HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY 



vascular conditions. All can be shown to be interrelated. Yet 

 always the successful practical clinical advance comes as a result 

 of the wise application of demonstrable scientific fact and 

 principle. Reciprocal feed-back keeps the two parts of the 

 system in acceleration. 



Specific bibliographic reference to the major contributions 

 to knowledge of the cardiovascular system can readily be 

 obtained from L. T. Morton's Medical Bibliographv (London : 

 Grafton & Co., 1954, 2nd ed., 658 pp.). This lists 106 "classic" 

 contributions to knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of 

 the cardiovascular system and of the heart. Many other perti- 

 nent references occur under various other categories, chiefly in 

 reference to diseases. 



A special comprehensive analysis has been made by K. D. 

 Keele on the studies of Leonardo da I'tiict on .Movement oj the Heart 

 and Blood (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1952, xviii -f 142 pp., 

 68 pi.). It is pointed out that Leonardo's work on the mecha- 

 nism of the heart was shaped by criticism of Galen, a mecha- 

 nistic theory of life, and an analogy between the macrocosm 

 and microcosm. These philosophical ideas also shaped Harvey's 

 work, but they were implemented powerfully by comparative 

 observation and quantitative reasoning. 



There is much bio-bibliographical material on Servetus. 

 The classic is by Sir William Osier {Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull. 

 21: i-ii, 1910). H. Tollin pioneered in studying Servetus 

 (Jena: H. Duff't, 1876), and was followed by R Willis (.Servetus 

 and Calvin. London: H. S. King, 1877J. 



For Harvey and his great study, special bibliographies have 

 been prepared. The most important of these is by Sir Geoffrey 

 Keynes (A Bibliography of the Writings of William Harvey. Cam- 

 bridg'e: University Press, 1953). A selected bibliography about 

 Harvey was issued by The Wellcome Historical Medical 

 Library of London, in January 1956 (Current Work in the History 

 of .Medicine, No. 9, pp. 57-62). This lists 76 items. Outstanding 

 are Robert Willis, William Harvey: .i History of the Circulation of 

 the Blood. London: Kegan Paul, 1878; J. M. Da Costa, Harvey 

 and His Discovery. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1879; '^''' D'Arcy 

 Power, William Harvey. London: Fisher Unwin, 1897; J. G. 

 Curtis, Harvey s Views on the Use of the Circulation of the Blood. 

 New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1915; C. Singer, The Dis- 

 covery of the Circulation of the Blood. London: G. Bell, 1922; J. J. 

 Izquierdo, Harvey. Mexico: Ciencia, 1936, and P. Lain- 

 Entralgo, Harvey, 2 vols. Madrid: Centauro, 1948. A special 

 Harvey number of The Journal of the History of Medicine was 

 issued in April 1957, with 21 contributions. Two important 

 notes have been made by H. P. Bayon and W. Pagel ilsis 33: 

 443-453, 1942J 42: 22-38, 1 951) E. B. Krumbhaar well dis- 

 cussed bibliographical matters relating to the discovery of blood 

 circulation (Ann. Med. Hist. n.s. i : 57-86, 1929). 



At the request of the Royal Society, Stephen Hales published 

 his experiments on sap pressure in plants (Vegetable Staticks. 

 London: W. Innys, 1727), and followed it later with his studies 

 on blood pressure (Statical Essays: Containing Haemastaticks. 

 London: W. Innys, 1733). These two reports went into subse- 

 quent editions and translations as Statical Essays, vols. I and II. 



The classic account of Hales is by P. M. Dawson (Johns Hopkins 

 Hosp. Bull. 15: 185-191, 232-237, 1904). 



The distinguished Chicago cardiologist, James Bryan Herrick 

 (1861-1954), who gave the classic account of coronary throm- 

 bosis, wrote A Short History of Cardiology. This deals more with 

 clinical cardiology than with cardiovascular physiology. This is 

 also the case, as the title would indicate, in the admirable 

 collection of extracts (all offered in English) from Classics in 

 Arterial Hypertension, so well arranged by Arthur Ruskin (Spring- 

 field, 111.: Thomas, 1956, 383 pp.). However, both these 

 volumes contain much fundamental physiological material 

 regarding the cardiovascular system. This same comment 

 applies to another broader selection of Cardiac Classics, com- 

 piled by F. A. Willius and T. E. Keys, and including compre- 

 hensive biographical accounts of authors (St. Louis: Mosby, 

 1 941). Further extracts dealing chieHy with scientific physio- 

 logical contributions to our knowledge of the cardiovascular 

 system may be found in the excellent .Selected Readings in the 

 History of Physiology, arranged by the late John Farquhar 

 Fulton (1899-1960) of Yale (Springfield: Thomas, 1930, 



337 PP-)- 



For primary sources on the history of cardiovascular physi- 

 ology, there are many excellent English translations available. 

 Outstanding are those of Kenneth J. Franklin of London: 

 De Venarum Osleolis (l6oj) of Hieronyrnous Eabricius of Aquapendente 

 (Springfield : Thomas, 1 933) ; .Movement of the Heart and Blood 

 in .inimals, an Anatomical Essay by U'illiam Harvey (Oxford: Black- 

 well, 1957); and The Circulation of the Blood, Two .inatomical 

 Essays by William Harvey (O.xford: Blackwell, 1958). My own 

 translation of Harvey's De Motu Cordis has many notes and 

 references and is now on its 4th edition (Springfield: Thomas, 

 4th ed., 1958). The Leonardine cardiovascular studies are 

 translated and discussed by C. D. O'Malley and J. B. deC. M. 

 Saunders (Leonardo on the Human Body, New York : H. Schuman, 

 1952). Charles Singer, the late great English historian of 

 science, has given an excellent translation of some of Galen's 

 demonstrations on the cardiovascular system (Galen on Anatomi- 

 cal Procedures, London; Oxford Univ. Press, 1956, pp. 180-QOo). 



References to the works of contributors mentioned in the 

 main discussion are appended. 



An excellent review of significant advances in cardiac phys- 

 iology during the nineteenth century was made by C. J. Wiggers 

 of Cleveland, the great American cardiologist (Bull- Hist. Med. 

 34: 1-15, i960). This emphasizes the increasing importance of 

 technical instrumentation in getting precise information on 

 cardiovascular physiology. Satisfactory interpretation, how- 

 ever, still depends on brains. H. Fell has prepared a history of 

 the treatment of heart disease in the nineteenth century (Bull. 

 Hist. Med. 34: ig-28, i960), and G. A. H. Clowes, Jr. has 

 given an account of the important development of surgical 

 treatment of heart disease, based on physiological principles 

 (Bull. Hist. .Med. 34: 29-51, i960). An interesting exhibit was 

 arranged by V. A. McKusick, W. D. Sharpe, and A. O. Warner, 

 on the history of knowledge about cardiovascular sounds and 

 stethoscopes (Bull. Hist. Med. 31: 463-487, 1957). 



REFERENCES 



Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). De motu animalium; De vicessu 

 animalium. In: Works, edited by J. A. Smith and \V. D. Ross, 

 Oxford: Univ. Press, vol. 5, 1912. 



Cesalpino, a. (1519-1603). Peripateticarum queslionuin libri 

 jamyuf. 'Venice: Junta, 1571. 



Ebell, B. The Papyrus Ebers: The Greatest Egyptian .Medical 

 Document. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1937. 



Fabrizzi, G. (1537-1619). De venarum ostiolis. Patavii: L. 

 Pasquati. 1603; English translation by K. J. Franklin. 



Galen (130-200 AD.). On the Natural Faculties. English transla- 



