ffi *e* 



SERVETUS 



THE next contribution to our knowledge of the circula- 

 tion comes from a most unexpected source. It is not 

 found in a scientific work but in a book on Theology. 

 The recurrence of the discussion in such a place suggests 

 how wide was the interest taken in the problem. The 

 author of this work was Michael Servetus. As his career 

 was one of the most remarkable and tragic in the whole 

 history of science, we shall say a few words about him. 



Michael Servetus was born in 1511 at Tudela. That 

 town is situated in Navarre, a district in the north 

 of Spain, close to the French frontier. Servetus was 

 educated mainly in France, first at Toulouse, where he 

 studied theology, and then at Paris, where he studied 

 medicine and law. It is interesting to learn that he had 

 there the same teachers as Vesalius. It is even possible 

 that the two were actually fellow-students. 



After Servetus left Paris he led a somewhat wandering 

 life. At this time religious feeling ran very high in 

 France, and indeed throughout Europe. The religious 

 movement known as the Reformation was very recent 

 and was still in progress. There was much bitterness 

 between Catholics and Protestants, and neither party was 

 willing to spare the other or to have mercy on any within 

 their own body who was suspected of heretical views. 

 Servetus was an inveterate theological disputant, and he 



wrote books that were most unwelcome to both parties. 



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