Harvey, William, 1578-1657; Physicians -- England -- Biography
Dr. Richard Forster was appointed the first Lumleian lecturer, and
when he died in 1602, William Dunne took his place. Dunne, however,
did not live to complete a single cycle of lectures for Thomas Davies
was elected in May, 1607. The College then again began to outgrow its
accommodation, and as the site did not allow of any further additions
to the buildings, a suitable house and premises were bought of the Dean
and Chapter of St. Paul's in Amen Corner, at the end of Paternoster
Row. The last meeting of the College in Linacre's old house in
Knightrider Street, took place on the 25th of June, 1614, and its first
meeting in Amen Corner was held on the 23rd of August, 1614. Dr. Davies
died in the following year, and on the 4th of August, 1615, William
Harvey was appointed to the office of Lumleian lecturer, though his
predecessor was not buried until August 20th. He continued to occupy
this post until his resignation in 1656, when his place was taken by
(Sir) Charles Scarborough. The duties of the lecturer, no doubt, had
been modified with each fresh appointment, but even in Harvey's time,
there is some evidence to show that the subjects were still considered
in a definite order.
Harvey, in all probability, began to lecture at once upon surgery as
the more theoretical portion of his subject, but it was not until
April, 1616, that he gave his first anatomical lecture. It was a
visceral lecture for the terms of the bequest required that it should
be upon the inward parts. At this time Harvey was thirty-seven years of
age. A man of the lowest stature, round faced, with a complexion like
the wainscot; his eyes small, round, very black and full of spirit; his
hair as black as a raven and curling; rapid in his utterance, choleric,
given to gesture, and used when in discourse with any one, to play
unconsciously with the handle of the small dagger he wore by his side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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