WILLIAM HARVEY, M. D. 45 



liant success " was accomplished by " almost all kinds of logic." 

 We can best seek to understand the paradox of Harvey by 

 seeing whether Harvey, in his turn, merely paid lip service to 

 Aristotle who dominated the medieval period or actually util- 

 ized him the way one scientist utilizes another. 



To show that Harvey was a genuine disciple of Aristotle, four 

 illustrations of how Harvey utilizes and follows Aristotle are 

 presented below. The first summarizes Harvey's essay on sci- 

 entific methodology and shows Harvey's adherence to Aris- 

 totle's Organon. The second illustration deals with the great 

 scientific controversy in embryology as to whether animals are 

 preformed or epigenetically unfold themselves in development. 

 It shows Harvey decisively siding with Aristotle. The third 

 reviews the actual references Harvey makes to Aristotle in 

 The Motion of the Heart and Blood and shows that Aristotle 

 abets rather than hinders Harvey's ultimate demonstration. 

 One of these references points up the need for a modern reader 

 to have a knowledge of Aristotle's works if he is to have an 

 adequate understanding of Aristotle's contribution to Harvey's 

 discovery and demonstration. The final analysis shows that 

 Harvey's demonstration of the true motion of the heart and 

 blood is a classic Aristotelian demonstration, and illustrates 

 that Harvey follows in practice what he adheres to in theory, 



AN ESSAY ON THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 



Harvey's essay on the scientific method is the preface to his 

 work. Anatomical Exercises on the Generation of Animals, 

 wliich was published 23 years after the publication of his classic, 

 The Motion of the Heart and Blood, when Harvey was 73 

 years old. It is a product of his later years and reflects the 

 permanency of the position he held. It is not intended as a 

 complete exposition of the scientific method but only as a 

 preface to his work on generation. The preface " consists of 27 

 paragraphs and has three headings: ' Of the Mode and Order 

 of Acquiring KJnowledge '; ' Of the Former, Calling to Mind 



" Harvey, Works, ed. cit., pp. 151-167. 



