WILLIAM HARVEY 7 



Harvey as Lecturer — Harvey's lectures were partly read and 

 partly oral. The cadaver lay on the table with the dissecting instru- 

 ments close to it. An assistant dissected or demonstrated while the 

 lecturer read his remarks. The anatomical lecturer of the sixteenth 

 century was a personage of importance. The greatest consideration 

 was exercised for his personal comfort. The stewards were instruct- 

 ed, *'to see and to provide that there be a mat about the hearth in the 

 hall that the Doctor be made not to take cold upon his feet. * * * 

 And further, that there be two fine white rods appointed for the 

 Doctor to touch the body where it shall please him ; and a wax candle 

 to look into the body, and that there be always for the Doctor two 

 aprons to be from the shoulder downward and two pair of sleeves 

 for his whole arm. . . . and not to occupy one apron and one 

 pair of sleeves every day, which is unseemly." Harvey laid down the rf 

 following precepts for his own guidance as lecture precepts which ( 

 the modem anatomical lecturer might observe with propriety: j 



(1) To show as much as may be at a glance, the whole belly 

 for instance, and afterwards to subdivide the parts according to their 

 position and relations. 



(2) To point out what is peculiar to the actual body being dis- 

 sected. 



(3) To supply only by speech what cannot be shown on your 

 own credit and authority. 



(4) To cut up as much as may be in the sight of the audience. 



(5) To enforce the right opinion by remarks down from far 

 and near and to illustrate more by the structure of animals accord- 

 ing to the Socratic rule. 



(6) Not to praise or dispraise other anatomists, for all did well 

 and there was some excuse even for those who are in error. 



(7) Not to dispute with others. 



(8) To state things briefly and plainly. 



(9) Not to speak of anything which can be explained without 

 the body or can be read at home. 



Here we have a combination of orthodox medical ethics and 

 sound pedagogy. Harvey's particular role as *Lumlian lecturer in- 

 cluded the position of lecturer upon the viscera. Discussing the tho- 

 racic viscera he ennunciated the remarkable discovery with which 

 his name is inseparably associated, initialing the notes to indicate 

 that the ideas were peculiarly his own. 



constat per fabricam cordis sanguinem. 

 per pulmones in Aortam perpetuo. 

 Transf erri, as by two clacks of a 

 water bellows to rayse water, 

 constat per ligaturam transitum saguinis 

 ab arteriis ad venas 

 unde perpetuum sanguinis motum 

 in circulo fieri pulsu cordis, 

 W. H. 



♦The Lumlian lecture was a surgical lecture established at a cost of 

 £40 a year, which sum accrued from the rental of lands of Lord Lumley, of 

 Essex, England. 



