52 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



History of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood : By Henry 

 C. Chapman, M. D. Octavo, pp. 56. P. Blakiston, Son & Co., Philadel- 

 phia, 1884. For sale by M. H. Dickinson. 



This essay was delivered as a lecture at the Jefferson Medical College, De- 

 ember 10, 1883, concluding a course on the circulation, and constitutes, with 

 but little modification, a chapter in a forthcoming work on Physiology by the 

 author. It sets out with the statement that the discovery of the circulation was 

 not made by Harvey alone, but that due credit must be given to Erasistratus, 

 Galen, Servetus, Caesalpinus, Malpighi, Aselli, Pecquett, Rudbeck, and Bartho- 

 linus, whose investigations extend over a period of 2,000 years, from the epoch 

 of the Egyptian Ptolemies to the latter part of the lyth century, Harvey was 

 doubtless the first who correctly described the course of the blood in making the 

 entire circuit of the body, although the function of the capillaries in transferring 

 the blood from the arteries to the veins was not discovered until after his death. 

 To Malpighi is the honor of this important discovery due. 



The story of the discovery of the circulation of the blood is told hastily, but 

 accurately and attractively, from the days of the Greeks, who knew that the blood 

 flowed in the veins, but supposed that the arteries, from their being found empty 

 in post mortem examination, carried only air. Even Aristotle could only teach 

 that the veins communicated with the heart, that vessels passed from the heart to 

 the lungs and that the heart and veins were filled with blood. 



Galen, who learned his anatomy in Egypt, was the first to demonstrate that 

 the arteries as well as the veins carried blood, which was of course the golden 

 link in the chain leading to the discovery of the circulation. Servetus was the 

 first to point out the aeration of the blood carried to the lungs by the pulmonary 

 artery. Several pages are devoted to an account of his life and discoveries. 



Harvey in 1628 not only the first to describe the entire circulation correctly 

 but also to give the first accurate account of the movements of the heart and of 

 its auricles and ventricles. To Malpighi, in 1661, science is indebted for the 

 discovery of the capillaries connecting the veins and arteries, thus completing 

 the discovery of the complete circulation of the blood. 



The Elements of Political Economy: By Emile De Laveleye. i2mo.,pp. 

 288. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, 

 $1.50. 



This work is designed by the author as a manual of instruction, and with 

 that object in view he deviates from the usual course of writers upon the subject 

 and comprises within his scheme, as correlatives, philosophy, moral science, 

 the traditions of the past, history and geography. He says in explanation 

 of this that "Geography describes the positions of Nations and History re- 

 lates their annals. No advantage can be gained from the lessons which either 

 offers without the aid of political economy. At the present day it is allowed that 

 the most important part of history is that which traces the progress of humanity 



