MOTION OF THE HEART AND BLOOD 



spirits. Then they declare with Galen that blood 

 is contained in the arteries, and not spirits, contrary 

 to Erasistratus. 



It is clear that these opinions are so contradictory 

 and irreconcilable that all are doubtful. Blood is 

 to be found in arteries, and blood alone, as is plain 

 from the experiment of Galen, from arteriotomy, 

 and from wounds. By cutting open a single artery, 

 as Galen states more than once, all the blood may 

 easily be drained from the whole body in a half 

 hour's time. The experiment of Galen referred to 

 is this: "If you will place two ligatures around an 

 artery and make a longitudinal incision in the 

 portion of the artery between them, nothing but 

 blood will be found." Thus does he prove the ar- 

 teries contain blood alone. We may reason similarly. 

 Finding the same blood in veins, tied off in a similar 

 manner, that is found in arteries (as I have fre- 

 quently noted in dead and living animals), we may 



the lungs instead of in the heart. Foster thinks (Hist, of Physiol., 

 1 901, p. 30) he cribbed the description from the unfortunate religious 

 fanatic, Michael Servetus (1510-1553), who was burned under Calvin 

 at Geneva. The latter 's Restitutio Christianismi (1553) contains a 

 remarkable passage discussing the pulmonary circulation, but since 

 only 3 copies escaped the flames, it obviously could have little influence. 

 Servetus had studied anatomy in Paris with Vesalius. Galen (131-201 

 A.D.) showed that arteries contained blood, contrary to the opinion of 

 the earlier Greeks, as exemplified by Erasistratus of Alexandria 

 (3rd Century B.C.) who found the arteries empty in dissections of dead 

 bodies. Harvey discusses all these points later. 



I have broken into shorter paragraphs, for greater ease in reading, 

 a couple of very long paragraphs through here in the original. 



[Ill 



