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
endowed with nobler and more vigorous intellects, the one developed the
intricate system of the heavenly bodies and the other discovered an
unheard-of continent. Was it not in the same way, by the exertion of
superior intellect, that Harvey made his immortal discovery? I know not
what has happened in the world unseen; but if I may judge from the
records of history and the annals of fame, the spirit of Bacon, the
spirits of Columbus, Copernicus and Newton have not been ashamed to
welcome and associate with the congenial spirit of Harvey.” To this fine
passage there is little to be added: Harvey’s discovery was of the
rational and inductive and therefore higher class, according to our
estimate; it was made in virtue of the intellectual powers which
peculiarly distinguish man, possessed in a state of the highest
perfection.
THE WORK ON GENERATION.
In our account of Harvey’s public career we found him busy with the
subject of Generation at Oxford in 1642; but he had certainly turned his
attention that way at a much earlier period, for one of the chief causes
of his regret, as expressed to Dr. Ent, for the destruction of his
papers during the civil war, is the loss of his Observations on the
Generation of Insects, which could only have been made and reduced to
form many years previously, probably before his engagement to accompany
the Duke of Lennox on his travels. And then we see that all his notes on
the gestation of the hind or doe were made in the palmy days of the
first Charles, before the differences between him and the people of
these countries had come to the arbitrement of arms. Harvey probably
occupied a good deal of his leisure in arranging and writing the work on
Generation, after quitting the service of Charles in 1646; his practice
at this period was not extensive, and he seems to have passed much of
his time in the country. Harvey appears to have been little inclined to
the publication of this work, and only to have ventured it out of his
hands with reluctance. Without the solicitations of Ent, indeed, it
would certainly have been left unpublished during his lifetime. Ent,
however, succeeded in carrying off the prize which his illustrious
friend had showed him, and lost no time in getting it into types, taking
on himself the task of correcting the press, and sending it forth
according to his own ideas in fitting form, with a frontispiece, and a
highflown dedication to the President and Fellows of the College of
Physicians. Ent’s account of his interview with Harvey on the occasion
of obtaining his consent to the publication, though highly theatrical,
is still extremely interesting. Saluting the great anatomist, and asking
if all were well with him, Harvey answers, somewhat impatiently as it
seems: “How can it, whilst the Commonwealth is full of distractions, and
I myself am still in the open sea? And truly,” he continues, “did I not
find solace in my studies, and a balm for my spirit in the memory of my
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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