Editor's Introduction xv 



Soon after, Harvey settled in London and began to 

 practise. In 1607 he was elected a Fellow of the 

 Royal College of Physicians, and in 1615 was ap- 

 pointed Lecturer in Anatomy to that ancient and 

 important foundation. In 1609 he had been elected 

 physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 



In 1616, the year Shakespeare died, Harvey probably 

 began in his classes to teach that doctrine which has 

 immortalised his name. He began to show his pupils, 

 and whoever else desired to be present, from dis- 

 sections of the human body and of animals, and by 

 experiment when necessary, the true office of the 

 heart, the true course of the movement of the blood 

 in the body. This he continued to do for more 

 than ten years, listening patiently to objections, indeed 

 inviting criticisms so that the complete truth might 

 be discovered free from any falsities or misconceptions. 

 At last, upon the earnest entreaties of his most dis- 

 tinguished medical friends, he was persuaded to 

 publish his discovery to the world. These facts are 

 of interest in throwing some lighten Harvey's character. 

 A discoverer who waits years before publishing what 

 he is firmly convinced in his own mind is a new idea, 

 not to say a great discovery, must be possessed of that 

 calmness of mind and abnegation of self which we 

 associate with the true philosopher. A discoverer who 

 employs so long an interval to give opportunity for 

 criticism, and to deal with objections, must indeed be 

 wedded to truth. 



This devotion to truth, however, had its reward, for 

 it resulted in one of the most remarkable scientific 

 treatises ever written. When, in 1628, Harvey pub- 

 lished at Frankfort-on-Main, his book on " The Move- 

 ment of the Heart and Blood," he gave his reasons 

 for believing the blood to circulate, and explained the 

 use of the heart in language so simple, so clear, so 

 exact, that now, nearly three hundred years afterwards, 

 the most accomplished physiologist can hardly improve 



