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
Nor is the heart, as some imagine, anything like a chauffer or fire, or
heated kettle, and so the source of the heat of the blood; the blood,
instead of receiving, rather gives heat to the heart, as it does to all
the other parts of the body; for the blood is the hottest element in the
body; and it is on this account that the heart is furnished with
coronary arteries and veins; it is for the same reason that other parts
have vessels, viz., to secure the access of warmth for their due
conservation and stimulation; so that the warmer any part is, the
greater is its supply of blood, or otherwise; where the blood is in
largest quantity, there also is the heat highest. For this reason is the
heart, remarkable through its cavities, to be viewed as the elaboratory,
fountain, and perennial focus of heat, and as comparable to a hot
kettle, not because of its proper substance, but because of its
contained blood; for the same reason, because they have numerous veins
or vessels containing blood, are the liver, spleen, lungs, &c., reputed
hot parts. And in this way do I view the native or innate heat as the
common instrument of every function, the prime cause of the pulse among
the rest. This, however, I do not mean to state absolutely, but only
propose it by way of thesis. Whatever may be objected to it by good and
learned men, without abusive or contemptuous language, I shall be ready
to listen to--I shall even be most grateful to any one who will take up
and discuss the subject.
These then, are, as it were, the very elements and indications of the
passage and circulation of the blood, viz., from the right auricle into
the right ventricle; from the right ventricle by the way of the lungs
into the left auricle; thence into the left ventricle and aorta; whence
by the arteries at large through the pores or interstices of the tissues
into the veins, and by the veins back again with great rapidity to the
base of the heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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