62 HERBERT ALBERT RATNER 



fashion with its several organs; in fact, to proceed in exactly the 

 same way as we should do, were we giving a complete description 

 of a couch."*- 



We can see then that Harvey as an Aristotelian is interested 

 in function as well as action, in ends as well as means — the 

 teleological as well as the mechanical. We shall also see that 

 Harvey respects the differentiation as well as the interrelation- 

 ship of what has to be known for a full understanding of the 

 causes. Part of the modern difficulty in understanding Harvey 

 stems from a failure to appreciate Harvey's sensitivity to lan- 

 guage, and our insensitivity to the sharply delineated concepts 

 w^hich his terminology precisely communicates — concepts and 

 terms which are the culmination of a long logical and biological 

 tradition. 



The conceptual difficulty can best be seen from the Leake 

 translation. In the table of contents: the Latin words dis- 

 sectione, in three instances, and ex-perimentis are both trans- 

 lated into experiment', dissectio, in another instance, is trans- 

 lated into investigation; confirmato is translated into both 

 established and proved; probatur is translated into supported; 

 and suppositio is translated into consideration and proposition. 

 The first sentence of the Introduction of this translation begins, 

 " In discussing the movements and functions of the heart and 

 arteries, we should first consider . . .". The original Latin, 

 however, instead of movement and junctions, has motu, pulsu, 

 actione, usu, utilitatibus. 



We can now return more specifically to the manner in which 

 Harvey arrived at his revolutionary conclusions concerning the 

 motion of the heart and blood. If one turns to the table of con- 

 tents above, he will note that whereas the word dissection is 

 characteristically found in the chapter headings on the motion 

 of the heart and arteries (part 2 A) , the word supposition is 

 characteristically found in the section on the circulation of the 

 blood (part 3 A) . Dissection, of course, pertains to sense; 

 supposition, to reason. One may correctly infer from this that, 



"/62d., 641 a 14-18. 



