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
No learned man and Christian, having doubts in such a case, would have
recommended his experience to posterity, to the imminent risk, and even
loss of human life; neither would he without very sufficient reasons,
have repudiated the authority of Galen and Fernelius, which has usually
such weight with him. Whatever he has denied in the circulation of the
blood, therefore, whether with reference to the mesentery or any other
part, and with an eye to the lacteal veins or the ancient system of
physic, or any other consideration, must be ascribed to his courtesy and
modesty, and is to be excused.
Thus far, I think, it appears plain enough, from the very words and
arguments of our author, that there is a circulation everywhere; that
the blood, wherever it is, changes its place, and by the veins returns
to the heart; so that our learned author seems to be of the same opinion
as myself. It would therefore be labour in vain, did I here quote at
greater length the various reasons which I have consigned in my work on
the Motion of the Blood, in confirmation of my opinions, and which are
derived from the structure of the vessels, the position of the valves,
and other matters of experience and observation; and this the more, as I
have not yet seen the treatise on the Circulation of the Blood of the
learned writer; nor, indeed, have I yet met with a single argument of
his, or more than his simple negation, which would lead me to see
wherefore he should reject a circulation which he admits as universal,
in certain parts, regions, and vessels.
It is true that by way of subterfuge he has recourse to an anastomosis
of the vessels on the authority of Galen, and the evidence of daily
experience. But so distinguished a personage, an anatomist so expert, so
inquisitive, and careful, should first have shown anastomoses between
the larger arteries and larger veins, and these, both obvious and ample,
having mouths in relation with such a torrent as is constituted by the
whole mass of the blood, and larger than the capacity of the continuous
branches, (from which he takes away all circulation,) before he had
rejected those that are familiarly known, that are more likely and more
open; he ought to have clearly shown us where these anastomoses are, and
how they are fashioned, whether they be adapted only to permit the
access of the blood into the veins, and not to allow of its
regurgitation, in the same way as we see the ureters connected with the
urinary bladder, or in what other manner things are contrived. But--and
here I speak over boldly perhaps--neither our learned author himself,
nor Galen, nor any experience, has ever succeeded in making such
anastomoses as he imagines, sensible to the eye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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