Biology and Its Makers: With Portraits and Other IllustrationsLocy, William A. (William Albert)
History
Biology and Its Makers: With Portraits and Other Illustrations
Locy, William A. (William Albert)
Biology -- History
In what sense the observations of the two men were complemental will be
better understood when we remember that there are two aspects in which
living organisms should always be considered in biological studies;
first, the structure, and, then, the use that the structures subserve.
One view is essential to the other, and no investigation of animals and
plants is complete in which the two ideas are not involved. Just as a
knowledge of the construction of a machine is necessary to understand
its action, so the anatomical analysis of an organ must precede a
knowledge of its office. The term "physiological anatomy of an organ,"
so commonly used in text-books on physiology, illustrates the point.
We can not appreciate the work of such an organ as the liver without
a knowledge of the arrangement of its working units. The work of the
anatomist concerns the statics of the body, that of the physiologist
the dynamics; properly combined, they give a complete picture of the
living organism.
It is to be remembered that the observations of Vesalius were not
confined exclusively to structure; he made some experiments and some
comments on the use of parts of the body, but his work was mainly
structural, while that which distinguishes Harvey's research is
inductions founded on experimental observation of the action of living
tissues.
The service of Vesalius and Harvey in opening the path to biological
advance is very conspicuous, but they were not the only pioneers;
their work was a part of the general revival of science in which
Galileo, Descartes, and others had their part. While the birth of the
experimental method was not due to the exertions of Harvey alone,
nevertheless it should stand to his credit that he established that
method in biological lines. Aristotle and Galen both had employed
experiments in their researches, and Harvey's step was in the nature of
a revival of the method of the old Greeks.
Harvey's Education.--Harvey was fitted both by native talent and by his
training for the part which he played in the intellectual awakening.
He was born at Folkestone, on the south coast of England, in 1578, the
son of a prosperous yeoman. The Harvey family was well esteemed, and
the father of William was at one time the mayor of Folkestone. Young
Harvey, after five years in the King's school at Canterbury, went to
Cambridge, and in 1593, at the age of sixteen, entered Caius College.
He had already shown a fondness for observations upon the organization
of animals, but it is unlikely that he was able to cultivate this at
the university. There his studies consisted mainly of Latin and Greek,
with some training in debate and elementary instruction in the science
of physics.
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