Nor is the heart, as some imagine, anything like a chauffer or fire, or

heated kettle, and so the source of the heat of the blood; the blood,

instead of receiving, rather gives heat to the heart, as it does to

all the other parts of the body; for the blood is the hottest element

in the body; and it is on this account that the heart is furnished

with coronary arteries and veins; it is for the same reason that other

parts have vessels, viz. to secure the access of warmth for their

due conservation and stimulation; so that the warmer any part is,

the greater is its supply of blood, or otherwise; where the blood is

in largest quantity, there also is the heat highest. For this reason

is the heart, remarkable through its cavities, to be viewed as the

elaboratory, fountain, and perennial focus of heat, and as comparable

to a hot kettle, not because of its proper substance, but because of

its contained blood; for the same reason, because they have numerous

veins or vessels containing blood, are the liver, spleen, lungs, &c.,

reputed hot parts. And in this way do I view the native or innate heat

as the common instrument of every function, the prime cause of the

pulse among the rest. This, however, I do not mean to state absolutely,

but only propose it by way of thesis. Whatever may be objected to it by

good and learned men, without abusive or contemptuous language, I shall

be ready to listen to--I shall even be most grateful to any one who

will take up and discuss the subject.

These, then, are, as it were, the very elements and indications of

the passage and circulation of the blood, viz. from the right auricle

into the right ventricle; from the right ventricle by the way of the

lungs into the left auricle; thence into the left ventricle and aorta;

whence by the arteries at large through the pores or interstices of the

tissues into the veins, and by the veins back again with great rapidity

to the base of the heart.

There is an experiment on the veins by which any one that chooses may

convince himself of this truth: Let the arm be bound with a moderately

tight bandage, and then, by opening and shutting the hand, make all

the veins to swell as much as possible, and the integuments below the

fillets to become red; and now let the arm and hand be plunged into

very cold water, or snow, until the blood pent up in the veins shall

have become cooled down; then let the fillet be undone suddenly, and

you will perceive, by the cold blood returning to the heart, with what

celerity the current flows, and what an effect it produces when it

has reached the heart; so that you will no longer be surprised that

some should faint when the fillet is undone after venesection.[55]

This experiment shows that the veins swell below the ligature not with

attenuated blood, or with blood raised by spirits or vapours, for

the immersion in the cold water would repress their ebullition, but

with blood only, and such as could never make its way back into the

arteries, either by open-mouthed communications or by devious passages;

it shows, moreover, how and in what way those who are travelling over

snowy mountains are sometimes stricken suddenly with death, and other

things of the same kind.

[55] Vide Chapter XI, of the Motion of the Heart, &c.

Lest it should seem difficult for the blood to make its way through

the pores of the various structures of the body, I shall add one

illustration: The same thing happens in the bodies of those that are

hanged or strangled, as in the arm that is bound with a fillet: all

the parts beyond the noose,--the face, lips, tongue, eyes, and every

part of the head appear gorged with blood, swollen, and of a deep red

or livid colour; but if the noose be relaxed, in whatever position you

have the body, before many hours have passed you will perceive the

whole of the blood to have quitted the head and face, and gravitated

through the pores of the skin, flesh, and other structures, from the

superior parts towards those that are inferior and dependent, until

they become tumid and of a dark colour. But if this happens in the dead

body, with the blood dead and coagulated, the frame stiffened with

the chill of death, the passages all compressed or blocked up, it is

easy to perceive how much more apt it will be to occur in the living

subject, when the blood is alive and replete with spirits, when the

pores are all open, the fluid ready to penetrate, and the passage in

every way made easy.

When the ingenious and acute Descartes, (whose honourable mention of

my name demands my acknowledgments,) and others, having taken out the

heart of a fish, and put it on a plate before them, see it continuing

to pulsate (in contracting), and when it raises or erects itself and

becomes firm to the touch, they think it enlarges, expands, and that

its ventricles thence become more capacious. But, in my opinion, they

do not observe correctly; for, at the time the heart gathers itself

up, and becomes erect, it is certain that it is rather lessened in

every one of its dimensions; that it is in its systole, in short,

not in its diastole. Neither, on the contrary, when it collapses

and sinks down, is it then properly in its state of diastole and

distension, by which the ventricles become more capacious. But as we

do not say that the heart is in the state of diastole in the dead

body, as having sunk relaxed after the systole, but is then collapsed,

and without all motion--in short is in a state of rest, and not

distended. It is only truly distended, and in the proper state of

diastole, when it is filled by the charge of blood projected into it

by the contraction of the auricles; a fact which sufficiently appears

in the course of vivisections. Descartes therefore does not perceive

how much the relaxation and subsidence of the heart and arteries

differ from their distension or diastole; and that the cause of the

distension, relaxation, and constriction, is not one and the same;

as contrary effects so must they rather acknowledge contrary causes;

as different movements they must have different motors; just as all

anatomists know that the flexion and extension of an extremity are

accomplished by opposite antagonist muscles, and contrary or diverse

motions are necessarily performed by contrary and diverse organs

instituted by nature for the purpose. Neither do I find the efficient

cause of the pulse aptly explained by this philosopher, when with

Aristotle he assumes the cause of the systole to be the same as that

of the diastole, viz. an effervescence of the blood due to a kind of

ebullition. For the pulse is a succession of sudden strokes and quick

percussions; but we know of no kind of fermentation or ebullition

in which the matter rises and falls in the twinkling of an eye; the

heaving is always gradual where the subsidence is notable. Besides,

in the body of a living animal laid open, we can with our eyes

perceive the ventricles of the heart both charged and distended by

the contraction of the auricles, and more or less increased in size

according to the charge; and farther, we can see that the distension of

the heart is rather a violent motion, the effect of an impulsion, and

not performed by any kind of attraction.

Some are of opinion that, as no kind of impulse of the nutritive juices

is required in vegetables, but that these are attracted by the parts

which require them, and flow in to take the place of what has been

lost; so neither is there any necessity for an impulse in animals, the

vegetative faculty in both working alike. But there is a difference

between plants and animals. In animals, a constant supply of warmth

is required to cherish the members, to maintain them in life by the

vivifying heat, and to restore parts injured from without. It is not

merely nutrition that has to be provided for.

So much for the circulation; any impediment, or perversion, or

excessive excitement of which, is followed by a host of dangerous

diseases and remarkable symptoms: in connexion with the veins--varices,

abcesses, pains, hemorrhoids, hemorrhages; in connexion with the

arteries--enlargements, phlegmons, severe and lancinating pains,

aneurisms, sarcoses, fluxions, sudden attacks of suffocation, asthmas,

stupors, apoplexies, and innumerable other affections. But this is

not the place to enter on the consideration of these; neither may I

say under what circumstances and how speedily some of these diseases,

that are even reputed incurable, are remedied and dispelled, as if by

enchantment. I shall have much to put forth in my Medical Observations

and Pathology, which, so far as I know, has as yet been observed by no

one.

That I may afford you still more ample satisfaction, most learned

Riolanus, as you do not think there is a circulation in the vessels of

the mesentery, I shall conclude by proposing the following experiment:

throw a ligature round the porta close to the liver, in a living

animal, which is easily done. You will forthwith perceive the veins

below the ligature swelling in the same way as those of the arm when

the bleeding fillet is bound above the elbow; a circumstance which

will proclaim the course of the blood there. And as you still seem to

think that the blood can regurgitate from the veins into the arteries

by open anastomoses, let the vena cava be tied in a living animal near

the divarication of the crural veins, and immediately afterwards let an

artery be opened to give issue to the blood: you will soon observe the

whole of the blood discharged from all the veins, that of the ascending

cava among the number, with the single exception of the crural veins,

which will continue full; and this certainly could not happen were

there any retrograde passage for the blood from the veins to the

arteries by open anastomoses.

LETTERS

LETTERS

LETTER I

_To Caspar Hofmann, M.D. Published at Nurenberg, in the “Spicilegium

Illustrium Epistolarum ad Casp. Hofmannum.”_

Your opinion of me, my most learned Hofmann, so candidly given, and of

the motion and circulation of the blood, is extremely gratifying to me;

and I rejoice that I have been permitted to see and to converse with

a man so learned as yourself, whose friendship I as readily embrace

as I cordially return it. But I find that you have been pleased first

elaborately to inculpate me, and then to make me pay the penalty,

as having seemed to you “to have impeached and condemned Nature of

folly and error; and to have imputed to her the character of a most

clumsy and inefficient artificer, in suffering the blood to become

recrudescent, and making it return again and again to the heart in

order to be reconcocted, to grow effete as often in the general system;

thus uselessly spoiling the perfectly-made blood, merely to find

her in something to do.” But where or when anything of the kind was

ever said, or even imagined by me--by me, who, on the contrary, have

never lost an opportunity of expressing my admiration of the wisdom

and aptness and industry of Nature,--as you do not say, I am not a

little disturbed to find such things charged upon me by a man of sober

judgment like yourself. In my printed book, I do, indeed, assert that

the blood is incessantly moving out from the heart by the arteries

to the general system, and returning from this by the veins back to

the heart, and with such an ebb and flow, in such mass and quantity

that it must necessarily move in some way in a circuit. But if you

will be kind enough to refer to my eighth and ninth chapters you will

find it stated in so many words that I have purposely omitted to speak

of the concoction of the blood, and of the causes of this motion and

circulation, especially of the final cause. So much I have been anxious

to say, that I might purge myself in the eyes of a learned and much

respected man,--that I might feel absolved of the infamy of meriting

such censure. And I beg you to observe, my learned, my impartial

friend, if you would see with your own eyes the things I affirm in

respect of the circulation,--and this is the course which most beseems

an anatomist,--that I engage to comply with your wishes, whenever a fit

opportunity is afforded; but if you either decline this, or care not

by dissection to investigate the subject for yourself, let me beseech

you, I say, not to vilipend the industry of others, nor charge it to

them as a crime; do not derogate from the faith of an honest man, not

altogether foolish nor insane, who has had experience in such matters

for a long series of years.

Farewell, and beware! and act by me, as I have done by you; for what

you have written I receive as uttered in all candour and kindness. Be

sure, in writing to me in return, that you are animated by the same

sentiments.

Nürnberg, May 20th, 1636.

LETTER II

_To Paul Marquard Slegel, of Hamburg_

I congratulate you much, most learned sir, on your excellent

commentary, in which you have replied in a very admirable manner to

Riolanus, the distinguished anatomist, and, as you say, formerly your

teacher: invincible truth has, indeed, taught the scholar to vanquish

the master. I was myself preparing a sponge for his most recent

arguments; but intent upon my work “On the Generation of Animals”

(which, but just come forth, I send to you), I have not had leisure

to produce it. And now I rather rejoice in the silence, as from your

supplement I perceive that it has led you to come forward with your

excellent reflections, to the common advantage of the world of letters.

For I see that in your most ornate book (I speak without flattery),

you have skilfully and nervously confuted all his machinations against

the circulation, and successfully thrown down the scaffolding of his

more recent opinions. I am, therefore, but little solicitous about

labouring at any ulterior answer. Many things might, indeed, be adduced

in confirmation of the truth, and several calculated to shed clearer

light on the art of medicine; but of these we shall perhaps see further

by and by.

Meantime, as Riolanus uses his utmost efforts to oppose the passage of

the blood into the left ventricle through the lungs, and brings it all

hither through the septum, and so vaunts himself upon having upset the

very foundations of the Harveian circulation (although I have nowhere

assumed such a basis for my doctrine; for there is a circulation in

many red-blooded animals that have no lungs), it may be well here to

relate an experiment which I lately tried in the presence of several

of my colleagues, and from the cogency of which there is no means

of escape for him. Having tied the pulmonary artery, the pulmonary

veins, and the aorta, in the body of a man who had been hanged, and

then opened the left ventricle of the heart, we passed a tube through

the vena cava into the right ventricle of the heart, and having, at

the same time, attached an ox’s bladder to the tube, in the same way

as a clyster-bag is usually made, we filled it nearly full of warm

water, and forcibly injected the fluid into the heart, so that the

greater part of a pound of water was thrown into the right auricle and

ventricle. The result was, that the right ventricle and auricle were

enormously distended, but not a drop of water or of blood made its

escape through the orifice in the left ventricle. The ligatures having

been undone, the same tube was passed into the pulmonary artery, and

a tight ligature having been put round it to prevent any reflux into

the right ventricle, the water in the bladder was now pushed towards

the lungs, upon which a torrent of the fluid, mixed with a quantity

of blood, immediately gushed forth from the perforation in the left

ventricle; so that a quantity of water, equal to that which was pressed

from the bladder into the lungs at each effort, instantly escaped by

the perforation mentioned. You may try this experiment as often as you

please; the result you will still find to be as I have stated it.

With this one experiment you may easily put an end to all Riolanus’s

altercations on the matter, to which he, nevertheless, so entirely

trusts, that, without adducing so much as a single experiment in

support of his views, he has been led to invent a new circulation, and

even so far to commit himself as to say that, unless the old doctrine

of the circulation[56] be overturned, his own is inadmissible. We may

pardon this distinguished individual for not having sooner discovered

a hidden truth; but that he, so well skilled in anatomy as he is,

should obstinately contend against a truth illustrated by the clearest

light of reason, this surely is argument of his envy--let me not call

it by any worse name. But, perhaps, we are still to find an excuse

for Riolanus, and to say, that what he has written is not so much of

his own motion, as in discharge of the duties of his office, and with

a view to stand well with his colleagues. As Dean of the College of

Paris, he was bound to see the physic of Galen kept in good repair,

and to admit no novelty into the school, without the most careful

winnowing, lest, as he says, the precepts and dogmata of physic should

be disturbed, and the pathology which has for so many years obtained

the sanction of all the learned in assigning the causes of disease, be

overthrown. He has been playing the part of the advocate, therefore,

rather than of the practised anatomist. But, as Aristotle tells us, it

is not less absurd to expect demonstrative arguments from the advocate,

than it is to look for persuasive arguments from the demonstrator or

teacher. For the sake of the old friendship subsisting between us,

moreover, and the high praise which he has lavished on the doctrine of

the circulation, I cannot find it in my heart to say anything severe of

Riolanus.

[56] i.e. Harvey’s Doctrine.

I therefore return to you, most learned Slegel, and say, that I wish

greatly I had been so full and explicit in what I have said on the

subject of anastomosis in my disquisition to Riolanus, as would have

left you with no doubts or scruples on the matter. I could wish, also,

that you had taken into account not only what I have there denied, but

likewise what I have asserted on the transference of the blood from the

arteries into the veins; especially as I there seem to have pointed

out some cause both for my inquiry and for my negation, to hint at a

certain cause. I confess, I say, nay, I even pointedly assert, that I

have never found any visible anastomoses. But this was particularly

said against Riolanus, who limited the circulation of the blood to

the larger vessels only, with which, therefore, these anastomoses, if

any such there were, must have been made conformable, viz. of ample

size, and distinctly visible. Although it be true, therefore, that I

totally deny all anastomoses of this description--anastomoses in the

way the word is commonly understood, and as the meaning has come down

to us from Galen, viz. a direct conjunction between the orifices of the

[visible] arteries and veins--I still admit, in the same disquisition,

that I have found what is equivalent to this in three places, namely,

in the plexus of the brain, in the spermatic or preparing arteries and

veins, and in the umbilical arteries and veins. I shall now, therefore,

for your sake, my learned friend, enter somewhat more at large into my

reasons for rejecting the vulgar notion of the anastomoses, and explain

my own conjectures concerning the mode of transition of the blood from

the minute arteries into the finest veins.

All reasonable medical men, both of ancient and modern times, have

believed in a mutual transfusion, or accession and recession of

the blood between the arteries and the veins; and for the sake of

permitting this, they have imagined certain inconspicuous openings, or

obscure foramina, through which the blood flowed hither and thither,

moving out of one vessel and returning to it again. Wherefore it is

not wonderful that Riolanus should in various places find that in the

ancients which is in harmony with the doctrine of a circulation. For

a circulation in such sort teaches nothing more than that the blood

flows incessantly from the veins into the arteries, and from the

arteries back again into the veins. But as the ancients thought that

this movement took place indeterminately, by a kind of accident, in one

and the same place, and through the same channels, I imagine that they

therefore found themselves compelled to adopt a system of anastomoses,

or fine mouths mutually conjoined, and serving both systems of vessels

indifferently. But the circulation which I discovered teaches clearly

that there is a necessary outward and backward flow of the blood, and

this at different times and places, and through other and yet other

channels and passages; that this flow is determinate also, and for the

sake of a certain end, and is accomplished in virtue of parts contrived

for the purpose with consummate forecast and most admirable art. So

that the doctrine of the motion of the blood from the veins into the

arteries, which antiquity only understood in the way of conjecture, and

which it also spoke of in confused and indefinite terms, was laid down

by me with its assured and necessary causes, and presents itself to

the understanding as a thing extremely clear, perfectly well arranged,

and of approved verity. And then, when I perceived that the blood was

transferred from the veins into the arteries through the medium of the

heart with singular art, and with the aid of an admirable apparatus of

valves, I imagined that the transference from the extremities of the

arteries into those of the veins could not be effected without some

other admirable artifice, at least wherever there was no transudation

through the pores of the flesh. I therefore held the anastomoses of the

ancients as fairly open to suspicion, both as they nowhere presented

themselves to our eyes, and as no sufficient reason was alleged for

anything of the kind.

Since, then, I find a transit from the arteries into the veins in

the three places which I have above mentioned, equivalent to the

anastomoses of the ancients, and even affording the farther security

against any regurgitation into the arteries of the blood once delivered

to the veins, and as a mechanism of such a kind is more elaborate and

better suited to the circulation of the blood, I have therefore thought

that the anastomoses imagined by the ancients were to be rejected.

But you will ask, what is this artifice? what these ducts? viz. the

small arteries, which are always much smaller--twice, even three times

smaller--than the veins which they accompany, which they approach

continually more and more, and within the tunics of which they are

finally lost. I have been therefore led to conceive that the blood

brought thus between the coats of the veins advanced for a certain way

along them, and that the same thing took place here which we observe in

the conjunction between the ureters and the bladder, and of the biliary

duct with the duodenum. The ureters insinuate themselves obliquely and

tortuously between the coats of the bladder, without anything in the

nature of an anastomosis, yet in such a manner as occasionally affords

a passage to blood, to pus, and to calculi; it is easy, moreover, to

fill the bladder through them with air or water; but by no effort can

you force anything from the bladder into them. I care not, however,

to make any question here of the etymology of words; for I am not

of opinion that it is the province of philosophy to infer aught as

to the works of nature from the signification of words, or to cite

anatomical disquisitions before the grammatical tribunal. Our business

is not so much to inquire what a word properly signifies, as how it is

commonly understood; for use and wont, as in so many other matters,

are greatly to be considered in the interpretation of words. It seems

to me, therefore, that we are to take especial care not to employ any

unusual words, or any common ones already familiarly used, in a sense

which is not in accordance with the meaning we purpose to attach to

them. You indeed counsel well when you say, “only make sure of the

thing, call it what you will.” But when we discover that a thing has

hitherto been indifferently or incorrectly explained (as the sequel

will show it to have been in the present case), I do not think that

the old appellation can ever be well applied to the new fact; by using

the old term you are apt to mislead where you desire to instruct. I

acknowledge, then, a transit of the blood from the arteries into the

veins, and that occasionally immediate, without any intervention of

soft parts; but it does not take place in the manner hitherto believed,

and as you yourself would have it, where you say that anastomoses,

correctly speaking, rather than an anastomosis, were required, namely,

that the vessels may be open on either hand, and give free passage to

the blood hither and thither. And hence it comes that you fail in the

right solution of the question, when you ask how it happens that with

the arteries as patent or pervious as the veins, the blood nevertheless

flows only from the former into the latter, never from the latter into

the former? For what you say of the impulse of the blood through the

arteries does not fully solve the difficulty in the present instance.

For if the aorta be tied near the left ventricle of the heart in

a living animal, and all the blood removed from the arteries, the

veins are still seen full of blood; so that it neither moves back

spontaneously into the arteries, nor can it be repelled into these by

any force, whilst even in a dead animal it nevertheless falls of its

own accord through the finest pores of the flesh and skin from superior

into inferior parts. The passage of the blood into the veins is,

indeed, effected by the impulse in question, and not by any dilatation

of these in the manner of bellows, by which the blood is drawn towards

them; but there are no anastomoses of the vessels by conjunction (per

copulam), in the way you mention, none where two vessels meeting are

conjoined by equal mouths. There is only an opening of the artery into

the vein, exactly in the same manner as the ureter opens into the

bladder (and the biliary duct opens into the jejunum), by which, whilst

the flow of urine is perfectly free towards the bladder, all reflux

into the smaller conduits is effectually prevented; the fuller the

bladder is, indeed, the more are the sides of the ureters compressed,

and the more effectual is all ascent of urine in them prevented. Now,

on this hypothesis, it is easy to render a reason for the experiment

which I have already mentioned. I add further, that I can in nowise

admit such anastomoses as are commonly imagined, inasmuch as the

arteries being always much smaller than the veins, it is impossible

that their sides can mutually conjoin in such a way as will allow of

their forming a common meatus; it seems matter of necessity that things

which join in this way should be of equal size. Lastly, these vessels

having made a certain circuit, must, at their terminations, encounter

one another; they would not, as it happens, proceed straight to the

extremities of the body. And the veins, on their part, if they were

conjoined with the arteries by mutual inosculations, would necessarily,

and by reason of the continuity of parts, pulsate like the arteries.

And now, that I may make an end of my writing, I say, that whilst I

think the industry of every one deserving of commendation, I do not

remember that I have anywhere bepraised mine own. You, however, most

excellent sir, I conceive have deserved high commendation, both for the

care you have bestowed on your disquisition on the liver of the ox, and

for the judgment you display in your observations. Go on, therefore,

as you are doing, and grace the republic of letters with the fruits of

your genius, for thus will you render a grateful service to all the

learned, and especially to

Your loving

WILLIAM HARVEY.

Written in London, this 26th of March, 1651.

LETTER III

_To the very excellent John Nardi, of Florence_

I should have sent letters to you sooner, but our public troubles

in part, and in part the labour of putting to press my work “On the

Generation of Animals,” have hindered me from writing. And indeed I,

who receive your works--on the signal success of which I congratulate

you from my heart--and along with them most kind letters, do but very

little to one so distinguished as yourself in replying by a very short

epistle. I only write at this time that I may tell you how constantly

I think of you, and how truly I store up in my memory the grateful

remembrance of all your kindnesses and good offices to myself and to

my nephew, when we were each of us severally in Florence. I would

wish, illustrious sir, to have your news as soon as convenient:--what

you are about yourself, and what you think of this work of mine; for

I make no case of the opinions and criticisms of our pretenders to

scholarship, who have nothing but levity in their judgments, and indeed

are wont to praise none but their own productions. As soon as I know

that you are well, however, and that you live not unmindful of us here,

I propose to myself frequently to enjoy this intercourse by letter,

and I shall take care to transmit other books to you. I pray for many

and prosperous years to your Duke; and for yourself a long εὐημερία.

Farewell, most learned sir, and love in return.

Yours, most truly,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

The 15th of July, 1651.

LETTER IV

_In reply to R. Morison, M.D., of Paris_

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR,--The reason why your most kind letter has remained up

to this time unanswered is simply this, that the book of M. Pecquet,

upon which you ask my opinion, did not come into my hands until towards

the end of the past month. It stuck by the way, I imagine, with some

one, who, either through negligence, or desiring himself to see what

was newest, has for so long a time hindered me of the pleasure I have

had in the perusal. That you may, therefore, at once and clearly know

my opinion of this work, I say that I greatly commend the author for

his assiduity in dissection, for his dexterity in contriving new

experiments, and for the shrewdness which he still evinces in his

remarks upon them. With what labour do we attain to the hidden things

of truth when we take the averments of our senses as the guide which

God has given us for attaining to a knowledge of his works; avoiding

that specious path on which the eyesight is dazzled with the brilliancy

of mere reasoning, and so many are led to wrong conclusions, to

probabilities only, and too frequently to sophistical conjectures on

things!

I further congratulate myself on his confirmation of my views of the

circulation of the blood by such lucid experiments and clear reasons.

I only wish he had observed that the heart has three kinds of motion,

namely, the systole, in which the organ contracts and expels the blood

contained in its cavities, and next, a movement, the opposite of the

former one, in which the fibres of the heart appropriated to motion are

relaxed. Now these two motions inhere in the substance of the heart

itself, just as they do in all other muscles. The remaining motion is

the diastole, in which the heart is distended by the blood impelled

from the auricles into the ventricles; and the ventricles, thus replete

and distended, are stimulated to contraction, and this motion always

precedes the systole, which follows immediately afterwards.

With regard to the lacteal veins discovered by Aselli, and by the

further diligence of Pecquet, who discovered the receptacle or

reservoir of the chyle, and traced the canals thence to the subclavian

veins, I shall tell you freely, since you ask me what I think of them.

I had already, in the course of my dissections, I venture to say

even before Aselli had published his book,[57] observed these white

canals, and plenty of milk in various parts of the body, especially

in the glands of younger animals, as in the mesentery, where glands

abound; and thence I thought came the pleasant taste of the thymus in

the calf and lamb, which, as you know, is called the sweetbread in

our vernacular tongue. But for various reasons, and led by several

experiments, I could never be brought to believe that that milky fluid

was chyle conducted hither from the intestines, and distributed to

all parts of the body for their nourishment; but that it was rather

met with occasionally and by accident, and proceeded from too ample a

supply of nourishment and a peculiar vigour of concoction; in virtue

of the same law of nature, in short, as that by which fat, marrow,

semen, hair, &c., are produced; even as in the due digestion of ulcers

pus is formed, which the nearer it approaches to the consistency of

milk, viz. as it is whiter, smoother, and more homogeneous, is held

more laudable, so that some of the ancients thought pus and milk were

of the same nature, or nearly allied. Wherefore, although there can be

no question of the existence of the vessels themselves, still I can by

no means agree with Aselli in considering them as chyliferous vessels,

and this especially for the reasons about to be given, which lead me

to a different conclusion. For the fluid contained in the lacteal

veins appears to me to be pure milk, such as is found in the lacteal

veins [the milk ducts] of the mammæ. Now it does not seem to me very

probable (any more than it does to Auzotius in his letter to Pecquet)

that the milk is chyle, and thus that the whole body is nourished

by means of milk. The reasons which lead to a contrary conclusion,

viz. that it is chyle, are not of such force as to compel my assent.

I should first desire to have it demonstrated to me by the clearest

reasonings, and the guarantee of experiments, that the fluid contained

in these vessels was chyle, which, brought hither from the intestines,

supplies nourishment to the whole body. For unless we are agreed upon

the first point, any ulterior, any more operose, discussion of their

nature, is in vain. But how can these vessels serve as conduits for the

whole of the chyle, or the nourishment of the body, when we see that

they are different in different animals? In some they proceed to the

liver, in others to the porta only, and in others still to neither of

these. In some creatures they are seen to be extremely numerous in the

pancreas; in others the thymus is crowded with them; in a third class,

again, nothing can be seen of them in either of these organs. In some

animals, indeed, such chyliferous canals are nowhere to be discovered

(vide Liceti Epist. xiii, tit. ii, p. 83, et Sennerti Praxeos, lib. v,

tit. 2, par. 3, cap. 1); neither do they exist in any at all times.

But the vessels which serve for nutrition must necessarily both exist

in all animals, and present themselves at all times; inasmuch as the

waste incurred by the ceaseless efflux of the spirits, and the wear and

tear of the parts of the body, can only be supplied by as ceaseless a

restoration or nutrition. And then, their very slender calibre seems

to render them not less inadequate to this duty than their structure

seems to unfit them for its performance: the smaller channels ought

plainly to end in larger ones, these in their turn in channels larger

still, and the whole to concentrate in one great trunk, which should

correspond in its dimensions to the aggregate capacity of all the

branches; just such an arrangement as may be seen to exist in the vena

portæ and its tributaries, and farther in the trunk of the tree, which

is equal to its roots. Wherefore, if the efferent canals of a fluid

must be equal in dimensions to the afferent canals of the same fluid,

the chyliferous ducts which Pecquet discovers in the thorax ought at

least to equal the two ureters in dimensions; otherwise they who drink

a gallon or more of one of the acidulous waters could not pass off

all this fluid in so short a space of time by these vessels into the

bladder. And truly, when we see the matter of the urine passing thus

copiously through the appropriate channels, I do not see how these

veins could preserve their milky colour, and the urine all the while

remain without a tinge of whiteness.

[57] Published at Milan in 1622.

I add, too, that the chyle is neither in all animals, nor at all

times, of the consistency and colour of milk; and therefore did these

vessels carry chyle, they could not always (which nevertheless they

do) contain a white fluid in their interior, but would sometimes be

coloured yellow, green, or of some other hue (in the same way as the

urine is affected, and acquires different colours from eating rhubarb,

asparagus, figs, &c.); or otherwise, when large quantities of mineral

water were drunk, they would be deprived of almost all colour. Besides,

did that white matter pass from the intestines into those canals, or

were it attracted from the intestines, the same fluid ought certainly

to be discovered somewhere within the intestines themselves, or in

their spongy tunics; for it does not seem probable that any fluid by

bare and rapid percolation of the intestines could assume a new nature,

and be changed into milk. Moreover, were the chyle only filtered

through the tunics of the intestines, it ought surely to retain some

traces of its original nature, and resemble in colour and smell the

fluid contained in the intestines; it ought to smell offensively at

least; for whatever is contained in the intestines is tinged with bile,

and smells unpleasantly. Some have consequently thought that the body

was nourished by means of chyle raised into attenuated vapour, because

vapours exhaling in the alembic, even from fœtid matters, often do not

smell amiss.

The learned Pecquet ascribes the motion of this milky fluid to

respiration. For my own part, though strongly tempted to do otherwise,

I shall say nothing upon this topic until we are agreed as to what

the fluid is. But were we to concede the point (which Pecquet takes

for granted without any sufficient reason in the shape of argument),

that chyle was continually transported by the canals in question from

the intestines to the subclavian veins, in which the vessels he has

lately discovered terminate, we should have to say that the chyle

before reaching the heart was mixed with the blood which is about

to enter the right side of the organ, and that it there obtains a

further concoction. But what, some one might with as good reason ask,

should hinder it from passing into the porta, then into the liver,

and thence into the cava, in conformity with the arrangement which

Aselli and others are said to have found? Why, indeed, should we not

as well believe that the chyle enters the mouths of the mesenteric

veins, and in this way becomes immediately mingled with the blood,

where it might receive digestion and perfection from the heat, and

serve for the nutrition of all the parts? For the heart itself can be

accounted of higher importance than other parts, can be termed the

source of heat and of life, upon no other grounds than as it contains

a larger quantity of blood in its cavities, where, as Aristotle says,

the blood is not contained in veins as it is in other parts, but in

an ample sinus and cistern, as it were. And that the thing is so in

fact, I find an argument in the distribution of innumerable arteries

and veins to the intestines, more than to any other part of the body,

in the same way as the uterus abounds with blood-vessels during the

period of pregnancy. For nature never acts inconsiderately. In all

the red-blooded animals, consequently, which require [abundant]

nourishment, we find a copious distribution of mesenteric vessels;

but lacteal veins we discover in but a few, and even in these not

constantly. Wherefore, if we are to judge of the uses of parts as we

meet with them in general and in the greater number of animals, beyond

all doubt those filaments of a white colour, and very like the fibres

of a spider’s web, are not instituted for the purpose of transporting

nourishment, neither is the fluid they contain to be designated by the

name of chyle; the mesenteric vessels are rather destined to the duty

in question. Because, of that whence an animal is constituted, by that

must it necessarily grow, and by that consequently be nourished; for

the nutritive and augmentative faculties, or nutrition and growth,

are essentially the same. An animal, therefore, naturally grows in the

same manner as it receives immediate nutriment from the first. Now it

is a most certain fact (as I have shown elsewhere) that the embryos

of all red-blooded animals are nourished by means of the umbilical

vessels from the mother, and this in virtue of the circulation of the

blood. They are not nourished, however, immediately by the blood, as

many have imagined, but after the manner of the chick in ovo, which

is first nourished by the albumen, and then by the vitellus, which

is finally drawn into and included within the abdomen of the chick.

All the umbilical vessels, however, are inserted into the liver, or

at all events pass through it, even in those animals whose umbilical

vessels enter the vena portæ, as in the chick, in which the vessels

proceeding from the yelk always so terminate. In the selfsame way,

therefore, as the chick is nourished from a nutriment, (viz. the

albumen and vitellus,) previously prepared, even so does it continue

to be nourished through the whole course of its independent existence.

And the same thing, as I have elsewhere shown, is common to all embryos

whatsoever: the nourishment, mingled with the blood, is transmitted

through their veins to the heart, whence moving on by the arteries,

it is carried to every part of the body. The fœtus when born, when

thrown upon its own resources, and no longer immediately nourished by

the mother, makes use of its stomach and intestines just as the chick

makes use of the contents of the egg, and vegetables make use of the

ground whence they derive concocted nutriment. For even as the chick

at the commencement obtained its nourishment from the egg, by means of

the umbilical vessels (arteries and veins) and the circulation of the

blood, so does it subsequently, and when it has escaped from the shell,

receive nourishment by the mesenteric veins; so that in either way the

chyle passes through the same channels, and takes its route by the

same path through the liver. Nor do I see any reason why the route by

which the chyle is carried in one animal should not be that by which it

is carried in all animals whatsoever; nor indeed, if a circulation of

the blood be necessary in this matter, as it really is, that there is

any need for inventing another way.

I must say that I greatly prize the industry of the learned Pecquet,

and make much of the receptacle which he has discovered; still it does

not present itself to me as of such importance as to force me from

the opinion I have already given; for I have myself found several

receptacles of milk in young animals; and in the human embryo I

have found the thymus so distended with milk, that suspicions of an

imposthume were at first sight excited, and I was disposed to believe

that the lungs were in a state of suppuration, for the mass of the

thymus looked actually larger than the lungs themselves. Frequently,

too, I have found a quantity of milk in the nipples of new-born

infants, as also in the breasts of young men who were very lusty. I

have also met with a receptacle full of milk in the body of a fat and

large deer, in the situation where Pecquet indicates his receptacle, of

such a size that it might readily have been compared to the abomasus,

or read of the animal.

These observations, learned sir, have I made at this time in answer to

your letter, that I might show my readiness to comply with your wishes.

Pray present my most kind wishes to Dr. Pecquet and to Dr. Gayant.

Farewell, and believe me to be, very affectionately and respectfully,

Yours,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

London, the 28th April, 1652.

LETTER V

_To the most excellent and learned John Nardi, of Florence_

DISTINGUISHED AND ACCOMPLISHED SIR,--The arrival of your letter lately

gave me the liveliest pleasure, and the receipt at the same time of

your learned comments upon Lucretius satisfied me that you are not

only living and well, but that you are at work among the sacred things

of Apollo. I do indeed rejoice to see truly learned men everywhere

illustrating the republic of letters, even in the present age, in

which the crowd of foolish scribblers is scarcely less than the swarms

of flies in the height of summer, and threatens with their crude and

flimsy productions to stifle us as with smoke. Among other things that

delighted me greatly in your book was that part where I see you ascribe

plague almost to the same efficient cause as I do animal generation.

Still it must be confessed that it is difficult to explain how the

idea, or form, or vital principle should be transfused from the genitor

to the genetrix, and from her transmitted to the conception or ovum,

and thence to the fœtus, and in this produce not only an image of the

genitor, or an external species, but also various peculiarities or

accidents, such as disposition, vices, hereditary diseases, nævi or

mother-marks, &c. All of these accidents must inhere in the geniture

and semen, and accompany that specific thing, by whatever name you

call it, from which an animal is not only produced, but by which it is

afterwards governed, and to the end of its life preserved. As all this,

I say, is not readily accounted for, so do I hold it scarcely less

difficult to conceive how pestilence or leprosy should be communicated

to a distance by contagion, by a zymotic element contained in woollen

or linen things, household furniture, even the walls of a house,

cement, rubbish, &c., as we find it stated in the fourteenth chapter

of Leviticus. How, I ask, can contagion, long lurking in such things,

leave them in fine, and after a long lapse of time produce its like

in another body? Nor in one or two only, but in many, without respect

of strength, sex, age, temperament, or mode of life, and with such

violence that the evil can by no art be stayed or mitigated. Truly

it does not seem less likely that form, or soul, or idea, whether

this be held substantive or accidental, should be transferred to

something else, whence an animal at length emerges, all as if it

had been produced on purpose, and to a certain end, with foresight,

intelligence, and divine art.

These are among the number of more abstruse matters, and demand your

ingenuity, most learned Nardi. Nor need you plead in excuse your

advanced life; I myself, although verging on my eightieth year, and

sorely failed in bodily strength, nevertheless feel my mind still

vigorous, so that I continue to give myself up with the greatest

pleasure to studies of this kind. I send you along with these, three

books upon the subject you name.[58] If you will mention my name to

his Serene Highness the Duke of Tuscany, with thankfulness for the

distinguished honour he did me when I was formerly in Florence, and add

my wishes for his safety and prosperity, you will do a very kind thing

to

[58] [Nardi had written to Harvey requesting him to select a few

of the publications which should give a faithful narrative of the

distractions that had but lately agitated England.]

Your devoted and very attached friend,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

30th Nov. 1653.

LETTER VI

_To John Daniel Horst, principal Physician of Hesse-Darmstadt_

EXCELLENT SIR,--I am much pleased to find, that in spite of the long

time that has passed, and the distance that separates us, you have

not yet lost me from your memory, and I could wish that it lay in my

power to answer all your inquiries. But, indeed, my age does not permit

me to have this pleasure, for I am not only far stricken in years,

but am afflicted with more and more indifferent health. With regard

to the opinions of Riolanus, and his decision as to the circulation

of the blood, it is very obvious that he makes vast throes in the

production of vast trifles; nor do I see that he has as yet satisfied

a single individual with his figments. Slegel wrote well and modestly,

and, had the fates allowed, would undoubtedly have answered his

arguments and reproaches also. But Slegel as I learn, and grieve to

learn, died some months ago. As to what you ask of me, in reference

to the so-called lacteal veins and thoracic ducts, I reply, that it

requires good eyes, and a mind free from other anxieties, to come to

any definite conclusion in regard to these extremely minute vessels;

to me, however, as I have just said, neither of these requisites is

given. About two years ago, when asked my opinion on the same subject,

I replied at length, and to the effect that it was not sufficiently

determined whether it was chyle or one of the thicker constituents

of milk, destined speedily to pass into fat, which flowed in these

white vessels; and further that the vessels themselves are wanting

in several animals, namely, birds and fishes, though it seems most

probable that these creatures are nourished upon the same principles as

quadrupeds; nor can any sufficient reason be rendered why in the embryo

all nutriment, carried by the umbilical vein, should pass through the

liver, but that this should not happen when the fœtus is freed from the

prison of the womb, and made independent. Besides, the thoracic duct

itself, and the orifice by which it communicates with the subclavian

vein, appear too small and narrow to suffice for the transmission of

all the supplies required by the body. And I have asked myself farther,

why such numbers of blood-vessels, arteries, and veins should be sent

to the intestines if there were nothing to be brought back from thence?

especially as these are mere membraneous parts, and on this account

require a smaller supply of blood.

These and other observations of the same tenor I have already

made,--not as being obstinately wedded to my own opinion, but that I

might find out what could reasonably be urged to the contrary by the

advocates of the new views. I am ready to award the highest praise

to Pecquet and others for their singular industry in searching out

the truth; nor do I doubt but that many things still lie hidden in

Democritus’s well that are destined to be drawn up into the light by

the indefatigable diligence of coming ages. So much do I say at this

time, which, I trust, with your known kindness, you will take in good

part. Farewell, learned friend; live happily, and hold me always

Yours, most affectionately,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

London, 1st February, 1654-5.

LETTER VII

_To the distinguished and learned John Dan. Horst, principal Physician

at the Court of Hesse-Darmstadt_

MOST EXCELLENT SIR,--Advanced age, which unfits us for the

investigation of novel subtleties, and the mind which inclines to

repose after the fatigues of lengthened labours, prevent me from mixing

myself up with the investigation of these new and difficult questions:

so far am I from courting the office of umpire in this dispute! I was

anxious to do you a pleasure lately, when, in reply to your request,

I sent you the substance of what I had formerly written to a Parisian

physician as my ideas on the lacteal veins and thoracic ducts.[59]

Not, indeed, that I was certain of the opinion then delivered, but

that I might place these objections such as they were before those who

fancy that when they have made a certain progress in discovery all is

revealed by them.

[59] [Pecquet described the duct as dividing into two branches, one

for each subclavian vein.]

With reference to your letters in reply, however, and in so far as

the collection of milky fluid in the vessels of Aselli is concerned,

I have not ascribed it to accident, and as if there were not certain

assignable causes for its existence; but I have denied that it was

found at all times in all animals, as the constant tenor of nutrition

would seem to require. Nor is it requisite that a matter, already

thin and much diluted, and which is to become fat after the ulterior

concoction, should concrete in the dead animal. The instance of pus, I

have adduced only incidentally and collaterally. The hinge upon which

our whole discussion turns is the assumption that the fluid contained

in the lacteal vessels of Aselli is chyle. This position I certainly

do not think you demonstrate satisfactorily, when you say that chyle

must be educed from the intestines, and that it can by no means be

carried off by the arteries, veins, or nerves; and thence conclude that

this function must be performed by the lacteals. I, however, can see no

reason wherefore the innumerable veins which traverse the intestines at

every point, and return to the heart the blood which they have received

from the arteries, should not, at the same time, also suck up the chyle

which penetrates the parts, and so transmit it to the heart; and this

the rather, as it seems probable that some chyle passes immediately

from the stomach before its contents have escaped into the intestines,

(or how account for the rapid recovery of the spirits and strength in

cases of fainting?) although no lacteals are distributed to the stomach.

With regard to the letter which you inform me you have addressed to

Bartholin, I do not doubt of his replying to you as you desire; nor

is there any occasion wherefore I should trouble you farther on that

topic. I only say (keeping silence as to any other channels), that

the nutritive juice might be as readily transported by the uterine

arteries, and distilled into the uterus, as watery fluid is carried

by the emulgent arteries to the kidneys. Nor can this juice be spoken

of as preternatural; neither ought it to be compared to the vagitus

uterinus, seeing that in pregnant women the fluid is always present,

the vagitus an incident of very rare occurrence. What you say of the

excrements of new-born infants differing from those of the child that

has once tasted milk I do not admit; for except in the particular of

colour, I scarcely perceive any difference between them, and conceive

that the black hue may fairly be ascribed to the long stay of the fæces

in the bowels.

Your proposal that I should attempt a solution of the true use of these

newly-discovered ducts, is an undertaking of greater difficulty than

comports with the old man far advanced in years, and occupied with

other cares: nor can such a task be well entrusted to several hands,

were even such assistance as you indicate at my command[60]; but it is

not; Highmore does not live in our neighbourhood, and I have not seen

him for a period of some seven years. So much I write at present, most

learned sir, trusting it will be taken in good part as coming from

yours,

[60] [Horst, in the letter to which the above is an answer, had said,

“Nobilissime Harveie, &c. Most noble Harvey, I only wish you could

snatch the leisure to explain to the world the true use of these

lymphatic and thoracic ducts. You have many illustrious scholars,

particularly Highmore, with whose assistance it were easy to solve

all doubts.”]

Very sincerely and respectfully,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

London, 13th July, 1655 (old style).

LETTER VIII

_To the very learned John Nardi, of Florence, a man distinguished alike

for his virtues, life, and erudition_

MOST EXCELLENT SIR,--I lately received your most agreeable letter,

from which I am equally delighted to learn that you are well, that

you go on prosperously, and labour strenuously in our chosen studies.

But I am not informed whether my letter in reply to yours, along

with a few books forwarded at the same time, have come to hand or

not. I should be happy to have news on this head at your earliest

convenience, and also to be made acquainted with the progress you make

in your “Noctes Geniales,” and other contemplated works. For I am

used to solace my declining years, and to refresh my understanding,

jaded with the trifles of every-day life, by reading the best works of

this description. I have again to return you my best thanks for your

friendly offices to my nephew when at Florence in former years; and on

the arrival in Italy of another of my nephews (who is the bearer of

this letter), I entreat you very earnestly that you will be pleased

most kindly to favour him with any assistance or advice of which he

may stand in need. For thus will you indeed do that which will be very

gratifying to me. Farewell, most accomplished sir, and deign to cherish

the memory of our friendship, as does most truly the admirer of all

your virtues,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

London, Oct. 25th, in the year of the Christian era, 1655.

LETTER IX

_To the distinguished and accomplished John Vlackveld, Physician at

Harlem_

LEARNED SIR,--Your much esteemed letter reached me safely, in which you

not only exhibit your kind consideration of me, but display a singular

zeal in the cultivation of our art.

It is even so. Nature is nowhere accustomed more openly to display her

secret mysteries than in cases where she shows traces of her workings

apart from the beaten path; nor is there any better way to advance the

proper practice of medicine than to give our minds to the discovery

of the usual law of nature, by the careful investigation of cases of

rarer forms of disease. For it has been found in almost all things,

that what they contain of useful or of applicable, is hardly perceived

unless we are deprived of them, or they become deranged in some way.

The case of the plasterer[61] to which you refer is indeed a curious

one, and might supply a text for a lengthened commentary by way of

illustration. But it is in vain that you apply the spur to urge me, at

my present age, not mature merely but declining, to gird myself for any

new investigation. For I now consider myself entitled to my discharge

from duty. It will, however, always be a pleasant sight for me to

see distinguished men like yourself engaged in this honorable arena.

Farewell, most learned sir, and whatever you do, still love

[61] [Vlackveld had sent to Harvey the particulars of a case of

diseased bladder, in which that viscus was found after death not

larger than “a walnut with the husk,” its walls as thick as the

thickness of the little finger, and its inner surface ulcerated.]

Yours, most respectfully,

WILLIAM HARVEY.

London, 24th April, 1657.

APPENDIX

THE ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION

OF THE BODY OF

THOMAS PARR

WHO DIED AT THE AGE OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO YEARS

MADE BY

WILLIAM HARVEY

OTHERS OF THE KING’S PHYSICIANS BEING PRESENT

ON THE 16TH OF NOVEMBER, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE

BIRTHDAY OF HER SERENE HIGHNESS

HENRIETTA MARIA, QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE

AND IRELAND

[This account first appeared in the work of Dr. Betts, entitled: “De

Ortu et Natura Sanguinis,” 8vo, London, 1669, the MS. having been

presented to Betts by Mr. Michael Harvey, nephew of the author, with

whom Betts was on terms of intimacy.]

ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION OF THE BODY OF THOMAS PARR

Thomas Parr, a poor countryman, born near Winnington, in the county

of Salop, died on the 14th of November, in the year of grace 1635,

after having lived one hundred and fifty-two years and nine months,

and survived nine princes. This poor man, having been visited by the

illustrious Earl of Arundel when he chanced to have business in these

parts, (his lordship being moved to the visit by the fame of a thing so

incredible,) was brought by him from the country to London; and, having

been most kindly treated by the earl both on the journey and during a

residence in his own house, was presented as a remarkable sight to his

Majesty the King.

Having made an examination of the body of this aged individual, by

command of his Majesty, several of whose principal physicians were

present, the following particulars were noted:

The body was muscular, the chest hairy, and the hair on the fore-arms

still black; the legs, however, were without hair, and smooth.

The organs of generation were healthy, the penis neither retracted nor

extenuated, nor the scrotum filled with any serous infiltration, as

happens so commonly among the decrepid; the testes, too, were sound

and large; so that it seemed not improbable that the common report

was true, viz. that he did public penance under a conviction for

incontinence, after he had passed his hundredth year; and his wife,

whom he had married as a widow in his hundred-and-twentieth year, did

not deny that he had intercourse with her after the manner of other

husbands with their wives, nor until about twelve years back had he

ceased to embrace her frequently.

The chest was broad and ample; the lungs, nowise fungous, adhered,

especially on the right side, by fibrous bands to the ribs. They were

much loaded with blood, as we find them in cases of peripneumony, so

that until the blood was squeezed out they looked rather blackish.

Shortly before his death I had observed that the face was livid, and he

suffered from difficult breathing and orthopnœa. This was the reason

why the axillæ and chest continued to retain their heat long after his

death: this and other signs that present themselves in cases of death

from suffocation were observed in the body.

We judged, indeed, that he had died suffocated, through inability to

breathe, and this view was confirmed by all the physicians present, and

reported to the King. When the blood was expressed, and the lungs were

wiped, their substance was beheld of a white and almost milky hue.

The heart was large, and thick, and fibrous, and contained a

considerable quantity of adhering fat, both in its circumference and

over its septum. The blood in the heart, of a black colour, was dilute,

and scarcely coagulated; in the right ventricle alone some small clots

were discovered.

In raising the sternum, the cartilages of the ribs were not found

harder or converted into bone in any greater degree than they are in

ordinary men; on the contrary, they were soft and flexible.

The intestines were perfectly sound, fleshy, and strong, and so was

the stomach: the small intestines presented several constrictions,

like rings, and were muscular. Whence it came that, by day or night,

observing no rules or regular times for eating, he was ready to

discuss any kind of eatable that was at hand; his ordinary diet

consisting of sub-rancid cheese, and milk in every form, coarse and

hard bread, and small drink, generally sour whey. On this sorry fare,

but living in his home, free from care, did this poor man attain to

such length of days. He even ate something about midnight shortly

before his death.

The kidneys were bedded in fat, and in themselves sufficiently healthy;

on their anterior aspects, however, they contained several small watery

abscesses or serous collections, one of which, the size of a hen’s

egg, containing a yellow fluid in a proper cyst, had made a rounded

depression in the substance of the kidney. To this some were disposed

to ascribe the suppression of urine under which the old man had

laboured shortly before his death; whilst others, and with greater show

of likelihood, ascribed it to the great regurgitation of serum upon the

lungs.

There was no appearance of stone either in the kidneys or bladder.

The mesentery was loaded with fat, and the colon, with the omentum,

which was likewise fat, was attached to the liver, near the fundus of

the gall-bladder; in like manner the colon was adherent from this point

posteriorly with the peritoneum.

The viscera were healthy; they only looked somewhat white externally,

as they would have done had they been parboiled; internally they were

(like the blood) of the colour of dark gore.

The spleen was very small, scarcely equalling one of the kidneys in

size.

All the internal parts, in a word, appeared so healthy, that had

nothing happened to interfere with the old man’s habits of life, he

might perhaps have escaped paying the debt due to nature for some

little time longer.

The cause of death seemed fairly referrible to a sudden change in the

non-naturals, the chief mischief being connected with the change of

air, which through the whole course of life had been inhaled of perfect

purity,--light, cool, and mobile, whereby the præcordia and lungs were

more freely ventilated and cooled; but in this great advantage, in this

grand cherisher of life this city is especially destitute; a city whose

grand characteristic is an immense concourse of men and animals, and

where ditches abound, and filth and offal lie scattered about, to say

nothing of the smoke engendered by the general use of sulphureous coal

as fuel, whereby the air is at all times rendered heavy, but much more

so in the autumn than at any other season. Such an atmosphere could

not have been found otherwise than insalubrious to one coming from the

open, sunny, and healthy region of Salop; it must have been especially

so to one already aged and infirm.

And then for one hitherto used to live on food unvaried in kind, and

very simple in its nature, to be set at a table loaded with variety

of viands, and tempted not only to eat more than wont, but to partake

of strong drink, it must needs fall out that the functions of all the

natural organs would become deranged. Whence the stomach at length

failing, and the excretions long retained, the work of concoction

proceeding languidly, the liver getting loaded, the blood stagnating

in the veins, the spirits frozen, the heart, the source of life,

oppressed, the lungs infarcted, and made impervious to the ambient air,

the general habit rendered more compact, so that it could no longer

exhale or perspire--no wonder that the soul, little content with such a

prison, took its flight.

The brain was healthy, very firm and hard to the touch; hence, shortly

before his death, although he had been blind for twenty years, he

heard extremely well, understood all that was said to him, answered

immediately to questions, and had perfect apprehension of any matter

in hand; he was also accustomed to walk about, slightly supported

between two persons. His memory, however, was greatly impaired, so

that he scarcely recollected anything of what had happened to him when

he was a young man, nothing of public incidents, or of the kings or

nobles who had made a figure, or of the wars or troubles of his earlier

life, or of the manners of society, or of the prices of things--in a

word, of any of the ordinary incidents which men are wont to retain in

their memories. He only recollected the events of the last few years.

Nevertheless, he was accustomed, even in his hundred and thirtieth

year, to engage lustily in every kind of agricultural labour, whereby

he earned his bread, and he had even then the strength required to

thrash the corn.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM HARVEY, M.D.

_Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury_

In the name of the Almighty and Eternal God Amen I WILLIAM HARVEY of

London Doctor of Physicke doe by these presents make and ordaine this

my last Will and testament in manner and forme following Revoking

hereby all former and other wills and testaments whatsoever Imprimis I

doe most humbly render my soule to Him that gave it and to my blessed

Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus and my bodie to the Earth to be buried

at the discretion of my executor herein after named The personall

estate which at the time of my decease I shalbe in any way possessed

of either in Law or equitie be it in goods householdstuffe readie

moneys debts duties arrearages of rents or any other wayes whatsoever

and whereof I shall not by this present will or by some Codicill to

be hereunto annexed make a particular gift and disposition I doe

after my debts Funeralls and Legacies paid and discharged give and

bequeath the same vnto my loving brother Mr. Eliab Harvey merchant of

London whome I make Executor of this my last will and testament And

whereas I have lately purchased certaine lands in Northamptonshire or

thereabouts commonly knowne by the name of Oxon grounds and formerly

belonging vnto to the Earl of Manchester and certaine other grounds in

Leicestershire commonly called or knowne by the name of Baron Parke

and sometime heretofore belonging vnto Sir Henry Hastings Knight both

which purchases were made in the name of several persons nominated

and trusted by me and by two severall deeds of declaracon vnder the

handes and seales of all persons any waye parties or privies to the

said trusts are declared to be first vpon trust and to the intent

that I should be permitted to enioye all the rents and profits and

the benefit of the collaterall securitie during my life and from and

after my decease Then upon trust and for the benefit of such person and

persons and of and for such estate and estates and Interests And for

raysing and payment of such summe and summes of Money Rents Charges

Annuities and yearly payments to and for such purposes as from time

to time by any writing or writings to be by me signed and sealed in

the presence of Two or more credible witnesses or by my last will and

testament in writing should declare limit direct or appoint And further

in trust that the said Mannors and lands and everie part thereof

together with the Collaterall securitie should be assigned conveyed

and assured vnto such persons and for suche Estates as the same should

by me be limited and directed charged and chargeable nevertheles with

all Annuities rents and summes of money by me limited and appointed

if any such shalbe And in default of such appointment then to Eliab

Harvey his heires executors and Assignes or to such as he or they shall

nominate as by the said two deeds of declaracon both of them bearing

date the tenth day of July in the year of our Lord God one Thousand

sixe hundred Fiftie and one more at large it doth appeare I doe now

hereby declare limit direct and appoint that with all convenient speed

after my decease there shalbe raised satisfied and paid these severall

summes of money Rents Charges and Annuities herein after expressed and

likewise all such other summes of Money Rents Charges or Annuities

which at any time hereafter in any Codicill to be hereunto annexed

shall happen to be limited or expressed And first I appoint so much

money to be raised and laid out vpon that building which I have already

begun to erect within the Colledge of Physicians in London as will

serve to finish the same according to the designe already made Item I

give and bequeath vnto my lo sister in Law Mrs Eliab Harvey one hundred

pounds to buy something to keepe in remembrance of me Item I give to my

Niece Mary Pratt all that Linnen householdstuffe and furniture which

I have at Coome neere Croydon for the vse of Will Foulkes and to whom

his keeping shalbe assigned after her death or before me at any time

Item I give vnto my Niece Mary West and her daughter Amy West halfe

the Linnen I shall leave at London in my chests and Chambers together

with all my plate excepting my Coffey pot Item I give to my lo sister

Eliab all the other halfe of my Linnen which I shall leave behind me

Item I give to my lo sister Daniell at Lambeth and to everie one of

her children severally the summe of fiftie pounds Item I give to my lo

Coosin Mr Heneage Finch for his paines counsell and advice about the

contriving of this my will one hundred pounds Item I give to all my

little Godchildren Nieces and Nephews severally to everie one Fiftie

pounds Item I give and bequeath to the towne of Foulkestone where I

was borne two hundred pounds to be bestowed by the advice of the Mayor

thereof and my Executor for the best vse of the poore Item I give to

the poore of Christ hospitall in Smithfield thirtie pounds Item I

give to Will Harvey my godsonne the sonne of my brother Mich Harvey

deceased one hundred pounds and to his brother Michaell Fiftie pounds

Item I give to my Nephew Tho Cullen and his children one hundred pounds

and to his brother my godsonne Will Cullen one hundred pounds Item I

give to my Nephew Jhon Harvey the sonne of my lo brother Tho Harvey

deceased two hundred pounds Item I give to my Servant John Raby for

his diligence in my service and sicknesse twentie pounds And to Alice

Garth my Servant Tenne pounds over and above what I am already owing

unto her by my bill which was her mistresses legacie Item I give among

the poor children of Amy Rigdon daughter of my lo vncle Mr Tho Halke

twentie pounds Item among other my poorest kindred one hundred pounds

to be distributed at the appointment of my Executor Item I give among

the servants of my sister Dan at my Funeralls Five pounds And likewise

among the servants of my Nephew Dan Harvey at Coome as much Item I

give to my Cousin Mary Tomes Fifty pounds Item I give to my lo Friend

Mr Prestwood one hundred pounds Item I give to everie one of my lo

brother Eliab his sonnes and daughters severally Fiftie pounds apiece

All which legacies and gifts aforesaid are chiefly to buy something to

keepe in remembrance of me Item I give among the servants of my brother

Eliab which shalbe dwelling with him at the time of my decease tenne

pounds Furthermore I give and bequeath vnto my Sister Eliabs Sister Mrs

Coventrey a widowe during her natural life the yearly rent or summe of

twentie pounds Item I give to my Niece Mary West during her naturall

life the yearly rent or summe of Fortie pounds Item I give for the vse

and behoofe and better ordering of Will Foulkes for and during the

term of his life vnto my Niece Mary Pratt the yearly rent of tenne

pounds which summe if it happen my said Niece shall dye before him I

desire may be paid to them to whome his keeping shalbe appointed Item

I will that the twentie pounds which I yearly allowe him my brother

Galen Browne may be continued as a legacie from his sister during

his naturall life Item I will that the payments to Mr Samuel Fentons

children out of the profits of Buckholt Lease be orderly performed

as my deere deceased lo wife gave order so long as that lease shall

stand good Item I give vnto Alice Garth during her naturall life the

yearly rent or summe of twentie pounds Item To John Raby during his

naturall life sixteene pounds yearly rent All which yearly rents or

summes to be paid halfe yearly at the two most vsuall feasts in the

yeare viz Michaelmas and our Lady day without any deduction for or by

reason of any manner of taxes to be any way hereafter imposed The first

payment of all the said rents or Annuities respectively to beginne at

such of those feasts which shall first happen next after my decease

Thus I give the remainder of my lands vnto my lo brother Eliab and his

heires All my legacies and gifts &c. being performed and discharged

Touching my bookes and householdstuffe Pictures and apparell of which

I have not already disposed I give to the Colledge of Physicians all

my bookes and papers and my best Persia long Carpet and my blue sattin

imbroyedyed Cushion one paire of brasse Andirons with fireshovell and

tongues of brasse for the ornament of the meeting roome I have erected

for that purpose Item I give my velvet gowne to my lo friend Mr Doctor

Scarbrough desiring him and my lo friend Mr Doctor Ent to looke over

those scattered remnant of my poore Librarie and what bookes papers

or rare collections they shall thinke fit to present to the Colledge

and the rest to be Sold and with the money buy better And for their

paines I give to Mr Doctor Ent all the presses and shelves he please

to make use of and five pounds to buy him a ring to keepe or weare in

remembrance of me And to Dr Scarbrough All my little silver instruments

of surgerie Item I give all my Chamber furniture tables bed bedding

hangings which I have at Lambeth to my Sister Dan and her daughter

Sarah And all that at London to my lo Sister Eliab and her daughter or

my godsonne Eliab as she shall appoint Lastly I desire my executor to

assigne over the custode of Will Fowkes after the death of my Niece

Mary Pratt if she happen to dye before him vnto the Sister of the said

William my Niece Mary West Thus I have finished my last Will in three

pages two of them written with own hand and my name subscribed to

everie one with my hand and seal to the last

WILL HARVEY.

* * * * *

Signed sealed and published as the last will and testament of me

William Harvey In the presence of us Edward Dering Henneage Finch

Richard Flud Francis Finche Item I have since written a Codicill with

my owne hand in a sheet of paper to be added hereto with my name

thereto subscribed and my seale.

ITEM I will that the sumes and charges here specified be added and

annexed vnto my last will and testament published heretofore in the

presence of Sir Edward Dering and Mr. Henneage Finch and others and as

a Codicill by my Executor in like manner to be performed whereby I will

and bequeath to John Denn sonne of Vincent Denne the summe of thirtie

pounds Item to my good friend Mr Tho Hobbs to buy something to keepe

in remembrance of me tenne pounds and to Mr Kennersley in like manner

twentie pounds Item what moneys shalbe due to me from Mr. Hen Thompson

his fees being discharged I give to my friend Mr Prestwood Item what

money is of mine viz one hundred pounds in the hands of my Cosin Rigdon

I give halfe thereof to him towards the marriage of his niece and the

other halfe to be given to Mrs Coventrey for her sonne Walter when he

shall come of yeares and for vse my Cosin Rigdon giving securitie I

would he should pay none Item what money shalbe due to me and Alice

Garth my servant on a pawne now in the hands of Mr Prestwood I will

after my decease shall all be given my said servant for her diligence

about me in my siknesse and service both interest and principall Item

if in case it so fall out that my good friend Mrs Coventrey during her

widowhood shall not dyet on freecost with my brother or Sister Eliab

Harvey Then I will and bequeath to her one hundred marke yearly during

her widowhood Item I will and bequeath to my loving Cosin Mr Henneage

Finch (more than heretofore) to be for my godsonne Will Finche one

hundred pounds Item I will and bequeath yearly during her life a rent

of thirtie pounds vnto Mrs Jane Nevison Widdowe in case she shall not

preferre her selfe in marriage to be paid quarterly by even porcons

the first to beginn at Christmas Michaelmas or Lady day or Midsummer

which first happens after my decease Item I give to my Goddaughter Mrs

Eliz Glover daughter of my Cosin Toomes the yearly rent of tenne pounds

from my decease vnto the end of five years. Item to her brother Mr Rich

Toomes thirty pounds as a legacie Item I give to John Cullen sonne of

Tho Cullen deceased all what I have formerly given his father and more

one hundred pounds Item I will that what I have bequeathed to my Niece

Mary West be given to her husband my Cosin Rob West for his daughter

Amy West Item what should have bene to my Sister Dan deceased I will

be given my lo Niece her daughter in Law Item I give my Cosin Mrs Mary

Ranton fortie pounds to buy something to keep in remembrance of me

Item to my nephews Michaell and Will the sonnes of my brother Mich one

hundred pounds to either of them Item all the furniture of my chamber

and all the hangings I give to my godsonne Mr Eliab Harvey at his

marriage and all my red damaske furniture and plate to my Cosin Mary

Harvey Item I give my best velvet gowne to Doctor Scarbrowe.

WILL HARVEY.

Memorandum that upon Sunday the twentie eighth day of December in the

yeare of our Lord one thousand sixe hundred fiftie sixe I did againe

peruse my last will which formerly conteined three pages and hath

now this fourth page added to it. And I doe now this present Sunday

December 28 1656 publish and declare these foure pages whereof the

three last are written with my owne hand to be my last will In the

presence of Henneage Finch John Raby.

This will with the Codicill annexed was proved at London on the second

day of May In the yeare of our Lord God one Thousand six hundred fiftie

nine before the Judge for probate of wills and granting Adcons lawfully

authorised By the oath of Eliab Harvey the Brother and sole executor

therein named To whom Administracon of all and singular the goods

Chattells and debts of the said deceased was granted and committed He

being first sworne truely to administer.[62]

CHAS. DYNELEY } _Deputy_

JOHN IGGULDEN } _Registers._

W. F. GOSTLING }

[62] [The will of Harvey is without date. But was almost certainly

made some time in the course of 1652. He speaks of certain deeds of

declaration bearing date the 10th of July, 1651; and he provides

money for the completion of the buildings which he has “already begun

to erect within the Colledge of Physicians.” Now these structures

were finished in the early part of 1653. The will was, therefore,

written between July 1651, and February 1653. The codicil is also

undated: but we may presume that it was added shortly before Sunday

the 28th of December 1656, the day on which Harvey reads over the

whole document and formally declares and publishes it as his last

will and testament in the presence of his friend Henneage Finch, and

his faithful servant John Raby.]

INDEX

INDEX

A

_Anastomosis_, 63, 127, 172

how far observed by Harvey, 128

Harvey states his views on, 179, 180

_Aneurism_

pulsation of an, 15

axillary, its bearing on the pulse, 30

its effect on the pulse, 135

_Animals_

importance of dissecting the lower, 42

_Aorta_

why its walls thicker than those of the pulmonary artery, 107

case in which portion of, ossified, 137

_Argent, Dr._

dedication of treatise on Heart and Blood to, 5

_Aristotle_

referred to, vii, 27

on the pulse, 30

on the chick, 34

quoted in support of pulsation of heart of embryo, 46

circular motion of rain suggested by, compared to that of the blood, 56

on the heart, 93, 97, 105, 166

his error regarding the mitral valve, 101

on the study of the lower animals, 137

on trusting to the senses, 160

_Arteriotomy_

experiments of, 14, 28, 29, 129, 163

outflow of blood in, 29

_Arteries_

ancient views regarding the, ix

contain blood only, 12

contain same blood as the veins, 12

Galen’s experiment on, 12

filled like bladders, not like bellows, 13

dilation of, due to impulse of blood, 14

diastole of, corresponds to systole of heart, 29

called veins, by Galen, 30, and the ancients, 57

why empty after death, 62, 140

coronary, supply the heart itself, 88

reason for greater thickness of coats of, 106

nearer to heart, more they differ from veins, 106

contained only aërial spirits, according to Erasistratus, 140

_Artery_

ligature of an, of a snake, 66

experiment of dividing an, 129, 146

experiment on an exposed uncut, 136

case of ossification of portion of an, 137

_Arundel, Earl of_

Harvey accompanied the, on an embassy to the Emperor, xxii

_Aselli_

discovered the lacteals, 117, 186

lacteal vessels of, referred to by Harvey, 197

B

_Baer, Von_

Harvey, a precursor of, xxi

_Bandages_

on the arm to show flow of blood in the veins, 81 _et seq._

_Bauhin, Caspar_

his observations on the heart, 31

_Bibliography_

of Harvey’s works, xxiv

_Bird_

observations on the beat of the heart of a, 33

observations on the heart of the chick, 34, 36

_Blood_

its course from veins to arteries, 42

in the lower animals, 43

in the fœtus, 44

its passage through the lungs, 48

quantity of, passing through the heart, 55

circular motion of the, 56

demonstrated from impossibility of whole amount of, being derived

from the ingesta, 58

amount ejected from ventricle at each beat, 59

enters a limb by arteries, leaves it by veins, 67

circulation of, proved by experiments with ligatures, 67, 68

quantity of, passing through bloodvessels supports circulation, 76

circulation of, supported by valves in the veins, 78

manner of escape of, in surgical operations, 107

the whole of the, circulates, 114

is cooled in passing through the lungs, 122

force with which it flows from an artery, 136

is of same nature in arteries and veins, 138, 143

reasons why a different view has been held, 139, 140

velocity of, varies in different parts, and at different times, 156

gives heat to the heart, 167

passage of, from arteries to veins, xvi, 168

C

_Cæsalpinus, Andreas_

claimed in Italy as the discoverer of the Circulation, xi

this claim criticised, xii

_Calidum innatum_, 145

not distinct from the blood, 146

_Canalis arteriosus_

of fœtus, shrinks gradually after birth, 45

_Capillaries_

too minute for Harvey to see, xvi

first observed by Malpighi, xvi

_Carotid artery_

experiment on the, 129

force with which blood flows from the, 136

_Charles I._

his interest in Harvey’s discovery, xviii

Harvey appointed physician to, xxii

remained such by request of the Parliament, xviii

dedication to, of treatise on Motion of Heart and Blood, 3

present at a demonstration by Harvey, 153

_Chick_

first sign of the heart in the, 34

Aristotle on, 34

observations of, on the fourth and fifth days of incubation, 36

_Chordæ tendineæ_, 99, 100

_Chyle_

absorbed by the blood, 92

vessels containing, 186

_Circulation of the Blood_

circulation as distinct from motion, xii

first suggested to Harvey’s mind, 56

compared to circular movement of rain as suggested by Aristotle, 56

confirmed by three propositions, 58

varies in rapidity, 61

explains the results of ligatures, 67 _et seq._

explains phlebotomy, 73

summary account of, 85, 168

confirmed by probable reasons, 86

proved by certain consequences, 90

confirmed from structure of the heart in many different kinds of

animals, 96

doctrine of the, the opposite to that vulgarly entertained, 108

first reply to Riolan on the, 111

applies to the whole of the blood, 114

in the mesentery, 119

coronary, or a third and very short, 125

through every part of the body, 126

second reply to Riolan on the, 133

reply to those who cry _cui bono?_, 149

reasons given by opponents for not accepting the, 149, 150

velocity of, varies with age, sex, temperament, etc., 156

influenced by the emotions, 158

recapitulation of work on Motion of Heart and Blood, 161

interference with, followed by dangerous results, 171

further illustrations of, 176 _et seq._

_Columbus, Realdus_

claimed as discoverer of the Circulation, xi

referred to in relation to the Pulmonary Circulation, 12, 16, 50

_Columnæ carneæ_

of the heart, 99

_Contagion_

of disease spread, explained by circulation, 90

nature of, referred to by Harvey, 193

_Contraction_

the source of all animal motion, 102

of the fibres of the heart, 105

of muscles as aid to movement of blood in the veins, 116

_Conviction_

means of acquiring, of physical truths discussed, 158

_Coronary_

vessels supply the heart with blood, 88

circulation, a third, very short, 125

vein usually has a valve at its orifice, 125

D

_Darcy, Sir Robert_

case of, illustrating obstruction of the circulation through the

heart, 155

_Descartes_

supports Harvey’s discovery, xvii

Harvey makes his acknowledgments to, 169

his observations of the heart of a fish, 169

his explanation of the pulse not accepted by Harvey, 170

_Diastole and Systole_

of arteries as of the heart, 138

constituting the pulse, 163

_Dissection_

uses of, 112

failed to reveal any of the “spirits” of the schoolmen, 141

_Diuretic_

drinks, their quick action in illustration of the large quantity of

blood circulating, 49

_Ductus arteriosus_

shrinks gradually after birth, 45

its function in the fœtus, 98

E

_Eel_

observations on the heart of the, 33

_Embryology_

Harvey a pioneer in the science of, xx

_Ent, Dr. George_

persuaded Harvey to publish his treatise on Generation, xx

directed in Harvey’s will to present his books and collections to

the College of Physicians, 216

Harvey left him his presses and shelves, 216

_Epigenesis_

Harvey’s doctrine of, xxi

_Erasistratus_

thought the arteries contained only spirits or air, 40, 140

_Euripus_

the tides of, the motion of the heart as perplexing as, 22

Galen refers to, in speaking of the use of the semilunar valves, 53

Riolan applies, to the movement of the blood in the mesenteric

vessels, 115

_Experience_

importance of, for scientific observation, 160

_Experiment_

the direct appeal to, viii

Galen’s, to show arteries contain only blood, 12

Galen’s, to show arteries filled like bellows, controverted by

Harvey, 14

of arteriotomy, 14, 28, 29

Galen’s, of dividing the trachea, 18

to observe the beating heart, 24

of dividing the gill vessels of fishes, 28

on the hearts of an eel, a fish, and a pigeon, 33

to show the capacity of the left ventricle, 59

on the heart of a snake, 65

of tying the veins below the heart in serpents and fishes, 65

on a man’s arm with a bandage, 68

on the veins of the arm by ligatures, 82, 84

of tying the vena cava near the heart and dividing carotid artery, 129

Galen’s, on an artery, 134

performed and disproved by Harvey, 135

on an exposed undivided artery, 136

to show the blood of arteries and veins the same, 138

to show the different character of outflow of blood from artery

and vein, 147

to show blood cannot pass from heart by the veins, 147

with the dried intestine of a dog filled with water to illustrate

the pulse, 152

on the jugular vein of a fallow deer, 153

by appeal to, endeavour to demonstrate circulation, 163

of dividing exposed artery to observe effect on pulse, 163

of tying the pulmonary veins, 165

of bandaging arm and plunging it into cold water, 168

of tying the vena portae, 171

of tying the vena cava near the crural veins, 172

on the body of a man recently hanged, to show course of blood

through lungs, 177

F

_Fabricius, Hieronymus_, of Aquapendente

Harvey’s teacher of anatomy at Padua, xiv

his views on the heart and lungs, 9

pulmonary veins, 18

his anatomical work, 23

discovered the valves of the veins, 78

_Finch, Heneage_

Harvey’s cousin, advised him as to his will, 214

witness to codicil of Harvey’s will, 217

_Fish_

experiment on gill vessels of, 28

observations on the heart of, 33

the heart of, has only one ventricle, 42

auricles of the heart of, 103

_Florence_

Harvey refers to his visits to, 185, 194

and three of his nephews, 199

_Flourens_

on Harvey’s work, viii

_Foramen ovale_

of heart of fœtus, 20, 44

its significance in fœtal life, 47, 98

_Frankfort-on-Main_

Harvey’s treatise on the Heart and Blood first published there, xv

_Fuliginous vapours_

views of the ancients on, ix, 10, 11, 17

G

_Galen_

high regard in which he was held by mediævalists, vii

on the object of the pulse, 9

his experiment to show arteries contain only blood, 12

his experiment to prove arteries expand like bellows, and

controverted by Harvey, 14

his experiment of dividing the trachea of a dog, 18

on the beat of the auricles, 32

quotations from, on movement of the blood, 40, 41

aware of the use of the semilunar valves, 51, 52

believed blood passed from right ventricle into the lungs, 53

on the structure of the heart, 105

his experiment on an artery, 134

performed and disproved by Harvey, 135

_Galileo_

at Padua with Harvey, vii, xiv

as a pioneer in scientific discovery, viii

_Generation of Animals_

Harvey’s treatise on, its publication, xx

interesting points in, xxi

Harvey refers to his work on the, 177

Quotation from, on the Acquisition of Knowledge, xix

H

_Haller_

on Harvey’s discovery, xiii

_Harvey_

as a pioneer in scientific discovery, viii

greatness of his discovery, viii, ix

his life, xiii _et seq._

his views on controversy, xviii, 133

on the manner of acquiring knowledge, xix

his treatise on Generation, xxi, 177

his statue, xxii

oration in his memory, xxii

his brother Eliab, xxiii, 212, 219

his various works, xxiv

on the pursuit of truth, 7

describes how his discovery was received, 23

his letters, 175 _et seq._

on the use of terms, 182

his will, 212

_Heart_

ideas about the, before the time of Harvey, ix

object of its beat connected with Respiration by old anatomists, 9

movements of the, 24

contracts and becomes paler at its beat, 24, 25

does not suck in the blood, 27

the auricles and ventricles of the, their movements, 31

the auricles of the, the primum vivens, ultimum moriens, 34

observations on the heart of the chick, 34, 36

always has auricles or something analogous, 35

of a shrimp, its movements studied, 36

movements of, summarised, 37

intimate connection of lungs and, a grand cause of error to the old

observers, 39

of fish, has only one ventricle, 42

great vessels of the, in the embryo, 44

foramen ovale of the, in the fœtus, 44, 98, 165

of embryo, pulsation, etc., known to Aristotle, 45

compared figuratively to the sun, 57

amount of blood ejected at each beat of the, 59

of a live snake, observations on, 65

influenced by emotions, 87

curious case of distended heart under emotion, 156

coronary vessels of, 88

only organ containing blood for general use, 88

structure of the, in different classes of animals confirms the

circulation, 97

papillary muscles and chordæ tendineæ of, 99

arrangement and use of the valves of the, 100

the heart a muscle and acts as such, so called by Hippocrates, 104

development of the, in the fœtus, 104

arrangement of the fibres of, 105

the first part which exists, 105

high importance of the, in the bodily economy, 105

distension of, after hanging, 154

Sir Robert Darcy’s case of ruptured, 155

receives heat from the blood, 167

innate heat of, suggested as cause of the pulse, 168

of the fish, observations of motions of the, 169

_Hippocrates_

entitled the heart a muscle, 104

his doctrine as to the constitution of the body, 142

_Hobbes_

on the reception of Harvey’s discovery, xvii

_Hofmann, Caspar_

letter of Harvey to, 175

_Horst, J. D._

letters of Harvey to, 195, 197

_Huxley, Prof. T. H._

on Harvey’s treatise on Generation, xxi

J

_Jugular vein_

Experiment of dividing the, in the fallow deer, to show course of the

contained blood, 153

K

_King, The._ See _Charles I._

L

_Lacteals_

discovered by Aselli, 117, 186

Harvey refers to the researches of Aselli and Pecquet on the, 186

Harvey discusses the, in a letter to R. Morison, 187, 188

_Lamentius, Andreas_

quoted by Harvey, 20, 22

_Lennox, Duke of_

Harvey accompanied him abroad, xxii

_Letters_

of Harvey, 173 _et seq._

_Ligature_

of veins near the heart, 65

assuming circulation, action and use of ligatures readily

understood, 67, 68

of vena cava, 129, 172

of pulmonary veins, 165

of vena portæ, 171

_Liver_

absorbed food passes through the, 49

absorbed chyle passes through the, 92

in the fœtus, 92

nature of blood brought to, 94

chyle transferred to, by mesenteric vessels, 118

_Lungs_

speculation on changes in the blood passing through the, 48

blood cooled on passing through the, 122, 145

course of blood through the, shown by an experiment on the body of

a man recently hanged, 177

M

_Malpighi_

the first to observe the capillaries, xvi

_Medical Observations_

Harvey refers to his, 157, 158, 171

_Medicines_

externally applied confirm the circulation, 91

_Mesentery_

bloodvessels of, 94, 115

Harvey combats Riolan’s denial of circulation in vessels of the, 115

Harvey suggests an experiment to convince him, 171

valves in the mesenteric veins, 116

veins of, transfer chyle to the liver, 118

_Metamorphosis_

doctrine of, contrasted with that of Epigenesis, xxi

_Mitral Valve_

references to, 17, 101

Aristotle’s error regarding the, 101

_Morison, R._

letter of Harvey to, 185

_Movement_

of the heart, 24, 36

of the auricles and ventricles, 31

of the heart summarised, 37

of the blood from veins to arteries, 42

of the blood in the fœtus, 44

lower animals, 43

is circular, 58

of the blood in the veins aided by the circumjacent muscles, 116

_Muscle_

the heart a, and so called by Hippocrates, 104

N

_Nardi, John_, of Florence

letters of Harvey to, 184, 193, 199

_Nutrition_ of the Tissues

connection of the, with the circulation, 119

O

_Oration, Harveian_

founded by Harvey, delivered annually at the College of

Physicians, xxii

P

_Padua_

Harvey and Galileo there together, vii, xiv

famous for its university, xiv

Harvey studies medicine at, xiv

_Parr, Thomas_

anatomical examination of the body of, 207

_Pathology_

how best advanced, 112

_Pecquet_

Harvey refers to his discovery of the Receptaculum Chyli, 186

Harvey praises his industry, 196

See also _Lacteals_

_Phlebotomy_

explained by the circulation, 73

shows nature of flow of blood in the veins, 154

influenced by temperature and mental state, 157

_Physicians, College of_

Harvey elected a Fellow of the, xv

Harvey built a Convocation Hall for, and gave books to, xvii

his treatise dedicated to President and Fellows of, 5

_Physiology_

importance of its study, 112

_Poisons_

action of, confirmatory of the circulation, 90

_Pulmonary Artery_

formerly supposed to carry nourishment to lungs, 17

why coats of, thinner than those of aorta, 107

transmits far more blood than required for nutrition, 108

_Pulmonary Circulation_

speculation as to its use, 48

follows from continual passage of blood from right ventricle to

lungs, and from lungs to left ventricle, 54

course of, shown in body of a man recently hanged, 177

_Pulmonary Veins_

ancient views regarding their function, 17

_Pulse_

caused by contraction of the ventricle, 29

due to the impulse or shock of the blood, 30

Aristotle on the, 30

found in all parts of the body, 121

not inherent in walls of arteries, 135

in an artery beyond an aneurism, 135

in an artery beyond an ossified portion, 137

illustrated by experiment with dried intestine of a dog, 152

cause of, in arteries near the heart, 163

R

_Rabies_

how confirmatory of the circulation, 90

_Riolan, John, Jun._

controversy with Harvey, xix

quoted on the movements of the heart, 31

Harvey’s First Disquisition addressed to, 109

presented a copy of his work to Harvey, 111

his views on the circulation, 113

denies the mesenteric circulation, 115

favoured view that septum of heart is permeable, 123

Harvey’s Second Disquisition to, 131

S

_Scarborough, Dr._

a friend to whom Harvey left his surgical instruments, 216

and his velvet gown, 218

directed by Harvey’s will to present to College of Physicians his

books and collections, 216

_Science_

dependent on pre-existing knowledge of more obvious things, 160

_Semilunar Valves_

references to, 16, 45

Galen aware of their use, 51

function to prevent regurgitation, 116, 153

_Senses_

facts cognisable by, wait on no opinion, 150

importance of appealing to the, 158, 159

Aristotle on trusting to the, 160

_Septum of the Heart_

Cæsalpinus thought it permeable, xii

Harvey on the view that it is porous, 19, 20

Riolan believed it porous, 123

_Servetus, Michael_

gave a description of the pulmonary circulation, x

curious history of his work containing it, xi

_Shrimp_

movements of the heart of a, 36

_Sigmoid Valves_

See _Semilunar_

_Silvius, Jacobus_

discovered the valves of the veins according to Riolan, 78

_Simon, Sir John_

on Harvey’s discovery, ix

_Slegel, P. M._

letter of Harvey to, 176

_Snake_

observations of heart and bloodvessels of a live, 65

_Spirits_

views of the ancients regarding, ix

arteries supposed to contain, by Erasistratus, 140

the common subterfuge of ignorance, 141

three kinds of, admitted by the medical schools, 141

not distinct from the blood, 143, 146

_Spleen_

bloodvessels connected with the, 94

vein of, has a valve, 116

_Systole and Diastole_

of arteries as of heart, 138

constitute the pulse, 163

observations on, 170

T

_Transmission of Disease_

discussed, 193

_Tricuspid Valve_

referred to, 16, 101, 153

U

_Umbilical Vein_

function of, 118

V

_Valves_

semilunar, 16, 45, 116, 153

tricuspid, 16, 101, 153

mitral, 17

Galen on valve of pulmonary artery, 51

of the veins discovered by Fabricius or Silvius, 78

of veins, their structure, arrangement, and use of, 78, 80

Fabricius did not understand use of valves of veins, 79

of veins compared with sigmoid valves, 82

experiments on the arm to show action of the, and how the blood

moves in the veins, 82, 84

not found in all veins, 116

of the mesenteric veins, 116

coronary vein has a valve at its orifice, 125

_Veins_

pulmonary, ancient views regarding their position, 17

near the heart, experiment of ligaturing the, 65

of the arm, experiment on with bandages, 82, 84

coronary, 88

of the mesentery, the function of the, 118

umbilical, function of, 118

coronary vein has a valve at its orifice, 125

experiment on, by cooling the arm, 168

valves of the. See _Valves_

_Vena cava_

of snake, experiment upon the, 65

experiment of tying, near the heart, 129

_Vena portæ_

blood passes from the, through the liver, 118

its branches, 128

Harvey suggests the experiment of ligaturing it, 171

_Ventricle_

no right ventricle if no lung, 15, 54

the left, the principal part of the heart, 98

the left, three times thicker than the right, 100

case of rupture of the, 155

_Ventricles_

structure of both, almost identical, 15

both contract simultaneously, 19

movements and use of the, 37

in the fœtal heart, 98

valves of the, 100

_Vesalius_

the “Father of Anatomy”, x

Professor of Anatomy at Padua, xiv

did not properly understand the heart’s motion, 26

refers to Galen’s experiment on an artery, 135

wrong in his interpretation of Galen’s experiment, 138

_Vlackveld, John_

letter of Harvey to, 200

W

_Warmth_

felt in the hand on loosening bandage on the arm, 69

restored to parts chilled by the influx of blood, 121, 146

_Will_

of Harvey drawn up by Heneage Finch, 212, 214

proved by Eliab Harvey, 219

legacies by, to Drs. Scarborough and Ent, 216

_Wolff, Caspar_

Harvey as forerunner of, xxi