HARVEY 43 



Greek learning and Italian anatomy that Caius had 

 founded at Cambridge was strong in Harvey's time. It 

 accounts for much of Harvey's attitude towards the 

 ancient writers, and it may have been a factor in his 

 selection of Padua as his school. 



In 1597, then, Harvey, having taken his degree at 

 Cambridge, went to Padua. Fabricius of Aquapendente 

 was now at the very height of his powers and fame. 

 Harvey became his pupil, and the greater pupil afterwards 

 fully acknowledged his debt to his great teacher. At 

 Padua there was a curious lecture room, lined with carved 

 oak, where Fabricius used to give his lectures by candle- 

 light. The old room is still standing (Plate VI.), and we can 

 picture the eager young Harvey, with his great, wonder- 

 ing, thoughtful eyes, sitting there listening and eagerly 

 drinking in the eloquent expositions of the greatest living 

 exponent of physiological science. 



While Harvey was at Padua, Fabricius was reading the 

 proof-sheets of his work on the respiration, from which 

 we have already quoted. That work, therefore, gives 

 us a good general idea of the views that Harvey held when 

 he embarked on the researches that led to his great dis- 

 covery. In 1602 Harvey took the degree of M.D. at 

 Padua and returned to England. The same year saw him 

 capped as a Doctor of Medicine at Cambridge and settled 

 down to medical practice in London. In 1609 he was 

 elected physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 



In 1615 he was elected lecturer at the College of 

 Physicians in London. His first course was delivered 

 in the following year, and the manuscript notes he used 

 are still in existence. The notes are in a curious mixture 

 of English and Latin, and so badly written that they can 

 hardly be read. They show, however, that he had already 

 mastered the idea of the circular movement of the blood. 

 Throughout these notes, as in his book which we shall 



