CHAPTER I. 



THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD— WILLIAM HARVEY 



"This man lived in an age when alchemy was more popular than science, 

 and the love of mystery stronger than the love of philosophy." — Gorton. 



"History is simply the biography of the mind of man; and our interest in 

 history, and its educational value to us, is directly proportionate to the complete- 

 ness of our study of the individuals through whom this mind has been manifested. 

 To understand clearly our positions in any science today, we must go back to 

 its beginnings, and trace its gradual development, following out our laws, difficult 

 to interpret and often obscured in the brilliancy of achievements — laws which 

 everywhere illustrate this biography, this human endeavor, working through the 

 long ages; and particularly is this the case with that history of the organized 

 experience of the race which we call science." — Sir William Osier. 



The Renaissance — The renaissance, that transitional movement 

 in Europe between the mediaeval and modern world, affected medicine 

 and the sciences at a much later date than art and letters. It began 

 with Petrarch and the humanists in the fourteenth century in Italy, 

 where it became manifest in painting and sculpture. The movement 

 was accelerated in the sixteenth century by the capture of Constanti- 

 nople by the Turks in 1509, and the dispersion of its Greek scholars 

 to the shores of Italy, which event opened anew the science and learn- 

 ing of the ancient world at an hour when the intellectual energy of 

 middle ages had reached its ebb. It is significant to note that Flor- 

 ence, so long the abode of intellectual freedom and art, welcomed with 

 extended arms the exiled Greek scholars. Her traders returned from 

 the East with ancient manuscripts as the most valuable portion of 

 their merchandise. But we are more immediately concerned with the 

 movement as it affected medicine and its allied studies. However 

 much the new learning promoted literature and art, its influence was 

 anything but favorable to the progress of science. Admiration for 

 the literature of ancient Greece while it engendered a love for poetry, 

 history and philosophy, had a similar effect in promoting a spirit of 

 veneration for the writings of Hippocrates, Ptolmey and Galen, so 

 that it became almost an act of impiety to question their teachingSi— ^ 

 It was not until the sixteenth century, as we shall see, that the spell 

 of ancient authority was broken by the direct appeal to nature. It 

 was not until then that the anatomist determined at all cost to exam 

 ine the human body for himself and to be guided by his own obser 

 vations. 



Anatomy and Physiology — As anatomy precedes physiology, in 

 order to adequately appreciate the work of Harvey, a brief account 

 of the progress in anatomy is necessary. The great anatomist of an- 

 tiquity, who surpassed all others, was^Saleri (1^0-200 A. D.). He 

 lived for a time at Pergamos and for five^ars^t Rome. He was a 

 man of talent both as observer and writer. His writings embody all 

 the important anatomical discoveries of his predecessors, enriched and 

 much enlarged by the results of his own originality. His observations, 

 however, were made upon the lower animals on the faith of which he 







