I have collected in an Appendix a short list of authorities to each chapter that my statements may be verified, for Harvey himself would have been the first to cry out against such a gossiping life as that which Aubrey wrote of him. D'ARCY POWER. _May 20, 1897._ CONTENTS [Decoration] PAGE I. HARVEY'S LINEAGE 1 II. EARLY LIFE 11 III. THE LUMLEIAN LECTURES 39 IV. THE ZENITH 70 V. THE CIVIL WAR 117 VI. HARVEY'S LATER YEARS 141 VII. HARVEY'S DEATH, BURIAL, AND EULOGY 166 VIII. HARVEY'S ANATOMICAL WORKS 188 IX. THE TREATISE ON DEVELOPMENT 238 APPENDIX 265 INDEX 271 WILLIAM HARVEY I HARVEY'S LINEAGE The history of the Harvey family begins with Thomas Harvey, father of William, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. The careful search of interested and competent genealogists has ended in the barren statement that the family is apparently descended from, or is a branch of the same stock as, Sir Walter Hervey, "pepperer," or member of the ancient guild which afterwards became the important Company of Grocers. Sir Walter was Mayor of London in the year reckoned from the death of Henry III. in November, 1272. It was the noise of the citizens assembled in Westminster Hall clamouring for Hervey's election as Mayor that disturbed the King's deathbed. The lineage would be a noble one if it could be established, for Hervey was no undistinguished Mayor. He was the worthy pupil and successor of Thomas Fitzthomas, one of the great champions in that struggle for liberty which ended in the death of Simon de Montfort, between Evesham and Alcester, but left the kingdom with a Parliament. Hervey's counsels reconstituted in London the system of civic government, and established it upon its present base; for he assumed as chief of the executive the right to grant charters of incorporation to the craftsmen of the guilds. For a time his efforts were successful, and they wrought him much harm. But his idea survived, and in due season prevailed, for the companies have entirely replaced the guilds not only in London but throughout England.