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28 Harvey mid the [lect. 



again and again how much he impressed his listeners. " When 

 " I shewed this to His Eminence, he expressed himself as hugely 

 " gratified." " When I gave the demonstration of this important 

 " new truth, I had the honour to count among my audience 

 M His Royal Highness this, His Excellency that, and the Most 

 " Reverend the other." He left no stone unturned with which 

 he might hope to increase men's acknowledgment of his talents, 

 and there are many reasons for thinking that his position 

 at Rome was in large measure dependent on his fulsome 

 adulation of Pope Pius IV., to whom his posthumous work 

 was dedicated. They who know the character of Pius IV. can 

 judge of the character of the man who loaded him with praises. 



Nevertheless, vain as Columbus certainly was, ignorant also 

 in many respects as he seems to have been, there is no doubt 

 that in the work of which we have spoken he did correctly 

 describe the pulmonary circulation. This is what he says 

 in his chapter on the heart and arteries : — 



" Two cavities that is two ventricles, are present in the heart, 

 " not three as Aristotle thought. Of these one is on the right 

 " side, the other on the left. The right is much larger than 

 "the left. The right contains the natural blood, but the left 

 " the vital blood. It is very interesting to observe that the 

 " substance of the heart surrounding the right ventricle is very 

 " thin but on the left side is very thick ; and this is so arranged 

 " on the one hand in order to keep up the balance and 

 " on the other to prevent the vital blood which is exceedingly 

 " thin from transuding out of the heart. Between these 

 " ventricles there is placed the septum through which almost 

 11 all authors think there is a way open from the right to 

 " the left ventricle ; and according to them the blood is in 

 " the transit rendered thin by the generation of the vital 

 11 spirits in order that the passage may take place more easily. 

 " But these make a great mistake ; for the blood is carried by 

 " the artery-like vein to the lung and being there made thin 

 " is brought back thence together with air by the vein-like 

 "artery to the left ventricle of the heart. This fact no one 

 ,( has hitherto observed or recorded in writing ; yet it may be 

 " most readily observed by anyone." 



s 



