30 CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD 



It is unnecessary for us to deal with his theological views, 

 but we may say that they approached the standpoint 

 nowadays called Unitarian. What concerns us is that 

 in one of his books, written in Latin, with the title The 

 Restitution of Christianity, he shows that he had attained 

 to a clear view of the nature of the lesser circulation. 



It may be asked why Servetus, a theologian before 

 all things, took so much interest in physiology. The 

 question is not difficult to answer. He had a belief that 

 the study of physiology was one of the paths which lead 

 to a knowledge of God. To know the spirit of God he 

 considered that it was necessary to comprehend the spirit 

 of man, and to know the spirit of man he thought it was 

 necessary to attain to a right understanding of the 

 structure and workings of the body in which that spirit 

 dwells. On this account he introduced physiological 

 discussion into his theological works. 



If one glances at the theological writings of Servetus, 

 and there are few who now do this, one sees at once that 

 he is an obstinate and persistent advocate of the absolutely 

 literal interpretation of Scripture. He accuses the world 

 in general, and the Protestant theologian Calvin in par- 

 ticular, of not understanding Biblical phraseology. He 

 piles up a host of quotations to show that he alone under- 

 stands it. To give an example which bears on our subject. 

 The Bible in several places closely associates blood with 

 life. This idea is perfectly natural. It was by no means 

 confined to the Bible, but was widely held in antiquity. 

 Servetus, however, seizes on several Biblical passages 

 which bring out this association. Thus in Genesis, 

 chap. ix. ver. 4, we read of " the life which is the blood " ; * 

 in Leviticus, chap. xvii. ver. 1 1 ,we read " the life of the flesh 

 is in the blood" ; and in Deuteronomy, chap. xii. ver. 23, 



1 In the Latin " Vulgate " version in current use among Catholics 

 this passage is rendered differently. 



