232 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



tion of the human body was a crime ; when the Bible 

 contained almost all there was known of science, 

 and discoverers were in imminent danger of being 

 burned at the stake, we must consider that the work 

 of Harvey is one of the greatest of human achieve- 

 ments. The circulation of the blood is not easy to 

 understand by the average medical student of to-day 

 it is a complex affair, which requires considerable 

 mental application to master. 



To stumble upon a thing, as a student of astron- 

 omy may hit upon a planet or satellite while sweeping 

 his telescope through the heavens, does not imply tal- 

 ent of an order which leads to real discovery; but 

 when an astronomer observes the perturbations of a 

 planet, and can not account for them except on the 

 ground that an exterior and unknown planet is exer- 

 cising the perturbing influence, and if he enters upon a 

 calculation of the forces engaged in the perturbation, 

 and so correctly estimates the position of the object 

 that a telescopic instrument may be directed to the 

 point where the cause should be, and there it is found, 

 a course of reasoning is pursued which indicates merit 

 never denied to original discovery. 



The reasoning which led to the discovery of the 

 circulation of the blood was not inferior to that ex- 

 ercised by Leverrier when he engaged in ascertaining 

 the disturbances of the orbits of certain stellar bodies, 

 and directed that the instrument be turned to a certain 

 field, as the place where the cause might be found, and 

 there was discovered the planet Neptune. 



At Padua, where there existed the best anatomical 

 school in the world, Harvey studied five years, and had 

 Fabricius, who had discovered the valves of the veins, 

 as instructor. At this famous seat of anatomical and 



