HARVEY AND THE CIRCULATION. 



(Read by title before the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Aug. 1878.) 



The life of William Harvey, by Willis, a Syden- 

 ham publication, and a History of the Circulation of 

 the Blood, by Flourens, are two books which ought 

 not to be " out of print," as they are. If the student 

 of to-day would possess these literary treasures, he 

 must engage a dealer in second-hand books to look 

 out for them. A translation of the latter was made 

 by Dr. Reeves, of Dayton, Ohio, and ought not to be 

 difficult to obtain. But even after these publications 

 are possessed, there is much of interest to be picked 

 up in various publications, concerning " Harvey and 

 the Circulation." Many a point is to be obtained in 

 the various Harveian Orations to be found scattered 

 through English medical periodicals. Once these an- 

 nual addresses were delivered in Latin, the written 

 and spoken language of older scholars, but now in- 

 variably in the English tongue. By referring to al- 

 most any encyclopedia we can learn that William 

 Harvey was born almost exactly three centuries ago ; 

 that he was the son of well-to-do people, and obtained 

 all the advantages of the best English and Italian 

 schools; that he made the best of his opportunities, 

 and discovered the circulation of the blood. It does 

 not now seem a great feat to dissect animals, and find 

 out the circulatory channels, yet when every thing per- 

 taining to life was a profound mystery; when dissec- 



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