SERVETUS 31 



" the blood is the life." In the Latin translation of the Bible 

 which Serve tus used, the word life is represented by the 

 word anima, which may be translated spirit. These 

 passages all have their special contexts, which do not 

 concern us here. Nor did the contexts concern Servetus, 

 who was all for the most literal interpretation. " The 

 blood is the spirit," we can imagine Servetus saying, 

 ' and if we would know how the spirit is formed we 

 must learn how the blood is formed, and if we would 

 know how the blood is formed we must know how it 

 moves." This is a point he discusses in the Restitution 

 of Christianity. 



In his purely physiological ideas, as expressed in the 

 Restitution of Christianity, Servetus is still mainly under 

 the influence of Galen and Aristotle, though he allows 

 himself certain minor departures from their views. For 

 the most part, however, he is merely repeating their 

 phrases with his own theological tinge added. " There 

 are said to be in us," he tells us, " three kinds of spirits 

 natural spirits, vital spirits, and animal spirits but there 

 are, in fact, not three but only two kinds of spirits, for 

 the vital spirits are passed on from the arteries to the 

 veins, where they are called natural spirits. Thus first 

 we have the blood, the site of which is the liver and 

 veins. Then we have the vital spirits, the site of which 

 is the heart and arteries. Thirdly, we have the animal 

 spirits, the site of which is the brain and the nerves. 

 In all three we see the workings of the spirit of the one 

 living God. ... It was into the heart of Adam that God 

 first breathed the spirit [Genesis, chap. ii. ver. 7], and it 

 was afterwards that it passed to his liver. By inspiration 

 through mouth and nose, spirit is taken in, and that which 

 is inhaled goes to the heart. The heart is the first part to 

 live, and it is the central source of bodily heat. . . . But 

 the material in which the spirit is carried is the blood, 



