WILLIAM HARVEY 5 



imprisonment. The College of Physicians and Barber Surgeons had a 

 monopoly in London. The value of Anatomy as a foundation to medi- 

 cine was fully recognized at the time . The subjects for dissection 

 were the bodies of executed criminals. Those were the times of 

 public executions, witnessed by immense crowds whose opposition 

 and sympathy for the felon and his friends often interfered with the 

 procuring of the body for dissection. 



The method of anatomical instruction is of interest. The sub- 

 ject was taught practically by a series of demonstrations on the body. 

 The absence of means of preservation of cadavers precluded instruc- 

 tion in detail. A single body was dissected to show the muscles ; an- 

 other to demonstrate the bones, and a third to exhibit the viscera. 

 Attendance on anatomical lectures and demonstrations was com- 

 pulsory; violation meant the forfeiture of a fine. Some were ex- 

 empted from the penalty, as one entry shows that a Robert Mudsley 

 "has licence to be absent from all lectures without payment of any 

 fine, because he has given over the art of surgery, and doth occupy 

 only a silk shop and shave." 



The anatomical demonstrations were open to the public. The 

 following note appears in Pepy's Diary:* "Up and to my office. 



. . . Commissioner Pett and I walked to Chyrurgeon's Hall (we 

 being all invited thither, and promised to dine there) , where we were 

 led into the Theater; and by and by comes the reader, Dr. Teame, 

 with the master and company in a very handsome manner; and all 

 being settled, he began his lecture, this being the second upon the 

 ureters and kidneys, which was very fine; and his discourse being 

 ended, we walked into the hall, and there being a great store of com- 

 pany, we had a fine dinner and good learned company, many Doctors 

 of Physique, and we used with extraordinary great respect . . . After 

 dinner Dr. Scpfeorott^:M;ook some of his friends, and I went along 

 with them to \see the bod^ alone, which we did, which was a lusty 

 fellow, a seaman that was hanged for a robbery. I did touch the 

 dead body with my bare hand; it felt cold, but methought it was a 

 very unpleasant sight. . . . Thence we went into a private 

 room where I perceive they prepare the bodies, and there were the 

 kidneys and ureters, etc., upon which he read today, and the doctor, 

 upon my desire and the company's, did show very clearly the man- 

 ner of the disease of the stone and the cutting and all other questions 

 that I could think of." Pepy's interest in the operation of cutting 

 for stone is said to be due to the fact that he had undergone the 

 ordea>hiTn5eif.-'*'Tk^Dr. Scarborough mentioned in Pepy's note was 

 a f rifend and pupil oiHarvey. 



IPersonal Characteristics — Harvey is described as a man of the 

 **lowest^^«tature, round facejd, with a complexion like the wainscot; 

 his eyes smalir iuund, ve rSMblack and full of spirit, his hair black as 

 a raven and curling ; rapid in his utterance, chivalric even to gesture, 

 and used when in discourse with anyone to play unconsciously with 



♦Samuel Pepys (1632-1703), was a famous diarist. His Diary, which 

 extends from 1660 to 1669, was written in shorthand, and was deciphered 

 by Lord Braybrooke in 1825. This delightful book of gossip is one of the 

 most interesting memorials of the domestic life of the time. 



