The Works of William Harvey M.D.: Translated from the Latin with a life of the authorHarvey, William
Science
The Works of William Harvey M.D.: Translated from the Latin with a life of the author
Harvey, William
Blood -- Circulation -- Early works to 1800; Embryology -- Early works to 1800; Physiology -- Early works to 1800
THAT THERE IS A CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IS SHOWN FROM THE SECOND
POSITION DEMONSTRATED.
If these things be so, another point which I have already referred to,
viz., the continual passage of the blood through the heart will also be
confirmed. We have seen, that the blood passes from the arteries into
the veins, not from the veins into the arteries; we have seen, farther,
that almost the whole of the blood may be withdrawn from a puncture made
in one of the cutaneous veins of the arm if a bandage properly applied
be used; we have seen, still farther, that the blood flows so freely and
rapidly that not only is the whole quantity which was contained in the
arm beyond the ligature, and before the puncture was made, discharged,
but the whole which is contained in the body, both that of the arteries
and that of the veins.
Whence we must admit, first, that the blood is sent along with an
impulse, and that it is urged with force below the fillet; for it
escapes with force, which force it receives from the pulse and power of
the heart; for the force and motion of the blood are derived from the
heart alone. Second, that the afflux proceeds from the heart, and
through the heart by a course from the great veins [into the aorta]; for
it gets into the parts below the ligature through the arteries, not
through the veins; and the arteries nowhere receive blood from the
veins, nowhere receive blood save and except from the left ventricle of
the heart. Nor could so large a quantity of blood be drawn from one vein
(a ligature having been duly applied), nor with such impetuosity, such
readiness, such celerity, unless through the medium of the impelling
power of the heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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