Ivi THE LIFE OF HARVEY. 



With the revival of anatomical knowledge in modern Europe, 

 however, the partition of the ventricles was soon perceived not 

 to be porous or cribriform, but, as was first said, to be so nearly 

 solid that any filtration of blood through it was well nigh im- 

 possible (Berengarius, 1521), and next, to be so completely solid 

 that all permeation of blood was impossible (Vesalius, 1555), 

 and another means must therefore be found for securing the 

 necessary admixture of the two kinds of blood in order to effect 

 the engenderment of the natural, animal, and vital spirits. 



Such was the state of anatomical science and physiological 

 belief on this particular point when Michael Servetus came 

 upon the stage, and suggested the transit of the blood through 

 the lungs from the right side of the heart to the left, with a 

 view of meeting the difficulty which the undeniable solidity of 

 the septum ventriculorum opposed to the presumed necessary 

 admixture of the two kinds of blood. Servetus' s idea, conse- 

 quently if at the distance of three hundred years we may 

 presume to follow the mental process that led to the penning 

 of the remarkable and often-quoted passage which occurs in 

 his works appears to be nothing more than a suggestion 

 or proposition as a means of meeting a difficulty ; it is very 

 much as though he had said : If you cannot go straight through, 

 you must even go round about. To so much and to no more, do 

 Servetus' s claims to be considered a discoverer, in the sense we 

 would attach to that word, amount. The passage from the 

 'Restitutio Christianismr' of Servetus, 1553, if viewed from the 

 point proposed, will not fail to set his title to be regarded as 

 the discoverer of the lesser circulation in its true light in 

 a light under which it has not yet been seen. We translate 

 so much of the passage as bears on the question under review. 

 " The vital spirit has its origin in the left ventricle, the lungs 

 assisting especially in its generation. It is a subtile spirit * * * 

 It is engendered from the mixture that takes place m the 

 lungs of the inspired air with the elaborated subtile blood which 



