About the year 1316 the condition of de Mondeville’s health--he probably had pulmonary tuberculosis--began to give him serious cause for anxiety lest he might not live long enough to complete his book; and, as a matter of fact, the treatise which we now possess shows that his fears proved to be well grounded. The important subjects of fractures, dislocations and hernia, for example, are mentioned only casually. Those subjects, however, which he did discuss are treated in a very clear and practical manner. Thus, for example, his instructions with regard to the proper manner of treating wounds is most satisfactory. Theodoric and he were the great champions of the so-called dry treatment, which had been introduced at some remote period of antiquity, but which apparently had not met with general acceptance. Then, again, in his remarks on the subject of amputations, he taught that the ligaturing of the severed arteries after the removal of the amputated part, was universally recognized as the proper course to adopt and should never be neglected. In Chapter VII. of the first section of his treatise, de Mondeville gives a description of the anatomy of the heart and related blood-vessels, and at the same time furnishes an unusually clear account of the physiology of the circulation which was universally accepted by the physicians of that period, as it had already been by those of earlier centuries. It seems desirable to reproduce this account here in order that it may serve for purposes of comparison with that which Harvey was to give three centuries later. It is only by making such a comparison that the physicians of our time can appreciate the vast importance which attaches to Harvey’s wonderful discovery. De Mondeville’s account, abbreviated wherever it seemed practicable to do this, reads as follows:-- The heart is the most important of all the organs. It transmits to the other members of the body vitalizing blood, heat and spirit. Its muscular tissue, unlike ordinary muscle, is composed of three kinds of fibres, and it is not under the control of the will. It has the shape of a pineapple and is located in the centre of the chest, like a prince in the middle of his kingdom. Its lower extremity is directed somewhat to the left of the chest, as we are assured by the Philosopher (Aristotle) in his history of animals. There are two reasons why it points toward the left: 1., in order that it may not press upon the liver or be pressed upon by it; and 2., in order that it may not communicate its heat to the left side (the cool side) of that organ.