SCIENTIFIC METHOD 73 



demonstrate his discoveries, had published his work 

 on the Magnet, the outcome of about eighteen years 

 of critical research. He may be considered the founder 

 of electrical science. Galileo, who discovered the 

 fundamental principles of dynamics and thus laid the 

 basis of modern physical science, although he did not 

 publish his most important work till 1638, had even 

 before the close of the sixteenth century prepared 

 the way for the announcement of his principles by 

 years of strict experiment. By the year 1616, William 

 Harvey (15 7 8-1 6 5 7), physician at the court of James 

 I, and, later, of Charles I, had, as the first modern 

 experimental physiologist, gained important results 

 through his study of the circulation of the blood. 



It is not without significance that both Gilbert and 

 Harvey had spent years in Italy, where, as we have 

 implied, the experimental method of scientific re- 

 search was early developed. Harvey was at Padua 

 (1598-1602) within the time of Galileo's popular 

 professoriate, and may well have been inspired by 

 the physicist to explain on dynamical principles the 

 flow of blood through arteries and veins. This con- 

 jecture is the more probable, since Galileo, like Har- 

 vey and Gilbert, had been trained in the study of 

 medicine. Bacon in turn had in his youth learned 

 something of the experimental method on the Conti- 

 nent of Europe, and, later, was well aware of the 

 studies of Gilbert and Galileo, as well as of Harvey, 

 who was indeed his personal physician. 



Although these facts seem to indicate that method 

 may be transmitted in a nation or a profession, or 

 through personal association, there still remains some 

 doubt as to whether anything so intimate as the 



