was experiencing atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart. His medical team sent the vice president to George Washington University Hospital for further tests, where it was decided that the electrical impulse was needed to restore a regular heartbeat.

"The procedure went smoothly and without complication," the vice president's office said in a statement issued by the White House last night. "The Vice President has returned home and will resume his normal schedule tomorrow at the White House."

Cheney, 66, has a long history of heart trouble, including four heart attacks, most recently after the 2000 presidential election. He had a defibrillator implanted in 2001 to regulate his heartbeat. Doctors replaced the device this summer when its battery began to reach the end of its useful life. Cheney also had surgery in 2005 to treat aneurysms behind his knees and was treated last year after he felt short of breath. After a long trip to Asia earlier this year, doctors discovered and treated a blood clot in his leg.