Andreas Vesalius
Born	(1514-12-31)31 December 1514 Brussels, Habsburg Netherlands
Died	15 October 1564(1564-10-15) (aged 49) Zakynthos
Fields	Anatomy
Doctoral advisor	Johannes Winter von Andernach Gemma Frisius
Doctoral students	Matteo Realdo Colombo
Known for	De humani corporis fabrica or "the structure of the human body"
Influences	Jacques Dubois Jean Fernel

Andreas Vesalius (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564) was a Flemish anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body). Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. Vesalius is the Latinized form of Andries van Wesel. He is sometimes also referred to as Andreas Vesal, André Vesalio and Andre Vesale.

Early life and education[link]

Vesalius was born to Andries van Wesele and Isabel Crabbe on 31 December 1514, in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. His great grandfather, Jan van Wesel, probably born in Wesel, received his medical degree from the University of Pavia and taught medicine in 1528 at the then newly founded University of Leuven. His grandfather, Everard van Wesel, was the Royal Physician of Emperor Maximilian, while his father, Anders van Wesel, went on to serve as apothecary to Maximillian, and later a valet de chambre to his successor Charles V. Anders encouraged his son to continue in the family tradition, and enrolled him in the Brethren of the Common Life in Brussels to learn Greek and Latin according to standards of the era.

In 1528 Vesalius entered the University of Leuven (Pedagogium Castrense) taking arts, but when his father was appointed as the Valet de Chambre in 1532, he decided to pursue a career in medicine at the University of Paris, where he moved in 1533. Here he studied the theories of Galen under the auspices of Jacques Dubois (Jacobus Sylvius) and Jean Fernel. It was during this time that he developed his interest in anatomy, and was often found examining bones at the Cemetery of the Innocents.

Vesalius was forced to leave Paris in 1536 due to the opening of hostilities between the Holy Roman Empire and France, and returned to Leuven. Here he completed his studies under Johann Winter von Andernach and graduated the next year. His thesis, Paraphrasis in nonum librum Rhazae medici arabis clariss. ad regem Almansorum de affectuum singularum corporis partium curatione, was a commentary on the ninth book of Rhazes. He remained at Leuven only briefly before leaving after a dispute with his professor. After settling briefly in Venice in 1536, he moved to the University of Padua (Universitas artistarum) to study for his doctorate, which he received in 1537.

Medical career and mature works[link]

On graduation he was immediately offered the chair of Surgery and Anatomy (explicator chirurgiae) at Padua. He also guest lectured at Bologna and Pisa. Previously these topics had been taught primarily from reading classic texts, mainly Galen, followed by an animal dissection by a barber-surgeon whose work was directed by the lecturer. No attempt was made to actually check Galen's claims; these were considered unassailable. Vesalius, on the other hand, carried out dissection as the primary teaching tool, handling the actual work himself while his students clustered around the table. Hands-on direct observation was considered the only reliable resource, a huge break with medieval practice.

He kept meticulous drawings of his work for his students in the form of six large illustrated anatomical tables. When he found that some of these were being widely copied, he published them all in 1538 under the title Tabulae Anatomicae Sex. He followed this in 1539 with an updated version of Galen's anatomical handbook, Institutiones Anatomicae. When this reached Paris one of his former professors published an attack on this version.

In 1538 he also published a letter on venesection, or bloodletting. This was a popular treatment for almost any illness, but there was some debate about where to take the blood from. The classical Greek procedure, advocated by Galen, was to let blood from a site near the location of the illness. However, the Muslim and medieval practice was to draw a smaller amount blood from a distant location. Vesalius' pamphlet supported Galen's view, and supported his arguments through anatomical diagrams.

In 1539 a Paduan judge became interested in Vesalius' work, and made bodies of executed criminals available for dissection. He soon built up a wealth of detailed anatomical diagrams, the first accurate set to be produced. Many of these were produced by commissioned artists, and were therefore of much better quality than those produced previously.

In 1541, while in Bologna, Vesalius uncovered the fact that all of Galen's research had been based upon animal anatomy rather than the human; since dissection had been banned in ancient Rome, Galen had dissected Barbary Apes instead, and argued that they would be anatomically similar to humans. As a result, he published a correction of Galen's Opera omnia and began writing his own anatomical text. Until Vesalius pointed this out, it had gone unnoticed and had long been the basis of studying human anatomy. However, some people still chose to follow Galen and resented Vesalius for calling attention to such glaring mistakes.

Vesalius, undeterred, went on to stir up more controversy, this time disproving not just Galen but also Mondino de Liuzzi and even Aristotle; all three had made assumptions about the functions and structure of the heart that were clearly wrong. For instance, Vesalius noted that the heart had four chambers, the liver two lobes, and that the blood vessels originated in the heart, not the liver.

Galen assumed arteries carried the purest blood to higher organs such as the brain and lungs from the left ventricle of the heart, while veins carried blood to the lesser organs such as the stomach from the right ventricle. In order that this theory could be correct some sort of holes were needed to interconnect the ventricles, and so in the spirit of Galen's time, he claimed to have found them, adjusting the facts to suit his theory. So paramount was the authority of Galen that for the next 1400 years, a succession of anatomists claimed to find these holes until finally Vesalius declared he could not find them. However, while Vesalius dared to admit he could not find these holes, he did not dream of disputing Galen on the distribution of blood, and so imagined it distilled through the unbroken partition between the ventricles.^[1]

Other famous examples of Vesalius disproving Galen in particular was his discovery that the lower jaw was only one bone, not two (which Galen had assumed from animal dissection) and his proof that blood did not pass through the interatrial septum.

In 1543, Vesalius conducted a public dissection of the body of Jakob Karrer von Gebweiler, a notorious felon from the city of Basel, Switzerland. With the cooperation of the surgeon Franz Jeckelmann, he assembled the bones and finally donated the skeleton to the University of Basel. This preparation ("The Basel Skeleton") is Vesalius' only well-preserved skeletal preparation today, and is also the world's oldest anatomical preparation. It is still displayed at the Anatomical Museum of the University of Basel.^[2]

Later that year Vesalius asked Johannes Oporinus to help publish the seven-volume De humani corporis fabrica (On the fabric of the human body), a groundbreaking work of human anatomy he dedicated to Charles V. Most believe it was illustrated by Titian's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar. A few weeks later he published an abridged edition for students, Andrea Vesalii suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome, and dedicated it to Philip II of Spain, son of the Emperor.

Though Vesalius' work was not the first such work based on actual autopsy, nor even the first work of this era, the production values, highly detailed and intricate plates, and the fact that the artists who produced it were clearly present at the dissections themselves made it into an instant classic. Pirated editions were available almost immediately, a fact Vesalius acknowledged would happen in a printer's note. Vesalius was 30 years old when the first edition of Fabrica was published.

Imperial physician and death[link]

Soon after publication, Vesalius was invited as Imperial physician to the court of Emperor Charles V. He informed the Venetian Senate that he was leaving his post in Padua, which prompted Duke Cosimo I de' Medici to invite him to move to the expanding university in Pisa, which he turned down. Vesalius took up a position in the court, where he had to deal with the other physicians mocking him as being a barber.

Over the next eleven years Vesalius traveled with the court, treating injuries from battle or tournaments, performing pastes and postmortems, and writing private letters addressing specific medical questions. During these years he also wrote Radicis Chynae, a short text on the properties of a medical plant, whose use he defended, as well as defense for his anatomical findings. This elicited a new round of attacks on his work that called for him to be punished by the emperor. In 1551, Charles V commissioned an inquiry in Salamanca to investigate the religious implications of his methods. Vesalius' work was cleared by the board, but the attacks continued. Four years later one of his main detractors published an article that claimed that the human body itself had changed since Galen had studied it.

After the abdication of Emperor Charles V he continued at court in great favour with his son Philip II, who rewarded him with a pension for life and by being made a count palatine. In 1555 he published a revised edition of De Corporis.

In 1564 Vesalius went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He sailed with the Venetian fleet under James Malatesta via Cyprus. When he reached Jerusalem, he received a message from the Venetian senate requesting him again to accept the Paduan professorship, which had become vacant by the death of his friend and pupil Fallopius.

After struggling for many days with the adverse winds in the Ionian Sea, he was wrecked on the island of Zakynthos. Here he soon died in such debt that a benefactor kindly paid for his funeral. At the time of his death he was scarcely fifty years of age.

For many years it was assumed that Vesalius's pilgrimage was due to pressures of the Inquisition. Today this is generally considered to be without foundation (see C.D. O'Malley Andreas Vesalius' Pilgrimage, Isis 45:2, 1954) and is dismissed by modern biographers. It appears the story was spread by Hubert Languet, who served as de Saxe under Emperor Charles V and then under the Prince of Orange, who claimed in 1565 that Vesalius was performing an autopsy on an aristocrat in Spain when it was found that the heart was still beating, leading to the Inquisition condemning him to death. The story went on to claim that Philip II had the sentence commuted to a pilgrimage. The story re-surfaced several times over the next few years, living on until recent times.

Publications[link]

[edit] De Corporis Fabrica

Vesalius's Fabrica contained many intricately detailed drawings of human dissections, often in allegorical poses.

In 1543, Vesalius asked Johannes Oporinus to help publish the seven-volume De humani corporis fabrica (On the fabric of the human body), a groundbreaking work of human anatomy he dedicated to Charles V and which most believe was illustrated by Titian's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar, though others believe was illustrated by different artists working in the studio of Titian, and not from Van Calcar himself.^{[citation needed]}

A few weeks later he published another version of his opera, entitled De humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome (Abridgement of the Structure of the Human Body) more commonly known as Epitome, with a stronger focus on illustrations than text, so as to help readers easily understand his findings. The actual text of Epitome was an abridged form of his work in De fabrica, and the organization of the two books were quite varied. He dedicated it to Philip II of Spain, son of the Emperor.

The Fabrica emphasized the priority of dissection and what has come to be called the "anatomical" view of the body, seeing human internal functioning as an essentially corporeal structure filled with organs arranged in three-dimensional space. This was in stark contrast to many of the anatomical models used previously, which had strong Galenic/Aristotelean elements, as well as elements of astrology. Although modern anatomical texts had been published by Mondino and Berenger, much of their work was clouded by their reverence for Galen and Arabian doctrines.

Besides the first good description of the sphenoid bone, he showed that the sternum consists of three portions and the sacrum of five or six; and described accurately the vestibule in the interior of the temporal bone. He not only verified the observation of Etienne on the valves of the hepatic veins, but he described the vena azygos, and discovered the canal which passes in the fetus between the umbilical vein and the vena cava, since named ductus venosus. He described the omentum, and its connections with the stomach, the spleen and the colon; gave the first correct views of the structure of the pylorus; observed the small size of the caecal appendix in man; gave the first good account of the mediastinum and pleura and the fullest description of the anatomy of the brain yet advanced. He did not understand the inferior recesses; and his account of the nerves is confused by regarding the optic as the first pair, the third as the fifth and the fifth as the seventh.

In this work, Vesalius also becomes the first person to describe mechanical ventilation.^[3]

Quote[link]

• "When I undertake the dissection of a human cadaver I pass a stout rope tied like a noose beneath the lower jaw and through the zygomas up to the top of the head... The lower end of the noose I run through a pulley fixed to a beam in the room so that I may raise or lower the cadaver as it hangs there or turn around in any direction to suit my purpose; ... You must take care not to put the noose around the neck, unless some of the muscles connected to the occipital bone have already been cut away. ..."^[4] --Andreas Vesalius, 595:2 of Bynum & Porter, Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations 2005

Other publications[link]

In 1538, Vesalius wrote Epistola, docens venam axillarem dextri cubiti in dolore laterali secandam (A letter, teaching that in cases of pain in the side, the axillary vein of the right elbow be cut) which demonstrated a revived venesection, a classical procedure in which blood was drawn near the site of the ailment. He sought to locate the precise site for venesection in pleurisy within the framework of the classical method. The real significance of the book attempt to support his arguments by the location and continuity of the venous system from his observations rather than appeal to earlier published works. With this novel approach to the problem of venesection, Vesalius posed the then striking hypothesis that anatomical dissection might be used to test speculation.

Scientific findings[link]

Skeletal system[link]

• Vesalius believed the skeletal system to be the framework of the human body. It was in this opening chapter, or book, of De fabrica that Vesalius made several of his strongest claims against Galen's theories and writings which he had put in his anatomy books. In his extensive study of the skull, Vesalius claimed that the mandible consisted of one bone, whereas Galen had thought it was two separate bones. He accurately described the vestibule in the interior of the temporal bone of the skull.
• In Galen's observation of the ape, he had discovered that their sternum consisted of seven parts which he assumed held true for humans. Vesalius discovered that the human sternum only consisted of three parts.
• He also disproved the common belief that men had one rib fewer than women and noted that fibula and tibia bones of the leg were indeed larger than the humerus bone of the arm, unlike Galen's original findings.

Muscular system[link]

• Vesalius' most impressive contribution to the study of the muscular system may be the illustrations that accompany the text in De fabrica, which would become known as the "muscle men". He describes the source and position of each muscle of the body as well as providing information on their respective operations.

Vascular and circulatory systems[link]

• Vesalius' work on the vascular and circulatory systems was his greatest contribution to the complex and modern medicine. In his dissections of the heart, Vesalius became convinced that Galen's claims of a porous Intraventricular septum were false. It took until the second edition that he said that the septum was indeed waterproof, discovering (and naming), the mitral valve to explain the blood flow.
• Vesalius believed that the cardiac systole is synchronous with the arterial pulse.
• He not only verified Estienne's findings on the valves of the hepatic veins, but he described the Azygos, and discovered the canal which passes into the fetus between the umbilical vein and vena cava.
• He also took note of the inferior mesenteric and haemorrhoid veins.

Nervous system[link]

• Vesalius defined a nerve as the mode of transmitting sensation and motion and thus refuted his contemporaries' claims that ligaments, tendons and aponeuroses were three types of nerve units. He believed that nerves do not originate from the heart, as was the Aristotelian belief, but that nerves stemmed from the brain.
• Upon studying the optic nerve, Vesalius came to the conclusion that nerves were not hollow.

Abdominal organs[link]

• Although Vesalius accepted Galen's inaccurate claim that the liver was the locale of blood production, he would not accept that the vena cava stems from the liver. He also disproved Galen's belief that the liver consisted of five lobes, and stated that is, instead, two lobes.
• In De fabrica, he corrected an earlier claim he made in Tabulae about the right kidney being set higher than the left. Vesalius claimed that the kidneys were not a filter device for the urine to pass through but rather that the kidneys serve to filter blood as well and that the excrement then traveled through the ureters to the bladder.
• He described the omentum, and its connections with the stomach, the spleen and the colon gave the first correct views of the structure of the pylorus.
• He also observed the small size of the caecal appendix in man and gave the first good account of the mediastinum and pleura.
• Vesalius admitted that due to a lack of pregnant cadavers, he was unable to come to a significant understanding of the reproductive organs. However, he did find that the uterus had been falsely identified as having two distinct sections.

Heart[link]

• Through his work with muscles, Vesalius believed that a criterion for muscles was their voluntary motion. On this claim, he deduced that the heart was not a true muscle due to its obvious involuntary nature of its motion.
• He identified two chambers and two atria. The right atrium was considered a continuation of the inferior and superior venae cavae and the left atrium was considered a continuation of the pulmonary vein.
• Interestingly, he also addressed the controversial issue of the heart being the center of the soul. He wished to avoid making any conclusions due to the possible conflict with contemporary religious beliefs.
  

  

  Base of the brain, showing optic chiasma, cerebellum, olfactory bulbs, etc.

Brain[link]

• Vesalius' most significant contribution to the study of the brain was his trademark illustrations in which he depicts the corpus callosum, the thalamus, the caudate nucleus, the lenticular nucleus, the globus pallidus, the putamen, the pulvinar, and the cerebral peduncles for the first time.

Miscellaneous[link]

• Vesalius introduced the notion of induction of the extraction of empyema through surgical means.
• Due to his impressive study of the human skull and the variations of its features he is said to have been responsible for the launch of the study of physical anthropology.
• Vesalius always encouraged his students to check their findings, and even his own findings, so that they could better understand the structure of the human body.
• In addition to his continual efforts to study anatomy he also worked on medicinal remedies and came to such conclusions as treating syphilis with chinaroot.
• Vesalius believed that the brain and the nervous system are center of the mind and emotion in contrast to the common Aristotelian belief that the heart was the center of the body.
• Claimed medicine was arranged into three parts: drugs, diet, and 'the use of hands' - mainly suggesting surgery and the knowledge of anatomy and physiology through dissection.
• Vesalius was a supporter of 'parallel dissections' in which an animal cadaver and a human cadaver are dissected simultaneously in order to demonstrate the anatomical differences and thus uncover Galenic errors.

Scientific and historical impact[link]

Modern medicine is forever in debt to the efforts put forth by Vesalius and his ethic to provide the most accurate form of the human body. The manner in which Vesalius tended to his work could arguably be thought of as more significant than the work itself. By overthrowing the Galenic tradition and relying on his own observations, Vesalius created a new scientific method. His desire to strive for the truth is most evident through his ability to correct his own claims and to continually reshape his thoughts on the human body. Through his attention to detail, he was able to provide clear descriptions and unprecedented anatomical drawings that set a new standard for future medical books.^{[5][citation needed]}

The influence of Vesalius' plates representing the partial dissections of the human figure posing in a landscape setting is apparent in the anatomical plates prepared by the Baroque painter Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669), who executed anatomical plates with figures in dramatic poses, most with architectural or landscape backdrops.^[6]

During the twentieth century, the American artist, Jacob Lawrence created his Vesalius Suite based on the anatomical drawings of Andreas Vesalius.

See also[link]

• De humani corporis fabrica
• Physician writer
• Timeline of medicine and medical technology
• Galen
• Medical Renaissance
• University of Padua
• InVesalius

References[link]

• Vesalius, by Alison Kassab

1. ^ The Early Superstitions of Medicine, The Popular Science Monthly, May 1872, Volume 1, pp95-100, Scanned by Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=qR8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95
2. ^ http://www.vhsbb.ch/asp/pdf/senuni_07021213_zf_kurz.pdf
3. ^ Vallejo-Manzur F et al. (2003) "The resuscitation greats. Andreas Vesalius, the concept of an artificial airway." Resuscitation" 56:3-7
4. ^ Andreas Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica (1544) Book II Ch. 24, 268. Trans. William Frank Richardson, On the Fabric of the Human Body (1999) Book II, 234. As quoted by W.F. Bynum & Roy Porter (2005), Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations Andreas Vesalius, 595:2 ISBN 0-19-858409-1
5. ^ Carlino, Andrea. "Books of the Body." University of Chicago: 1999.
6. ^ The Anatomical Plates of Pietro da Cortona, Dover, New York, 1986. They were published in the eighteenth century. Twenty of the drawings for these plates are now in the Hunterian Library, Glasgow.

• Dear, Peter. Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500-1700. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001.
• Debus, Allen, ed. Vesalius. Who's Who in the World of Science: From Antiquity to Present. 1st ed. Hannibal: Western Co., 1968.
• O'Malley, CD. Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514-1564. Berkley: University of California Press, 1964.
• Porter, Roy, ed. Vesalius. The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University P, 1994.
• Saunders, JB de CM and O'Malley, Charles D. The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels. New York: Dover, 1973 [reprint].
• "Vesalius." Encyclopedia Americana. 1992.
• Vesalius, Andreas. On the Fabric of the Human Body, translated by W. F. Richardson and J. B. Carman. 5 vols. San Francisco and Novato: Norman Publishing, 1998-2009.
• Williams, Trevor, ed. Vesalius. A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. 3rd Ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1982.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andreas Vesalius

• Turning the Pages: a virtual copy of Vesalius's De Humanis Corporis Fabrica. From the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
• Bibliography van Andreas Vesalius
• Vesalius College in Brussels
• Anatomia 1522-1867: Anatomical Plates from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
• Translating Vesalius
• The Vesalius Project^{[dead link]}
• A 2008 play for the theatre on Vesalius
• Some places and memories related to Andreas Vesalius
• Vesalius's « Anatomies » Introduction by Jacqueline Vons texts digitized by the BIUM (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de médecine et d'odontologie, Paris), see its digital library Medic@.
• Vesalius four centuries later by John F. Fulton. Logan Clendening lecture on the history and philosophy of medicine, University of Kansas, 1950. Full-text PDF.
• Andreas Vesalius, VESALIUS project. Information about the new DVD "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" produced by Health Science Library of the St. Anna Hospital in Ferrara - Italy.

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William Harvey
William Harvey
Born	1 April 1578 Folkestone
Died	3 June 1657(1657-06-03) (aged 79) Roehampton
Nationality	English
Fields	Medicine Anatomy
Doctoral advisor	Hieronymus Fabricius
Known for	Systemic circulation
Signature

William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart, although blood circulation was described by Ibn al-Nafis earlier in his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon (1242). After his death the William Harvey Hospital was constructed in the town of Ashford, several miles from his birthplace of Folkestone.

Family[link]

Harvey's father: Tom Harvey, was a jurat of Folkestone where he served the office of mayor in 1600. Records and personal descriptions delineate him as an overall calm, diligent and intelligent man whose "sons... revered, consulted and implicitly trusted in him... (they) made their father the treasurer of their wealth when they acquired great estates...(He) kept, employed and improved their gainings to their great advantage."^[1] Thomas Harvey's portrait can still be seen in the central panel of a wall of the dining-room at Rolls Park, Chigwell, in Essex.

Life[link]

Early life and the University of Padua[link]

Harvey's initial education was carried out in Folkestone, where he learned Latin. He then entered the King's School (Canterbury). Harvey remained at the King's School for five years, after which he joined Caius College in Cambridge.

Harvey graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from Caius College in 1597.^[2] He then traveled through France and Germany to Italy, where he entered the University of Padua, in 1599.

During Harvey's years of study there, he developed a relationship with Fabricius and read Fabricius' De Venarum Ostiolis.

Harvey graduated as a Doctor of Medicine at the age of 24 from the University of Padua on 25 April 1602. It reports that Harvey had

"conducted himself so wonderfully well in the examination and had shown such skill, memory and learning that he had far surpassed even the great hopes which his examiners had formed of him."^[3]

The College of Physicians, Marriage and Saint Bartholomew's Hospital[link]

After graduating from Padua, Harvey immediately returned to England where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cambridge that same year. Following this, Harvey established himself in London, joining the College of Physicians on 5 October 1604.

A few weeks after his admission, Harvey married Elizabeth Browne, "daughter of Lancelot Browne, (himself) Dr. Physic".^[4] They had no children.

Elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians on 5 June 1607, Harvey accepted a position at St. Bartholomew's Hospital that he was to occupy for almost all the rest of his life. Succeeding a Dr Wilkinson on 14 October 1609, he became the Physician in charge at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which enjoined him, "in God's most holy name" to "endeavor yourself to do the best of your knowledge in the profession of physic to the poor then present, or any other of the poor at any time of the week which shall be sent home unto you by the Hospitaller... You shall not, for favor, lucre or gain, appoint or write anything for the poor but such good and wholesome things as you shall think with your best advice will do the poor good, without any affection or respect to be had to the apothecary. And you shall take no gift or reward... for your counsel... This you will promise to do as you shall answer before God... "^[5]

Harvey earned around thirty-three pounds a year and lived in a small house in Ludgate, although two houses in West Smithfield were attached as fringe benefits to the post of Physician. At this point, the physician's function consisted of a simple but thorough analysis of patients who were brought to the hospital once a week and the consequent writing of prescriptions.

Lumleian Lecturer[link]

The next important phase of Harvey's life began with his appointment to the office of Lumleian lecturer on 4 August 1615. The Lumleian lectureship, founded by a Lord Lumley and a Dr. Caldwell in 1583, consisted in pronouncing lectures for a period of seven years, with the purpose of "spreading light" and increasing the general knowledge of anatomy throughout England.

Harvey began his lectures in April 1616. At this time, at the age of thirty-seven, he was described as "a man of lowest stature, round faced; his eyes small, round, very black and full of spirit; his hair as black as a raven and curling".^[6] The notes which he used at the time are preserved in the British Museum.

At the beginning of his lectures, Harvey laid down the canons for his guidance:

• "To show as much as may be at a glance, the whole belly for instance, and afterwards to subdivide the parts according to their positions and relations.
• To point out what is peculiar to the actual body which is being dissected.
• To supply only by speech what cannot be shown on your own credit and by authority.
• To cut up as much as may be in the sight of the audience.
• To enforce the right opinion by remarks drawn far and near, and to illustrate man by the structure of animals.
• Not to praise or dispraise other anatomists, for all did well, and there was some excuse even for those who are in error.
• Not to dispute with others, or attempt to confute them, except by the most obvious retort.
• To state things briefly and plainly, yet not letting anything pass unmentioned which can be seen.
• Not to speak of anything which can be as well explained without the body or can be read at home.
• Not to enter into too much detail, or in too minute dissection, for the time does not permit.
• To allot a definite time to each part of the body (i.e. first day's lectures dedicated to the abdomen, the second to the thorax, the third to the brain and so on."^[7]

Physician to James I[link]

Harvey continued to participate in the Lumleian lectures while also taking care of his patients at St. Bartholomew's Hospital; he thus soon attained an important and fairly lucrative practice, which climaxed with his appointment as 'Physician Extraordinary' to King James I on 3 February 1618. He seems to have similarly served various aristocrats, including Lord Chancellor Bacon.

In 1628 he published in Frankfurt his completed treatise on the circulation of the blood, the De Motu Cordis. As a result of negative comments by other physicians Harvey "fell mightily in his practice",^[8] but continued advancing his career. He was re-elected 'Censor' of the College of Physicians in 1629, having been elected for the first time in 1613 and the second time in 1625. Eventually, Harvey was also elected Treasurer of the College.

Excursions abroad, election as physician to Charles I and the English Civil War[link]

At the age of fifty-two, Harvey received commands by the king to accompany the Duke of Lennox during his trip abroad. This voyage - the first after his return from Padua - lasted three years, taking Harvey through the countries of France and Spain during the Mantuan War and Plague. During this journey he wrote to Viscount Dorchester:

"I can complain that by the way we could scarce see a dog, crow, kite, raven or any other bird, or anything to anatomize, only some few miserable people, the relics of the war and the plague where famine had made anatomies before I came. It is scarce credible in so rich, populous, and plentiful countries as these were that so much misery and desolation, poverty and famine should in so short a time be, as we have seen. I interpret it well that it will be a great motive for all here to have and procure assurance of settled peace. It is time to leave fighting when there is nothing to eat, nothing to be keep, and nothing to be gotten".^[9]

Having returned to England in 1632, Harvey accompanied King Charles I wherever he went as 'Physician in Ordinary.' In particular, Charles' hunting expeditions gave Harvey access to many deer carcasses; it was upon them that Harvey made many observations and consequent theories. Harvey returned to Italy in 1636, dining at the English College, Rome, as a guest of the Jesuits there, in October 1636. It is possible he met Galileo in Florence en route.^[10]

During the English Civil War a mob of citizen-soldiers against the King entered Harvey's lodgings, stole his goods, and scattered his papers. The papers consisted of the records of a large number of dissections... of diseased bodies, with this observations on the development on insects, and a series of notes on comparative anatomy."^[11] During this period, Harvey maintained his position, helped the wounded on several occasions and protected the King's children.

The conflicts of the Civil War soon led King Charles to Oxford, with Harvey attending, where the physician was made 'Doctor of Physic' in 1642 and later Warden of Merton College in 1645. "In Oxford he (Harvey) very soon settled down to his accustomed pursuits, unmindful of the clatter of arms and of the constant marching and countermarching around him, for the city remained the base of operations until its surrender... "^[12]

Harvey's later years, death and burial[link]

The surrender of Oxford in 1645 marks the beginning of Harvey's gradual retirement from public life and duties. Now sixty-eight years old and childless, Harvey had lost three brothers and wife at this time. He thus decided to return to London and live with his brothers Eliab and Daniel separately and in different periods of time. Having retired from St Bartholomew's Hospital and his various other aforementioned positions, he passed most of this time reading general literature. Several attempts to bring Harvey back into the 'working world' were made, however; here is an excerpt of one of Harvey's answers:

"Would you be the man who should recommend me to quit the peaceful haven where I now pass my life and launch again upon the faithless sea? You know full well what a storm my former lucubrations raised. Much better is it oftentimes to grow wise at home and in private, than by publishing what you have amassed with infinite labour, to stir up tempests that may rob you of peace and quiet for the rest of your days."^[13]

Harvey died at Roehampton in the house of his brother Eliab on 3 June 1657. Descriptions of the event seem to show that he died of a cerebral hemorrhage from vessels long injured by gout: it is highly probable that the left middle cerebral artery malfunctioned, leading to a gradual accumulation of blood to the brain which eventually overwhelmed it. There exists a fairly detailed account of what happened on that day; according to the information at hand, Harvey:

"went to speak and found that he had the dead palsy in his tongue; then he saw what was to become of him. He knew there were then no hopes of his recovery, so presently he sends for his young nephews to come up to him. He then made signs (for seized with the dead palsy in his tongue he could not speak) to let him blood his tongue, which did him little or no good, and so ended his days, dying in the evening of the day on which he was stricken, the palsy giving him an easy passport."^[14]

His will distributed his material goods and wealth throughout his extended family and also left a substantial amount of money to the College of Physicians.

Harvey was buried in Hempstead, Essex. The funeral procession started on the 26 June 1657 leading Harvey to be placed in the 'Harvey Chapel' built by Eliab. The conditions of Harvey's burial are also known: "Harvey was laid in the chapel between the bodies of his two nieces, and like them he was lept in lead, coffin less ".^[15] On St.Luke's Day, October 18, 1883, Harvey's remains were reinterred, the leaden case carried from the vault by eight Fellows of the College of Physicians, and deposited in a sarcophagus containing his works and an inscription:

"The body of William Harvey lapt in lead, simply soldered, was laid without shell or enclosure of any kind in the Harvey vault of this Church of Hempstead, Essex, in June, 1657. In the course of time the lead enclosing the remains was, from expose and natural decay, so seriously damaged as to endanger its preservation, rendering some repair of it the duty of those interested in the memory of the illustrious discoverer of the circulation of the Blood. The Royal College of Physicians, of which corporate body Harvey was a munificent Benefactor did in the years 1882-1883, by permission of the Representatives of the Harvey family, undertake this duty. In accordance with this determination the leaden mortuary chest containing the remains of Harvey was repaired, and was, as far as possible, restored to its original state... "^[16]

[edit] "De Motu Cordis" (otherwise known as "On the Motion of the Heart and Blood")

Published in 1628 in the city of Frankfurt (host to an annual book fair that Harvey knew would allow immediate dispersion of his work), this 72 page book contains the matured account of the circulation of the blood. Opening with a simple but clear dedication to King Charles I, the quarto has 17 chapters which give a perfectly clear and connected account of the action of the heart and the consequent movement of the blood around the body in a circuit. Having only a mere lens at his disposal, Harvey was not able to reach the adequate images that were attained through such microscopes used by Leeuwenhoek; thus he had to resort to theory – and not practical evidence – in certain parts of his book. After the first chapter, which simply outlines past ideas and accepted rules regarding the heart and lungs, Harvey moves on to a fundamental premise to his treatise, stating that it was extremely important to study the heart when it was active in order to truly comprehend its true movement; a task which even he found of great difficulty, as he says:

"...I found the task so truly arduous... that I was almost tempted to think... that the movement of the heart was only to be comprehended by God. For I could neither rightly perceive at first when the systole and when the diastole took place by reason of the rapidity of the movement..."^[17]

This initial thought led Harvey's ambition and assiduousness to a detailed analysis of the overall structure of the heart (studied with less hindrances in cold-blooded animals.) After this, Harvey goes on to an analysis of the arteries, showing how their pulsation depends upon the contraction of the left ventricle, while the contraction of the right ventricle propels its charge of blood into the pulmonary artery. Whilst doing this, the physician reiterates the fact that these two ventricles move together almost simultaneously and not independently like had been thought previously by his predecessors. This discovery was made while observing the heart of such animals as the eel and several other types of fish; indeed, the general study of countless animals was of utmost importance to the physician: among the ones already cited, one can add the study of the snail, the invisible shrimp, the chick before its hatching and even the pigeon. A digression to an experiment can be made to this note: using the inactive heart of a dead pigeon and placing upon it a finger wet with saliva, Harvey was able to witness a transitory and yet incontrovertible pulsation. He had just witnessed the heart's ability to recover from fatigue.

As early as the 17th century, William Harvey had already discerned the existence of the Ductus Arteriosus and explained its relative function. Here he says, "...in embryos, whilst the lungs are in a state of inaction, performing no function, subject to no movement any more than if they had not been present, Nature uses the two ventricles of the heart as if they formed but one for the transmission of the blood."^[18] However, the apex of Harvey's work is probably the eighth chapter, in which he deals with the actual quantity of blood passing through the heart from the veins to the arteries. Coming into conflict with Galen's accepted view of the liver as the origin of venous blood, Harvey estimated the capacity of the heart, how much blood is expelled through each pump of the heart, and the amount of times the heart beats in a half an hour. All of these estimates were purposefully low, so that people could see the vast amount of blood Galen's theory required the liver to produce. He estimated that the capacity of the heart was 1.5 imperial fluid ounces (43 ml), and that every time the heart pumps, 1/8 of that blood is expelled. This led to Harvey's estimate that about ¹⁄₆ imperial fluid ounces (4.7 ml) of blood went through the heart every time it pumped. The next estimate he used was that the heart beats 1000 times every half an hour, which gave 10 pounds 6 ounces of blood in a half an hour, and when this number was multiplied by 48 half hours in a day he realized that the liver would have to produce 540 pounds of blood in a day.

Having this simple but essential mathematical proportion at hand - which proved the overall impossible aforementioned role of the liver - Harvey went on to prove how the blood circulated in a circle by means of countless experiments initially done on serpents and fish: tying their veins and arteries in separate periods of time, Harvey noticed the modifications which occurred; indeed, as he tied the veins, the heart would become empty, while as he did the same to the arteries, the organ would swell up.

Image of veins from Harvey's Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus

This process was later performed on the human body (in the image on the right): the physician tied a tight ligature onto the upper arm of a person. This would cut off blood flow from the arteries and the veins. When this was done, the arm below the ligature was cool and pale, while above the ligature it was warm and swollen. The ligature was loosened slightly, which allowed blood from the arteries to come into the arm, since arteries are deeper in the flesh than the veins. When this was done, the opposite effect was seen in the lower arm. It was now warm and swollen. The veins were also more visible, since now they were full of blood. Harvey then noticed little bumps in the veins, which he realized were the valves of the veins, discovered by his teacher, Hieronymus Fabricius. Harvey tried to push blood in the vein down the arm, but to no avail. When he tried to push it up the arm, it moved quite easily. The same effect was seen in other veins of the body, except the veins in the neck. Those veins were different from the others - they did not allow blood to flow up, but only down. This led Harvey to believe that the veins allowed blood to flow to the heart, and the valves maintained the one way flow.

It is also important to state how Harvey had theorized the existence of capillaries: however, unable to discern them due to the aforementioned scarcity of instruments at this disposal, he was never truly capable of understanding how blood passed from the arterioles into the venules.

Views of the circulation of blood before Harvey[link]

At the time of Harvey's publication, Galen had been an influential medical authority for several centuries. Harvey's discoveries inevitably and historically came into conflict with Galen's teachings and the publication of his treatise De Motu Cordis incited considerable controversy within the medical community. Some doctors affirmed they would "rather err with Galen than proclaim the truth with Harvey."^[19][20] Galen incompletely perceived the function of the heart, believing it a "productor of heat", while the function of its affluents, the arteries, was that of cooling the blood as the lungs "...fanned and cooled the heart itself".^[21] Galen thought that during dilation the arteries sucked in air, while during their contraction they discharged vapours through pores in the flesh and skin.

Until the 17th century, two separate systems were thought to be involved in blood circulation: the natural system, containing venous blood which had its origin in the liver, and the vital system, containing arterial blood and the 'spirits' which flowed from the heart, distributing heat and life to all parts. Like bellows, the lungs fanned and cooled this vital blood.

Writers before Harvey had also theorized on the nature of blood circulation, including Ibn al-Nafis, Renaldus Columbus, Michael Servetus and Andrea Cesalpino.

More facts on Harvey[link]

In terms of his personality, information shows that William Harvey was seen as a "...humorous but extremely precise man...",^[22] how he was often so immersed in his own thoughts that he would often suffer from insomnia (cured with a simple walk through the house), and how he was always ready for an open and direct conversation. He also loved the darkness, for it is said that it was there where "...he could best contemplate", thus sometimes hiding out in caves. A heavy drinker of coffee, Harvey would walk out combing his hair every morning full of energy and enthusiastic spirit through the fields. We have also come to understand Harvey's somewhat unorthodox method of dealing with his gout, here cited completely: "...his (Harvey's) cure was thus: he would sit with his legs bare...put them into a pail of water till he was almost dead with cold, then betake himself to his stove, and so 'twas gone".^[23] Apart from the already mentioned love of literature, Harvey was also an intense and dedicated observer of birds during his free time: several long and detailed passages of citations could be written delineating his observations in such places as the "Pile of Boulders" (a small island in Lancashire), 'Bass Rock' (island of the East Coast of Scotland) and "The Bass" (another Scottish island).

A final allusion to the rules established and followed by the physician throughout his life can be made: general canons which are still followed in hospitals today, they embody a final representation of the man that was, William Harvey.

1. "That none be taken into the Hospital but such as be curable, or but a certain number of such as are curable.
2. That none lurk here for relief only or for slight causes.
3. That the Chirurgions, in all difficult cases or where inward physic may be necessary, shall consult with the Doctor, at the times he sitteth once in the week and then the Surgeon himself relate to the Doctor what he conceiveth of the cure and what he hath done therein.
4. That no Chirurgion or his man do trepan the head, pierce the body, dismember, or do any great operation on the body of any but with the approbation and the direction of the Doctor..."^[24]

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  William Harvey

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  Color Portrait

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  William Harvey, after a painting by Cornelius Jansen

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  William Harvey

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  1957 William Harvey Soviet Union postage stamp

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. included William Harvey in a list of "The Ten Most Influential People of the Second Millennium" in the World Almanac & Book of Facts.

See also[link]

• Miguel Servet
• Amato Lusitano - Portuguese 16th century physician, also credited with the discovery of the circulation of the blood
• Josephus Struthius
• Scientific revolution
• List of multiple discoveries

References[link]

1. ^ William Harvey by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 4)
2. ^ Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds. (1922–1958). "Harvie, William". Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
3. ^ William Harvey by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 26-27)
4. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 29)
5. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 35-36)
6. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 52)
7. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 62-64)
8. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 74)
9. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 85-86)
10. ^ Edward Chaney, The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion: Richard Lassels and 'The Voyage of Italy' in the Seventeenth Century (Geneva-Turin, 1985), pp. 291-93.
11. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 125)
12. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 130)
13. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 150-151)
14. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 166-167)
15. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 169)
16. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 174-175)
17. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 193)
18. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 202-203)
19. ^ Regina Bailey. "William Harvey - Father of Cardiovascular Medicine". about.com. http://biology.about.com/library/organs/blcircsystem2.htm. Retrieved September 26, 2010. 
20. ^ National Anti-Vivisection Society (Great Britain) (1894). The Animal's defender and zoophilist, Volume 13. 20, Victoria Street, London, S.W.: The Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection. p. 297. http://books.google.com/?id=gIrNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA297&lpg=PA297&dq=william+harvey+%22err+with+galen%22#v=onepage&q=william%20harvey%20%22err%20with%20galen%22&f=false. Retrieved September 26, 2010. 
21. ^ The Evolution of Modern Medicine, by William Osler
22. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 145)
23. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Page 144)
24. ^ William Harvey, by Sir D'Arcy Power. (Pages 99-103)

Further reading[link]

• Butterfield, Herbert (1957). The Origins of Modern Science (revised ed.). New York: The Free Press. 

• Gregory, Andrew (2001). Harvey's Heart, The Discovery of Blood Circulation. Cambridge, England: Icon Books. 

• Harvey, William (1889). On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals. London: George Bell and Sons. http://books.google.com/?id=ewAIAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=william+harvey. 

• Harvey, William; Translated by Kenneth J. Franklin. Introduction by Dr. Andrew Wear (1993). The Circulation of the Blood and Other Writings. London: Everyman: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 0-460-87362-8. 

• Harris, Paul (2007). William Harvey, Folkestone's Most Famous Son. Folkestone: Lilburne Press. 

• Kearney, Hugh (1971). Science and Change 1500 - 1700. New York: McGraw-Hill. 

• Mitchell, Silas Weir (1907). Some Memoranda in Regard to William Harvey, M.D.. 

• Munk, William (1878). The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Vol. I (2nd ed.). London. pp. 124–146. http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/heritage/munksroll/munk_details.asp?ID=5069. 

• Rapson, Helen (1982). The Circulation of the Blood. London: Frederick Muller. 

• Singer, Charles (1959). A History of Biology (third, revised ed.). London: Abelard-Schuman. 

• Wright, Thomas (2012). Circulation. London: Chatto. 

• Royal Society of Medicine (Great Britain) (1913). Portraits of Dr. William Harvey. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press. http://www.archive.org/details/portraitsofdrwil00royarich. 

• Willis, Robert (translator) (1847). The Works of William Harvey. London: Sydenham Society. http://www.archive.org/details/workswilliamhar00harvgoog. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: William Harvey

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William Harvey

• William Harvey info from the (US) National Health Museum
• The life and work of William Harvey @ Ward's Book of Days
• The Harvey Genealogist: The Harvey Book: PART ONE (mentions William Harvey and various ancestors and relatives)
• William Harvey: "On The Motion Of The Heart And Blood In Animals", 1628
• William Harvey