WILLIAM HARVEY, M. D, 69 



NatuFcally, the final and efficient causes are proximate causes 

 and are not intended as complete in any sense. In this context 

 Harvey's Aristotelian answer to his critic Riolan is pertinent: 

 " To those who repudiate the circulation because they neither 

 see the efficient nor final cause of it, and who exclaim, Cui 

 bono? I have yet to reply, having hitherto taken no note of 

 the ground of objection which they take up. And first I own 

 I am of opinion that our first duty is to inquire whether the 

 thing be or not, before asking wherefore it is (propter quid) ? 

 for from the facts and circumstances which meet us in the 



on contrasts of the accidental qualities." For, according to Aristotle " to do this 

 [pass on to the discussion of the causes] when the investigation of the details is 

 complete is the proper and natural method, and that whereby the subjects and 

 the premises of our argument will afterwards be rendered plain." (Aristotle, The 

 History of Animals, Bk. 1, ch. 6, 491 b 10-19). 



Galen's position is quoted by Fabricius: "A practical knowledge of the nature 

 of each of the members is gained from dissection together with a thorough under- 

 standing of its actions and utilities." Galen further adds, in the quotation from 

 Fabricius: " Moreover, lest anyone unwisely neglects these aspects or be thought- 

 less enough to say that they are not of great consequence, I can truly say this: 

 They are of so much importance, that whoever has learned them thoroughly must 

 unhesitatingly confess that he has learned and comprehended the whole subject of 

 anatomy, which, in my opinion, is nothing but the true and solid foundation of 

 all medicine and the absolute and perfect end of natural philosophy." (Fabricius, 

 op. dt., p. 83) . 



Galen's statement is clearly in anticipation of criticisms such as Leake's. That 

 Leake has this position is in great part explained by the fact that contemporary 

 physicians and doctorates of anatomy have been raised on Gray's AnatoTny which 

 is entitled Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical and which is intended for " Students 

 of Surgery rather than for the Scientific Anatomist." (Henry Gray, Anatomy, 

 Descriptive and Surgical, A New Edition Thoroughly Revised by American Authori- 

 ties from tlie Thirteenth English Edition (Lea Brothers, 1896) Preface to the 

 Thirteenth English Edition, p. 8) . It can be seen that Gray's Anatomy is a practical 

 work ordered to surgery and which only relates the first division of the traditional 

 notion of anatomy, namely description, to surgery. 



An understanding of Harvey's procedure then, may be summarized in the words 

 of Fabricius: " Now in the second part of this treatise, I must discuss action, since, 

 as Galen everywhere testifies, it is not permissible to arrive at the third section, 

 which describes the usefulness (utilitates) of the parts, before the actions of the 

 organs are understood. For the utilities of an organ always have reference to action, 

 and depend upon the action which proceeds from the homogeneous parts of it. For 

 this reason, in every organ there is always provided one part which is the prin- 

 cipal instrument of its action, that is, a part from which the action proceeds, while 

 the other parts of the organ are related to the action as useful assistants." Fabri- 



