II 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE VASCULAR SYSTEM 



IN ANTIQUITY 



THE pulse is the most obvious activity of the circulatory 

 or, as we may call it, the vascular system. Even in very 

 ancient times physicians had noted its existence and 

 observed its variations. Thus in an Egyptian medical 

 papyrus, written about 1500 B.C., the pulse is mentioned, 

 and we learn that its character and force, size and fre- 

 quency, were even then considered to give an indication 

 as to the state of a patient's health. The Egyptian 

 papyrus considers that the pulse is related to the blood- 

 vessels. 



Outside Egypt also physicians attached great im- 

 portance to the pulse. In the writings of the Asiatic 

 Greek physician, Hippocrates of Cos, who lived about 

 400 B.C., we find that the pulse is considered to be due to 

 movements of blood-vessels, and that these have been 

 traced to the heart. As the pulse was even then con- 

 stantly being examined by medical men, this view made 

 them take much interest in the heart and blood-vessels. 

 Physiological systems were therefore very early drawn 

 up, based on the relationship of the heart and vessels 

 to the pulse. 



The best known of these systems is that of the Greek 

 philosopher and naturalist, Aristotle, who taught at 

 Athens, and died in the year 322 B.C. Aristotle was one 

 of the best observers of nature that have ever lived, but 



IO 



