Ix THE LIFE OF HARVEY. 



liver, whence, by its ramifications, it carries the blood that is 

 requisite to nourish and maintain every part of the body. 



This of itself is enough. But when, in addition, we find 

 that Columbus denies the muscular nature of the heart, we are 

 fully qualified to form a true estimate of the conception which 

 he could have had of the motion of the blood, and of his right 

 to be regarded as the discoverer of its ceaseless circular move- 

 ment. 



The next who is brought upon the scene with the imputed 

 honour of having had a knowledge, not only of the lesser, but 

 of the greater or systemic circulation also, is Andreas 

 Csesalpinus, 1 of Arezzo. The account which this celebrated 

 peripatetic philosopher gives of the passage of the blood from 

 the right to the left side of the heart is essentially the same as 

 that given by Columbus. From the right ventricle the blood 

 passes into the pulmonic artery, and from this, by numerous 

 anastomoses, into the pulmonic veins, which transmit it to the 

 left ventricle. Csesalpinus says well that it is absurd to call the 

 pulmonary artery by the name of vena arteriosa, on the mere 

 ground of its taking its departure, like the vena cava, from 

 the right ventricle ; it is a true artery, and is, in all respects, 

 analogous to the aorta. The title of arteria venosa, again, 

 given to the pulmonic vein is not less ridiculous ; inasmuch 

 as this vessel, though it end in the left ventricle, has all the 

 properties of the veins at large. 



So far it looks as if Csesalpinus had an exact idea of the 

 pulmonary circulation; indeed, he uses the word Circulation 

 in reference to the transit of the blood through the lungs ; 

 but when we discover him still speaking of the permeation 

 of the septum ventriculorum by the blood, our faith in the 

 extent and accuracy of his knowledge begins to waver. 



With reference to the greater or systemic circulation, again, 



1 Quaestiones Peripatetics, fol. Florent. 1569 ; Quaest. Medicinales, fol. Venet. 

 1593; De Plantis, Florent. 1583. 



