EXPERIMENTATION AND PHYSIOLOGY 



There was a great predecessor of Harvey Michael 

 whose name should be mentioned whenever the Servetus. 

 discovery of the circulation is discussed: 

 Michael Servetus, born in 1509. Servetus was 

 a student of theology, doctor of medicine, and 

 philosopher. He made dissections and vene- 

 sections, and discovered, as a result of his ob- 

 servations of the values of the heart and the 

 blood vessels, that the blood went out through 

 one set of vessels and returned through the 

 other set. He published his discoveries in a 

 book entitled "Christianismi Restitutio." He 

 described the flow of the blood from the right 

 ventricle of the heart, through the pulmonary 

 artery to the lungs, and from the lungs through 

 the pulmonary veins to the left ventricle, 

 showing that the "spirits" of the blood do not 

 pass from the right ventricle to the left through 

 the septum of the heart as was commonly be- 

 lieved. This great man was burned alive at 

 the stake at Geneva, October 27, 1553, at the 

 age of 43, by order of John Calvin. The 

 whole edition of his work was ordered burned 

 with him. Only about five copies escaped 

 the hands of the Christian church; and, these 

 not being found by scholars, the world re- 

 mained in ignorance of the circulation of the 



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