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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2939-h.zip b/2939-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4442e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/2939-h.zip diff --git a/2939-h/2939-h.htm b/2939-h/2939-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..052603f --- /dev/null +++ b/2939-h/2939-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1167 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + William Harvey and the Discovery of The Circulation Of The Blood, by + Thomas H. Huxley + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of William Harvey And The Discovery Of The +Circulation Of The Blood, by Thomas H. Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: William Harvey And The Discovery Of The Circulation Of The Blood + +Author: Thomas H. Huxley + +Release Date: January 6, 2009 [EBook #2939] +Last Updated: January 22, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM HARVEY *** + + + + +Produced by Amy E. Zelmer, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + WILLIAM HARVEY AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas H. Huxley + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + I DESIRE this evening to give you some account of the life and labours of + a very noble Englishman—William Harvey. + </p> + <p> + William Harvey was born in the year 1578, and as he lived until the year + 1657, he very nearly attained the age of 80. He was the son of a small + landowner in Kent, who was sufficiently wealthy to send this, his eldest + son, to the University of Cambridge; while he embarked the others in + mercantile pursuits, in which they all, as time passed on, attained + riches. + </p> + <p> + William Harvey, after pursuing his education at Cambridge, and taking his + degree there, thought it was advisable—and justly thought so, in the + then state of University education—to proceed to Italy, which at + that time was one of the great centres of intellectual activity in Europe, + as all friends of freedom hope it will become again, sooner or later. In + those days the University of Padua had a great renown; and Harvey went + there and studied under a man who was then very famous—Fabricius of + Aquapendente. On his return to England, Harvey became a member of the + College of Physicians in London, and entered into practice; and, I + suppose, as an indispensable step thereto, proceeded to marry. He very + soon became one of the most eminent members of the profession in London; + and, about the year 1616, he was elected by the College of Physicians + their Professor of Anatomy. It was while Harvey held this office that he + made public that great discovery of the circulation of the blood and the + movements of the heart, the nature of which I shall endeavour by-and-by to + explain to you at length. Shortly afterwards, Charles the First having + succeeded to the throne in 1625, Harvey became one of the king's + physicians; and it is much to the credit of the unfortunate monarch—who, + whatever his faults may have been, was one of the few English monarchs who + have shown a taste for art and science—that Harvey became his + attached and devoted friend as well as servant; and that the king, on the + other hand, did all he could to advance Harvey's investigations. But, as + you know, evil times came on; and Harvey, after the fortunes of his royal + master were broken, being then a man of somewhat advanced years—over + 60 years of age, in fact—retired to the society of his brothers in + and near London, and among them pursued his studies until the day of his + death. Harvey's career is a life which offers no salient points of + interest to the biographer. It was a life devoted to study and + investigation; and it was a life the devotion of which was amply rewarded, + as I shall have occasion to point out to you, by its results. + </p> + <p> + Harvey, by the diversity, the variety, and the thoroughness of his + investigations, was enabled to give an entirely new direction to at least + two branches—and two of the most important branches—of what + now-a-days we call Biological Science. On the one hand, he founded all our + modern physiology by the discovery of the exact nature of the motions of + the heart, and of the course in which the blood is propelled through the + body; and, on the other, he laid the foundation of that study of + development which has been so much advanced of late years, and which + constitutes one of the great pillars of the doctrine of evolution. This + doctrine, I need hardly tell you, is now tending to revolutionise our + conceptions of the origin of living things, exactly in the same way as + Harvey's discovery of the circulation in the seventeeth century + revolutionised the conceptions which men had previously entertained with + regard to physiological processes. + </p> + <p> + It would, I regret, be quite impossible for me to attempt, in the course + of the time I can presume to hold you here, to unfold the history of more + than one of these great investigations of Harvey. I call them "great + investigations," as distinguished from "large publications." I have in my + hand a little book, which those of you who are at a great distance may + have some difficulty in seeing, and which I value very much. It is, I am + afraid, sadly thumbed and scratched with annotations by a very humble + successor and follower of Harvey. This little book is the edition of 1651 + of the 'Exercitationes de Generatione'; and if you were to add another + little book, printed in the same small type, and about one-seventh of the + thickness, you would have the sum total of the printed matter which Harvey + contributed to our literature. And yet in that sum total was contained, I + may say, the materials of two revolutions in as many of the main branches + of biological science. If Harvey's published labours can be condensed into + so small a compass, you must recollect that it is not because he did not + do a great deal more. We know very well that he did accumulate a very + considerable number of observations on the most varied topics of medicine, + surgery, and natural history. But, as I mentioned to you just now, Harvey, + for a time, took the royal side in the domestic quarrel of the Great + Rebellion, as it is called; and the Parliament, not unnaturally resenting + that action of his, sent soldiers to seize his papers. And while I imagine + they found nothing treasonable among those papers, yet, in the process of + rummaging through them, they destroyed all the materials which Harvey had + spent a laborious life in accumulating; and hence it is that the man's + work and labours are represented by so little in apparent bulk. + </p> + <p> + What I chiefly propose to do to-night is to lay before you an account of + the nature of the discovery which Harvey made, and which is termed the + Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood. And I desire also, with some + particularity, to draw your attention to the methods by which that + discovery was achieved; for, in both these respects, I think, there will + be much matter for profitable reflection. + </p> + <p> + Let me point out to you, in the first place, with respect to this + important matter of the movements of the heart and the course of the blood + in the body, that there is a certain amount of knowledge which must have + been obtained without men taking the trouble to seek it—knowledge + which must have been taken in, in the course of time, by everybody who + followed the trade of a butcher, and still more so by those people who, in + ancient times, professed to divine the course of future events from the + entrails of animals. It is quite obvious to all, from ordinary accidents, + that the bodies of all the higher animals contain a hot red fluid—the + blood. Everybody can see upon the surface of some part of the skin, + underneath that skin, pulsating tubes, which we know as the arteries. + Everybody can see under the surface of the skin more delicate and softer + looking tubes, which do not pulsate, which are of a bluish colour, and are + termed the veins. And every person who has seen a recently killed animal + opened knows that these two kinds of tubes to which I have just referred, + are connected with an apparatus which is placed in the chest, which + apparatus, in recently killed animals, is still pulsating. And you know + that in yourselves you can feel the pulsation of this organ, the heart, + between the fifth and sixth ribs. I take it that this much of anatomy and + physiology has been known from the oldest times, not only as a matter of + curiosity, but because one of the great objects of men, from their + earliest recorded existence, has been to kill one another, and it was a + matter of considerable importance to know which was the best place for + hitting an enemy. I can refer you to very ancient records for most precise + and clear information that one of the best places is to smite him between + the fifth and sixth ribs. Now that is a very good piece of regional + anatomy, for that is the place where the heart strikes in its pulsations, + and the use of smiting there is that you go straight to the heart. Well, + all that must have been known from time immemorial—at least for + 4,000 or 5,000 years before the commencement of our era—because we + know that for as great a period as that the Egyptians, at any rate, + whatever may have been the case with other people, were in the enjoyment + of a highly developed civilisation. But of what knowledge they may have + possessed beyond this we know nothing; and in tracing back the springs of + the origin of everything that we call "modern science" (which is not + merely knowing, but knowing systematically, and with the intention and + endeavour to find out the causal connection of things)—I say that + when we trace back the different lines of all the modern sciences we come + at length to one epoch and to one country—the epoch being about the + fourth and fifth centuries before Christ, and the country being ancient + Greece. It is there that we find the commencement and the root of every + branch of physical science and of scientific method. If we go back to that + time we have in the works attributed to Aristotle, who flourished between + 300 and 400 years before Christ, a sort of encyclopaedia of the scientific + knowledge of that day—and a very marvellous collection of, in many + respects, accurate and precise knowledge it is. But, so far as regards + this particular topic, Aristotle, it must be confessed, has not got very + far beyond common knowledge. He knows a little about the structure of the + heart. I do not think that his knowledge is so inaccurate as many people + fancy, but it does not amount to much. A very few years after his time, + however, there was a Greek philosopher, Erasistratus, who lived about + three hundred years before Christ, and who must have pursued anatomy with + much care, for he made the important discovery that there are membranous + flaps, which are now called "valves," at the origins of the great vessels; + and that there are certain other valves in the interior of the heart + itself. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 1.—The apparatus of the circulation, as at present known. The + capillary vessels, which connect the arteries and veins, are omitted, on + account of their small size. The shading of the "venous system" is given + to all the vessels which contain venous blood; that of the "arterial + system" to all the vessels which contain arterial blood. + </p> + <p> + I have here (Fig. 1) a purposely rough, but, so far as it goes, accurate, + diagram of the structure of the heart and the course of the blood. The + heart is supposed to be divided into two portions. It would be possible, + by very careful dissection, to split the heart down the middle of a + partition, or so-called 'septum', which exists in it, and to divide it + into the two portions which you see here represented; in which case we + should have a left heart and a right heart, quite distinct from one + another. You will observe that there is a portion of each heart which is + what is called the ventricle. Now the ancients applied the term 'heart' + simply and solely to the ventricles. They did not count the rest of the + heart—what we now speak of as the 'auricles'—as any part of + the heart at all; but when they spoke of the heart they meant the left and + the right ventricles; and they described those great vessels, which we now + call the 'pulmonary veins' and the 'vena cava', as opening directly into + the heart itself. + </p> + <p> + What Erasistratus made out was that, at the roots of the aorta and the + pulmonary artery (Fig. 1) there were valves, which opened in the direction + indicated by the arrows; and, on the other hand, that at the junction of + what he called the veins with the heart there were other valves, which + also opened again in the direction indicated by the arrows. This was a + very capital discovery, because it proved that if the heart was full of + fluid, and if there were any means of causing that fluid in the ventricles + to move, then the fluid could move only in one direction; for you will + observe that, as soon as the fluid is compressed, the two valves between + the ventricles and the veins will be shut, and the fluid will be obliged + to move into the arteries; and, if it tries to get back from them into the + heart, it is prevented from doing so by the valves at the origin of the + arteries, which we now call the semilunar valves (half-moon shaped + valves); so that it is impossible, if the fluid move at all, that it + should move in any other way than from the great veins into the arteries. + Now that was a very remarkable and striking discovery. + </p> + <p> + But it is not given to any man to be altogether right (that is a + reflection which it is very desirable for every man who has had the good + luck to be nearly right once, always to bear in mind); and Erasistratus, + while he made this capital and important discovery, made a very capital + and important error in another direction, although it was a very natural + error. If, in any animal which is recently killed, you open one of those + pulsating trunks which I referred to a short time ago, you will find, as a + general rule, that it either contains no blood at all or next to none; but + that, on the contrary, it is full of air. Very naturally, therefore, + Erasistratus came to the conclusion that this was the normal and natural + state of the arteries, and that they contained air. We are apt to think + this a very gross blunder; but, to anybody who is acquainted with the + facts of the case, it is, at first sight, an exceedingly natural + conclusion. Not only so, but Erasistratus might have very justly imagined + that he had seen his way to the meaning of the connection of the left side + of the heart with the lungs; for we find that what we now call the + pulmonary vein is connected with the lungs, and branches out in them (Fig. + 1). Finding that the greater part of this system of vessels was filled + with air after death, this ancient thinker very shrewdly concluded that + its real business was to receive air from the lungs, and to distribute + that air all through the body, so as to get rid of the grosser humours and + purify the blood. That was a very natural and very obvious suggestion, and + a highly ingenious one, though it happened to be a great error. You will + observe that the only way of correcting it was to experiment upon living + animals, for there is no other way in which this point could be settled. + </p> + <p> + Fig.2,—The Course of the Blood according to Galen (A.D. 170). + </p> + <p> + And hence we are indebted, for the correction of the error of + Erasistratus, to one of the greatest experimenters of ancient or modern + times, Claudius Galenus, who lived in the second century after Christ. I + say it was to this man more than any one else, because he knew that the + only way of solving physiological problems was to examine into the facts + in the living animal. And because Galen was a skilful anatomist, and a + skilful experimenter, he was able to show in what particulars Erasistratus + had erred, and to build up a system of thought upon this subject which was + not improved upon for fully 1,300 years. I have endeavoured, in Fig. 2, to + make clear to you exactly what it was he tried to establish. You will + observe that this diagram is practically the same as that given in Fig. 1, + only simplified. The same facts may be looked upon by different people + from different points of view. Galen looked upon these facts from a very + different point of view from that which we ourselves occupy; but, so far + as the facts are concerned, they were the same for him as for us. Well + then, the first thing that Galen did was to make out experimentally that, + during life, the arteries are not full of air, but that they are full of + blood. And he describes a great variety of experiments which he made upon + living animals with the view of proving this point, which he did prove + effectually and for all time; and that you will observe was the only way + of settling the matter. Furthermore, he demonstrated that the cavities of + the left side of the heart—what we now call the left auricle and the + left ventricle—are, like the arteries, full of blood during life, + and that that blood was of the scarlet kind—arterialised, or as he + called it "pneumatised," blood. It was known before, that the pulmonary + artery, the right ventricle, and the veins, contain the darker kind of + blood, which was thence called venous. Having proved that the whole of the + left side of the heart, during life, is full of scarlet arterial blood, + Galen's next point was to inquire into the mode of communication between + the arteries and veins. It was known before his time that both arteries + and veins branched out. Galen maintained, though he could not prove the + fact, that the ultimate branches of the arteries and veins communicated + together somehow or other, by what he called 'anastomoses', and that these + 'anastomoses' existed not only in the body in general but also in the + lungs. In the next place, Galen maintained that all the veins of the body + arise from the liver; that they draw the blood thence and distribute it + over the body. People laugh at that notion now-a-days; but if anybody will + look at the facts he will see that it is a very probable supposition. + There is a great vein (hepatic vein—Fig. 1) which rises out of the + liver, and that vein goes straight into the 'vena cava' (Fig. 1) which + passes to the heart, being there joined by the other veins of the body. + The liver itself is fed by a very large vein (portal vein—Fig. 1), + which comes from the alimentary canal. The way the ancients looked at this + matter was, that the food, after being received into the alimentary canal, + was then taken up by the branches of this great vein, which are called the + 'vena portae', just as the roots of a plant suck up nourishment from the + soil in which it lives; that then it was carried to the liver, there to be + what was called "concocted," which was their phrase for its conversion + into substances more fitted for nutrition than previously existed in it. + They then supposed that the next thing to be done was to distribute this + fluid through the body; and Galen like his predecessors, imagined that the + "concocted" blood, having entered the great 'vena cava', was distributed + by its ramifications all over the body. So that, in his view (Fig. 2), the + course of the blood was from the intestine to the liver, and from the + liver into the great 'vena cava', including what we now call the right + auricle of the heart, whence it was distributed by the branches of the + veins. But the whole of the blood was not thus disposed of. Part of the + blood, it was supposed, went through what we now call the pulmonary + arteries (Fig. 1), and, branching out there, gave exit to certain + "fuliginous" products, and at the same time took in from the air a + something which Galen calls the 'pneuma'. He does not know anything about + what we call oxygen; but it is astonishing how very easy it would be to + turn his language into the equivalent of modern chemical theory. The old + philosopher had so just a suspicion of the real state of affairs that you + could make use of his language in many cases, if you substituted the word + "oxygen," which we now-a-days use, for the word 'pneuma'. Then he imagined + that the blood, further concocted or altered by contact with the 'pneuma', + passed to a certain extent to the left side of the heart. So that Galen + believed that there was such a thing as what is now called the pulmonary + circulation. He believed, as much as we do, that the blood passed through + the right side of the heart, through the artery which goes to the lungs, + through the lungs themselves, and back by what we call the pulmonary veins + to the left side of the heart. But he thought it was only a very small + portion of the blood which passes to the right side of the heart in this + way; the rest of the blood, he thought, passed through the partition which + separates the two ventricles of the heart. He describes a number of small + pits, which really exist there, as holes, and he supposed that the greater + part of the blood passed through these holes from the right to the left + ventricle (Fig 2). + </p> + <p> + It is of great importance you should clearly understand these teachings of + Galen, because, as I said just now, they sum up all that anybody knew + until the revival of learning; and they come to this—that the blood + having passed from the stomach and intestines through the liver, and + having entered the great veins, was by them distributed to every part of + the body; that part of the blood, thus distributed, entered the arterial + system by the 'anastomoses', as Galen called them, in the lungs; that a + very small portion of it entered the arteries by the 'anastomoses' in the + body generally; but that the greater part of it passed through the septum + of the heart, and so entered the left side and mingled with the + pneumatised blood, which had been subjected to the air in the lungs, and + was then distributed by the arteries, and eventually mixed with the + currents of blood, coming the other way, through the veins. + </p> + <p> + Yet one other point about the views of Galen. He thought that both the + contractions and dilatations of the heart—what we call the 'systole' + or contraction of the heart, and the 'diastole' or dilatation—Galen + thought that these were both active movements; that the heart actively + dilated, so that it had a sort of sucking power upon the fluids which had + access to it. And again, with respect to the movements of the pulse, which + anybody can feel at the wrist and elsewhere, Galen was of opinion that the + walls of the arteries partook of that which he supposed to be the nature + of the walls of the heart, and that they had the power of alternately + actively contracting and actively dilating, so that he is careful to say + that the nature of the pulse is comparable, not to the movement of a bag, + which we fill by blowing into it, and which we empty by drawing the air + out of it, but to the action of a bellows, which is actively dilated and + actively compressed. + </p> + <p> + Fig 3.—The course of the blood from the right to the left side of + the heart (Realdus Columbus, 1559). + </p> + <p> + After Galen's time came the collapse of the Roman Empire, the extinction + of physical knowledge, and the repression of every kind of scientific + inquiry, by its powerful and consistent enemy, the Church; and that state + of things lasted until the latter part of the Middle Ages saw the revival + of learning. That revival of learning, so far as anatomy and physiology + are concerned, is due to the renewed influence of the philosophers of + ancient Greece, and indeed, of Galen. Arabic commentators had translated + Galen, and portions of his works had got into the language of the learned + in the Middle Ages, in that way; but, by the study of the classical + languages, the original text became accessible to the men who were then + endeavouring to learn for themselves something about the facts of nature. + It was a century or more before these men, finding themselves in the + presence of a master—finding that all their lives were occupied in + attempting to ascertain for themselves that which was familiar to him—I + say it took the best part of a hundred years before they could fairly see + that their business was not to follow him, but to follow his example—namely, + to look into the facts of nature for themselves, and to carry on, in his + spirit, the work he had begun. That was first done by Vesalius, one of the + greatest anatomists who ever lived; but his work does not specially bear + upon the question we are now concerned with. So far as regards the motions + of the heart and the course of the blood, the first man in the Middle + Ages, and indeed the only man who did anything which was of real + importance, was one Realdus Columbus, who was professor at Padua in the + year 1559, and published a great anatomical treatise. What Realdus + Columbus did was this; once more resorting to the method of Galen, turning + to the living animal, experimenting, he came upon new facts, and one of + these new facts was that there was not merely a subordinate communication + between the blood of the right side of the heart and that of the left side + of the heart, through the lungs, but that there was a constant steady + current of blood, setting through the pulmonary artery on the right side, + through the lungs, and back by the pulmonary veins to the left side of the + heart (Fig.3). Such was the capital discovery and demonstration of Realdus + Columbus. He is the man who discovered what is loosely called the + 'pulmonary circulation'; and it really is quite absurd, in the face of the + fact, that twenty years afterwards we find Ambrose Pare, the great French + surgeon, ascribing this discovery to him as a matter of common notoriety, + to find that attempts are made to give the credit of it to other people. + So far as I know, this discovery of the course of the blood through the + lungs, which is called the pulmonary circulation, is the one step in real + advance that was made between the time of Galen and the time of Harvey. + And I would beg you to note that the word "circulation" is improperly + employed when it is applied to the course of the blood through the lungs. + The blood from the right side of the heart, in getting to the left side of + the heart, only performs a half-circle—it does not perform a whole + circle—it does not return to the place from whence it started; and + hence the discovery of the so-called "pulmonary circulation" has nothing + whatever to do with that greater discovery which I shall point out to you + by-and-by was made by Harvey, and which is alone really entitled to the + name of the circulation of the blood. + </p> + <p> + If anybody wants to understand what Harvey's great desert really was, I + would suggest to him that he devote himself to a course of reading, which + I cannot promise shall be very entertaining, but which, in this respect at + any rate, will be highly instructive—namely, the works of the + anatomists of the latter part of the 16th century and the beginning of the + 17th century. If anybody will take the trouble to do that which I have + thought it my business to do, he will find that the doctrines respecting + the action of the heart and the motion of the blood which were taught in + every university in Europe, whether in Padua or in Paris, were essentially + those put forward by Galen, 'plus' the discovery of the pulmonary course + of the blood which had been made by Realdus Columbus. In every chair of + anatomy and physiology (which studies were not then separated) in Europe, + it was taught that the blood brought to the liver by the portal vein, and + carried out of the liver to the 'vena cava' by the hepatic vein, is + distributed from the right side of the heart, through the other veins, to + all parts of the body; that the blood of the arteries takes a like course + from the heart towards the periphery; and that it is there, by means of + the 'anastomoses', more or less mixed up with the venous blood. It so + happens, by a curious chance, that up to the year 1625 there was at Padua, + which was Harvey's own university, a very distinguished professor, + Spigelius, whose work is extant, and who teaches exactly what I am now + telling you. It is perfectly true that, some time before, Harvey's master, + Fabricius, had not only re-discovered, but had drawn much attention to + certain pouch-like structures, which are called the valves of the veins, + found in the muscular parts of the body, all of which are directed towards + the heart, and consequently impede the flow of the blood in the opposite + direction. And you will find it stated by people who have not thought much + about the matter, that it was this discovery of the valves of the veins + which led Harvey to imagine the course of the circulation of the blood. + Now it did not lead Harvey to imagine anything of the kind. He had heard + all about it from his master, Fabricius, who made a great point of these + valves in the veins, and he had heard the theories which Fabricius + entertained upon the subject, whose impression as to the use of the valves + was simply this—that they tended to take off any excess of pressure + of the blood in passing from the heart to the extremities; for Fabricius + believed, with the rest of the world, that the blood in the veins flowed + from the heart towards the extremities. This, under the circumstances, was + as good a theory as any other, because the action of the valves depends + altogether upon the form and nature of the walls of the structures in + which they are attached; and without accurate experiment, it was + impossible to say whether the theory of Fabricius was right or wrong. But + we not only have the evidence of the facts themselves that these could + tell Harvey nothing about the circulation, but we have his own distinct + declaration as to the considerations which led him to the true theory of + the circulation of the blood, and amongst these the valves of the veins + are not mentioned. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 4.—The circulation of the blood as demonstrated by Harvey (A.D. + 1628). + </p> + <p> + Now then we may come to Harvey himself. When you read Harvey's treatise, + which is one of the most remarkable scientific monographs with which I am + acquainted—it occupies between 50 and 60 pages of a small quarto in + Latin, and is as terse and concise as it possibly can be—when you + come to look at Harvey's work, you will find that he had long struggled + with the difficulties of the accepted doctrine of the circulation. He had + received from Fabricius, and from all the great authorities of the day, + the current view of the circulation of the blood. But he was a man with + that rarest of all qualities—intellectual honesty; and by dint of + cultivating that great faculty, which is more moral than intellectual, it + had become impossible for him to say he believed anything which he did not + clearly believe. This is a most uncomfortable peculiarity—for it + gets you into all sorts of difficulties with all sorts of people—but, + for scientific purposes, it is absolutely invaluable. Harvey possessed + this peculiarity in the highest degree, and so it was impossible for him + to accept what all the authorities told him, and he looked into the matter + for himself. But he was not hasty. He worked at his new views, and he + lectured about them at the College of Physicians for nine years; he did + not print them until he was a man of fifty years of age; and when he did + print them he accompanied them with a demonstration which has never been + shaken, and which will stand till the end of time. What Harvey proved, in + short, was this (see Fig. 4)—that everybody had made a mistake, for + want of sufficiently accurate experimentation as to the actual existence + of the fact which everybody assumed. To anybody who looks at the + blood-vessels with an unprejudiced eye it seems so natural that the blood + should all come out of the liver, and be distributed by the veins to the + different parts of the body, that nothing can seem simpler or more plain; + and consequently no one could make up his mind to dispute this apparently + obvious assumption. But Harvey did dispute it; and when he came to + investigate the matter he discovered that it was a profound mistake, and + that, all this time, the blood had been moving in just the opposite + direction, namely, from the small ramifications of the veins towards the + right side of the heart. Harvey further found that, in the arteries, the + blood, as had previously been known, was travelling from the greater + trunks towards the ramifications. Moreover, referring to the ideas of + Columbus and of Galen (for he was a great student of literature, and did + justice to all his predecessors), Harvey accepts and strengthens their + view of the course of the blood through the lungs, and he shows how it + fitted into his general scheme. If you will follow the course of the + arrows in Fig. 4 you will see at once that—in accordance with the + views of Columbus—the blood passes from the right side of the heart, + through the lungs, to the left side. Then, adds Harvey, with abundant + proof, it passes through the arteries to all parts of the body; and then, + at the extremities of their branches in the different parts of the body, + it passes (in what way he could not tell, for his means of investigation + did not allow him to say) into the roots of the veins—then from the + roots of the veins it goes into the trunk veins—then to the + right side of the heart—and then to the lungs, and so on. + </p> + <p> + That, you will observe, makes a complete circuit; and it was precisely + here that the originality of Harvey lay. There never yet has been + produced, and I do not believe there can be produced, a tittle of evidence + to show that, before his time, any one had the slightest suspicion that a + single drop of blood, starting in the left ventricle of the heart, passes + through the whole arterial system, comes back through the venous system, + goes through the lungs, and comes back to the place whence it started. But + that is the circulation of the blood, and it was exactly this which Harvey + was the first man to suspect, to discover, and to demonstrate. + </p> + <p> + But this was by no means the only thing Harvey did. He was the first who + discovered and who demonstrated the true mechanism of the heart's action. + No one, before his time, conceived that the movement of the blood was + entirely due to the mechanical action of the heart as a pump. There were + all sorts of speculations about the matter, but nobody had formed this + conception, and nobody understood that the so-called systole of the heart + is a state of active contraction, and the so-called diastole is a mere + passive dilatation. Even within our own age that matter had been + discussed. Harvey is as clear as possible about it. He says the movement + of the blood is entirely due to the contractions of the walls of the heart—that + it is the propelling apparatus—and all recent investigation tends to + show that he was perfectly right. And from this followed the true theory + of the pulse. Galen said, as I pointed out just now, that the arteries + dilate as bellows, which have an active power of dilatation and + contraction, and not as bags which are blown out and collapse. Harvey said + it was exactly the contrary—the arteries dilate as bags simply + because the stroke of the heart propels the blood into them; and, when + they relax again, they relax as bags which are no longer stretched, simply + because the force of the blow of the heart is spent. Harvey has been + demonstrated to be absolutely right in this statement of his; and yet, so + slow is the progress of truth, that, within my time, the question of the + active dilatation of the arteries has been discussed. + </p> + <p> + Thus Harvey's contributions to physiology may be summed up as follows: In + the first place, he was the first person who ever imagined, and still more + who demonstrated, the true course of the circulation of the blood in the + body; in the second place, he was the first person who ever understood the + mechanism of the heart, and comprehended that its contraction was the + cause of the motion of the blood; and thirdly, he was the first person who + took a just view of the nature of the pulse. These are the three great + contributions which he made to the science of physiology; and I shall not + err in saying—I speak in the presence of distinguished + physiologists, but I am perfectly certain that they will endorse what I + say—that upon that foundation the whole of our knowledge of the + human body, with the exception of the motor apparatus and the sense + organs, has been gradually built up, and that upon that foundation the + whole rests. And not only does scientific physiology rest upon it, but + everything like scientific medicine also rests upon it. As you know—I + hope it is now a matter of popular knowledge—it is the foundation of + all rational speculation about morbid processes; it is the only key to the + rational interpretation of that commonest of all indications of disease, + the state of the pulse; so that, both theoretically and practically, this + discovery, this demonstration of Harvey's, has had an effect which is + absolutely incalculable, and the consequences of which will accumulate + from age to age until they result in a complete body of physiological + science. + </p> + <p> + Fig.5.—The junction of the arteries and veins by capillary tubes, + discovered by Malpighi (A.D. 1664). + </p> + <p> + I regret that I am unable to pursue this subject much further; but there + is one point I should mention. In Harvey's time, the microscope was hardly + invented. It is quite true that in some of his embryological researches he + speaks of having made use of a hand glass; but that was the most that he + seems to have known anything about, or that was accessible to him at that + day. And so it came about, that, although he examined the course of the + blood in many of the lower animals—watched the pulsation of the + heart in shrimps, and animals of that kind—he never could put the + final coping-stone on his edifice. He did not know to the day of his + death, although quite clear about the fact that the arteries and the veins + do communicate, how it is that they communicate—how it was that the + blood of the arteries passed into the veins. One is grieved to think that + the grand old man should have gone down to his tomb without the vast + satisfaction it would have given to him to see what the Italian naturalist + Malpighi showed only seven years later, in 1664, when he demonstrated, in + a living frog, the actual passage of the blood from the ultimate + ramifications of the arteries into the veins. But that absolute ocular + demonstration of the truth of the views he had maintained throughout his + life it was not granted to Harvey to see. What he did experience was this: + that on the publication of his doctrines, they were met with the greatest + possible opposition; and I have no doubt savage things were uttered in + those old controversies, and that a great many people said that these + new-fangled doctrines, reducing living processes to mere mechanism, would + sap the foundations of religion and morality. I do not know for certain + that they did, but they said things very like it. The first point was to + show that Harvey's views were absolutely untrue; and not being able to + succeed in that, opponents said they were not new; and not being able to + succeed in that, that they didn't matter. That is the usual course with + all new discoveries. But Harvey troubled himself very little about these + things. He remained perfectly quiet; for although reputed a hot-tempered + man, he never would have anything to do with controversy if he could help + it; and he only replied to one of his antagonists after twenty years' + interval, and then in the most charming spirit of candour and moderation. + But he had the great satisfaction of living to see his doctrine accepted + upon all sides. At the time of his death, there was not an anatomical + school in Europe in which the doctrine of the circulation of the blood was + not taught in the way in which Harvey had laid it down. In that respect he + had a happiness which is granted to very few men. + </p> + <p> + I have said that the other great investigation of Harvey is not one which + can be dealt with to a general audience. It is very complex, and therefore + I must ask you to take my word for it that, although not so fortunate an + investigation, not so entirely accordant with later results as the + doctrine of the circulation; yet that still, this little treatise of + Harvey's has in many directions exerted an influence hardly less + remarkable than that exerted by the Essay upon the Circulation of the + Blood. + </p> + <p> + And now let me ask your attention to two or three closing remarks. + </p> + <p> + If you look back upon that period of about 100 years which commences with + Harvey's birth—I mean from the year 1578 to 1680 or thereabouts—I + think you will agree with me, that it constitutes one of the most + remarkable epochs in the whole of that thousand years which we may roughly + reckon as constituting the history of Britain. In the commencement of that + period, we may see, if not the setting, at any rate the declension of that + system of personal rule which had existed under previous sovereigns, and + which, after a brief and spasmodic revival in the time of George the + Third, has now sunk, let us hope, into the limbo of forgotten things. The + latter part of that 100 years saw the dawn of that system of free + government which has grown and flourished, and which, if the men of the + present day be the worthy descendants of Eliott and Pym, and Hampden and + Milton, will go on growing as long as this realm lasts. Within that time, + one of the strangest phenomena which I think I may say any nation has ever + manifested arose to its height and fell—I mean that strange and + altogether marvellous phenomenon, English Puritanism. Within that time, + England had to show statesmen like Burleigh, Strafford, and Cromwell—I + mean men who were real statesmen, and not intriguers, seeking to make a + reputation at the expense of the nation. In the course of that time, the + nation had begun to throw off those swarms of hardy colonists which, to + the benefit of the world—and as I fancy, in the long run, to the + benefit of England herself—have now become the United States of + America; and, during the same epoch, the first foundations were laid of + that Indian Empire which, it may be, future generations will not look upon + as so happy a product of English enterprise and ingenuity. In that time we + had poets such as Spenser, Shakespere, and Milton; we had a great + philosopher, in Hobbes; and we had a clever talker about philosophy, in + Bacon. In the beginning of the period, Harvey revolutionized the + biological sciences, and at the end of it, Newton was preparing the + revolution of the physical sciences. I know not any period of our history—I + doubt if there be any period of the history of any nation—which has + precisely such a record as this to show for a hundred years. But I do not + recall these facts to your recollection for a mere vainglorious purpose. I + myself am of opinion that the memory of the great men of a nation is one + of its most precious possessions—not because we have any right to + plume ourselves upon their having existed as a matter of national vanity, + but because we have a just and rational ground of expectation that the + race which has brought forth such products as these may, in good time and + under fortunate circumstances, produce the like again. I am one of those + people who do not believe in the natural decay of nations. I believe, to + speak frankly, though perhaps not quite so politely as I could wish—but + I am getting near the end of my lecture—that the whole theory is a + speculation invented by cowards to excuse knaves. My belief is, that so + far as this old English stock is concerned it has in it as much sap and + vitality and power as it had two centuries ago; and that, with due pruning + of rotten branches, and due hoeing up of weeds, which will grow about the + roots, the like products will be yielded again. The "weeds" to which I + refer are mainly three: the first of them is dishonesty, the second is + sentimentality, and the third is luxury. If William Harvey had been a + dishonest man—I mean in the high sense of the word—a man who + failed in the ideal of honesty—he would have believed what it was + easiest to believe—that which he received on the authority of his + predecessors. He would not have felt that his highest duty was to know of + his own knowledge that that which he said he believed was true, and we + should never have had those investigations, pursued through good report + and evil report, which ended in discoveries so fraught with magnificent + results for science and for man. If Harvey had been a sentimentalist—by + which I mean a person of false pity, a person who has not imagination + enough to see that great, distant evils may be much worse than those which + we can picture to ourselves, because they happen to be immediate and near + (for that, I take it, is the essence of sentimentalism)—if Harvey + had been a person of that kind, he, being one of the kindest men living, + would never have pursued those researches which, as he tells us over and + over again, he was obliged to pursue in order to the ascertainment of + those facts which have turned out to be of such inestimable value to the + human race; and I say, if on such grounds he had failed to do so, he would + have failed in his duty to the human race. The third point is that Harvey + was devoid of care either for wealth, or for riches, or for ambition. The + man found a higher ideal than any of these things in the pursuit of truth + and the benefit of his fellow-men. If we all go and do likewise, I think + there is no fear for the decadence of England. I think that our children + and our successors will find themselves in a commonwealth, different it + may be from that for which Eliott, and Pym, and Hampden struggled, but one + which will be identical in the substance of its aims—great, worthy, + and well to live in. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ A Lecture delivered in the + Free Trade Hall, November 2nd, 1878.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of William Harvey And The Discovery Of +The Circulation Of The Blood, by Thomas H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: William Harvey And The Discovery Of The Circulation Of The Blood + +Author: Thomas H. Huxley + +Posting Date: January 6, 2009 [EBook #2939] +Release Date: November, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM HARVEY *** + + + + +Produced by Amy E. Zelmer + + + + + +WILLIAM HARVEY AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD + +By Thomas H. Huxley + + +[1] + + + +I DESIRE this evening to give you some account of the life and labours +of a very noble Englishman--William Harvey. + +William Harvey was born in the year 1578, and as he lived until the year +1657, he very nearly attained the age of 80. He was the son of a small +landowner in Kent, who was sufficiently wealthy to send this, his eldest +son, to the University of Cambridge; while he embarked the others in +mercantile pursuits, in which they all, as time passed on, attained +riches. + +William Harvey, after pursuing his education at Cambridge, and taking +his degree there, thought it was advisable--and justly thought so, in +the then state of University education--to proceed to Italy, which +at that time was one of the great centres of intellectual activity in +Europe, as all friends of freedom hope it will become again, sooner or +later. In those days the University of Padua had a great renown; +and Harvey went there and studied under a man who was then very +famous--Fabricius of Aquapendente. On his return to England, Harvey +became a member of the College of Physicians in London, and entered into +practice; and, I suppose, as an indispensable step thereto, proceeded +to marry. He very soon became one of the most eminent members of the +profession in London; and, about the year 1616, he was elected by the +College of Physicians their Professor of Anatomy. It was while Harvey +held this office that he made public that great discovery of the +circulation of the blood and the movements of the heart, the nature of +which I shall endeavour by-and-by to explain to you at length. Shortly +afterwards, Charles the First having succeeded to the throne in 1625, +Harvey became one of the king's physicians; and it is much to the credit +of the unfortunate monarch--who, whatever his faults may have been, +was one of the few English monarchs who have shown a taste for art and +science--that Harvey became his attached and devoted friend as well +as servant; and that the king, on the other hand, did all he could to +advance Harvey's investigations. But, as you know, evil times came on; +and Harvey, after the fortunes of his royal master were broken, +being then a man of somewhat advanced years--over 60 years of age, in +fact--retired to the society of his brothers in and near London, and +among them pursued his studies until the day of his death. Harvey's +career is a life which offers no salient points of interest to the +biographer. It was a life devoted to study and investigation; and it +was a life the devotion of which was amply rewarded, as I shall have +occasion to point out to you, by its results. + +Harvey, by the diversity, the variety, and the thoroughness of his +investigations, was enabled to give an entirely new direction to at +least two branches--and two of the most important branches--of what +now-a-days we call Biological Science. On the one hand, he founded +all our modern physiology by the discovery of the exact nature of the +motions of the heart, and of the course in which the blood is propelled +through the body; and, on the other, he laid the foundation of that +study of development which has been so much advanced of late years, and +which constitutes one of the great pillars of the doctrine of evolution. +This doctrine, I need hardly tell you, is now tending to revolutionise +our conceptions of the origin of living things, exactly in the same +way as Harvey's discovery of the circulation in the seventeeth century +revolutionised the conceptions which men had previously entertained with +regard to physiological processes. + +It would, I regret, be quite impossible for me to attempt, in the course +of the time I can presume to hold you here, to unfold the history of +more than one of these great investigations of Harvey. I call them +"great investigations," as distinguished from "large publications." I +have in my hand a little book, which those of you who are at a great +distance may have some difficulty in seeing, and which I value very +much. It is, I am afraid, sadly thumbed and scratched with annotations +by a very humble successor and follower of Harvey. This little book is +the edition of 1651 of the 'Exercitationes de Generatione'; and if you +were to add another little book, printed in the same small type, and +about one-seventh of the thickness, you would have the sum total of the +printed matter which Harvey contributed to our literature. And yet +in that sum total was contained, I may say, the materials of two +revolutions in as many of the main branches of biological science. If +Harvey's published labours can be condensed into so small a compass, you +must recollect that it is not because he did not do a great deal more. +We know very well that he did accumulate a very considerable number of +observations on the most varied topics of medicine, surgery, and natural +history. But, as I mentioned to you just now, Harvey, for a time, took +the royal side in the domestic quarrel of the Great Rebellion, as it +is called; and the Parliament, not unnaturally resenting that action of +his, sent soldiers to seize his papers. And while I imagine they found +nothing treasonable among those papers, yet, in the process of rummaging +through them, they destroyed all the materials which Harvey had spent a +laborious life in accumulating; and hence it is that the man's work and +labours are represented by so little in apparent bulk. + +What I chiefly propose to do to-night is to lay before you an account of +the nature of the discovery which Harvey made, and which is termed the +Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood. And I desire also, with +some particularity, to draw your attention to the methods by which that +discovery was achieved; for, in both these respects, I think, there will +be much matter for profitable reflection. + +Let me point out to you, in the first place, with respect to this +important matter of the movements of the heart and the course of the +blood in the body, that there is a certain amount of knowledge +which must have been obtained without men taking the trouble to seek +it--knowledge which must have been taken in, in the course of time, +by everybody who followed the trade of a butcher, and still more so by +those people who, in ancient times, professed to divine the course of +future events from the entrails of animals. It is quite obvious to +all, from ordinary accidents, that the bodies of all the higher animals +contain a hot red fluid--the blood. Everybody can see upon the surface +of some part of the skin, underneath that skin, pulsating tubes, which +we know as the arteries. Everybody can see under the surface of the skin +more delicate and softer looking tubes, which do not pulsate, which are +of a bluish colour, and are termed the veins. And every person who has +seen a recently killed animal opened knows that these two kinds of tubes +to which I have just referred, are connected with an apparatus which +is placed in the chest, which apparatus, in recently killed animals, +is still pulsating. And you know that in yourselves you can feel the +pulsation of this organ, the heart, between the fifth and sixth ribs. I +take it that this much of anatomy and physiology has been known from the +oldest times, not only as a matter of curiosity, but because one of the +great objects of men, from their earliest recorded existence, has been +to kill one another, and it was a matter of considerable importance to +know which was the best place for hitting an enemy. I can refer you to +very ancient records for most precise and clear information that one of +the best places is to smite him between the fifth and sixth ribs. Now +that is a very good piece of regional anatomy, for that is the place +where the heart strikes in its pulsations, and the use of smiting there +is that you go straight to the heart. Well, all that must have been +known from time immemorial--at least for 4,000 or 5,000 years before the +commencement of our era--because we know that for as great a period as +that the Egyptians, at any rate, whatever may have been the case with +other people, were in the enjoyment of a highly developed civilisation. +But of what knowledge they may have possessed beyond this we know +nothing; and in tracing back the springs of the origin of everything +that we call "modern science" (which is not merely knowing, but knowing +systematically, and with the intention and endeavour to find out +the causal connection of things)--I say that when we trace back the +different lines of all the modern sciences we come at length to one +epoch and to one country--the epoch being about the fourth and fifth +centuries before Christ, and the country being ancient Greece. It is +there that we find the commencement and the root of every branch of +physical science and of scientific method. If we go back to that time +we have in the works attributed to Aristotle, who flourished between 300 +and 400 years before Christ, a sort of encyclopaedia of the scientific +knowledge of that day--and a very marvellous collection of, in many +respects, accurate and precise knowledge it is. But, so far as regards +this particular topic, Aristotle, it must be confessed, has not got very +far beyond common knowledge. He knows a little about the structure of +the heart. I do not think that his knowledge is so inaccurate as many +people fancy, but it does not amount to much. A very few years after his +time, however, there was a Greek philosopher, Erasistratus, who lived +about three hundred years before Christ, and who must have pursued +anatomy with much care, for he made the important discovery that there +are membranous flaps, which are now called "valves," at the origins +of the great vessels; and that there are certain other valves in the +interior of the heart itself. + +Fig. 1.--The apparatus of the circulation, as at present known. The +capillary vessels, which connect the arteries and veins, are omitted, on +account of their small size. The shading of the "venous system" is given +to all the vessels which contain venous blood; that of the "arterial +system" to all the vessels which contain arterial blood. + +I have here (Fig. 1) a purposely rough, but, so far as it goes, +accurate, diagram of the structure of the heart and the course of the +blood. The heart is supposed to be divided into two portions. It would +be possible, by very careful dissection, to split the heart down the +middle of a partition, or so-called 'septum', which exists in it, and to +divide it into the two portions which you see here represented; in which +case we should have a left heart and a right heart, quite distinct from +one another. You will observe that there is a portion of each heart +which is what is called the ventricle. Now the ancients applied the term +'heart' simply and solely to the ventricles. They did not count the rest +of the heart--what we now speak of as the 'auricles'--as any part of the +heart at all; but when they spoke of the heart they meant the left and +the right ventricles; and they described those great vessels, which we +now call the 'pulmonary veins' and the 'vena cava', as opening directly +into the heart itself. + +What Erasistratus made out was that, at the roots of the aorta and +the pulmonary artery (Fig. 1) there were valves, which opened in the +direction indicated by the arrows; and, on the other hand, that at the +junction of what he called the veins with the heart there were other +valves, which also opened again in the direction indicated by the +arrows. This was a very capital discovery, because it proved that if +the heart was full of fluid, and if there were any means of causing that +fluid in the ventricles to move, then the fluid could move only in +one direction; for you will observe that, as soon as the fluid is +compressed, the two valves between the ventricles and the veins will be +shut, and the fluid will be obliged to move into the arteries; and, +if it tries to get back from them into the heart, it is prevented from +doing so by the valves at the origin of the arteries, which we now +call the semilunar valves (half-moon shaped valves); so that it is +impossible, if the fluid move at all, that it should move in any other +way than from the great veins into the arteries. Now that was a very +remarkable and striking discovery. + +But it is not given to any man to be altogether right (that is a +reflection which it is very desirable for every man who has had the good +luck to be nearly right once, always to bear in mind); and Erasistratus, +while he made this capital and important discovery, made a very capital +and important error in another direction, although it was a very natural +error. If, in any animal which is recently killed, you open one of those +pulsating trunks which I referred to a short time ago, you will find, as +a general rule, that it either contains no blood at all or next to none; +but that, on the contrary, it is full of air. Very naturally, therefore, +Erasistratus came to the conclusion that this was the normal and natural +state of the arteries, and that they contained air. We are apt to think +this a very gross blunder; but, to anybody who is acquainted with +the facts of the case, it is, at first sight, an exceedingly natural +conclusion. Not only so, but Erasistratus might have very justly +imagined that he had seen his way to the meaning of the connection of +the left side of the heart with the lungs; for we find that what we now +call the pulmonary vein is connected with the lungs, and branches out in +them (Fig. 1). Finding that the greater part of this system of vessels +was filled with air after death, this ancient thinker very shrewdly +concluded that its real business was to receive air from the lungs, and +to distribute that air all through the body, so as to get rid of the +grosser humours and purify the blood. That was a very natural and very +obvious suggestion, and a highly ingenious one, though it happened to be +a great error. You will observe that the only way of correcting it was +to experiment upon living animals, for there is no other way in which +this point could be settled. + +Fig.2,--The Course of the Blood according to Galen (A.D. 170). + +And hence we are indebted, for the correction of the error of +Erasistratus, to one of the greatest experimenters of ancient or modern +times, Claudius Galenus, who lived in the second century after Christ. I +say it was to this man more than any one else, because he knew that the +only way of solving physiological problems was to examine into the facts +in the living animal. And because Galen was a skilful anatomist, and +a skilful experimenter, he was able to show in what particulars +Erasistratus had erred, and to build up a system of thought upon this +subject which was not improved upon for fully 1,300 years. I have +endeavoured, in Fig. 2, to make clear to you exactly what it was he +tried to establish. You will observe that this diagram is practically +the same as that given in Fig. 1, only simplified. The same facts may +be looked upon by different people from different points of view. Galen +looked upon these facts from a very different point of view from that +which we ourselves occupy; but, so far as the facts are concerned, they +were the same for him as for us. Well then, the first thing that Galen +did was to make out experimentally that, during life, the arteries are +not full of air, but that they are full of blood. And he describes a +great variety of experiments which he made upon living animals with the +view of proving this point, which he did prove effectually and for all +time; and that you will observe was the only way of settling the matter. +Furthermore, he demonstrated that the cavities of the left side of the +heart--what we now call the left auricle and the left ventricle--are, +like the arteries, full of blood during life, and that that blood was of +the scarlet kind--arterialised, or as he called it "pneumatised," blood. +It was known before, that the pulmonary artery, the right ventricle, +and the veins, contain the darker kind of blood, which was thence called +venous. Having proved that the whole of the left side of the heart, +during life, is full of scarlet arterial blood, Galen's next point +was to inquire into the mode of communication between the arteries +and veins. It was known before his time that both arteries and veins +branched out. Galen maintained, though he could not prove the fact, that +the ultimate branches of the arteries and veins communicated together +somehow or other, by what he called 'anastomoses', and that these +'anastomoses' existed not only in the body in general but also in the +lungs. In the next place, Galen maintained that all the veins of +the body arise from the liver; that they draw the blood thence and +distribute it over the body. People laugh at that notion now-a-days; but +if anybody will look at the facts he will see that it is a very probable +supposition. There is a great vein (hepatic vein--Fig. 1) which rises +out of the liver, and that vein goes straight into the 'vena cava' (Fig. +1) which passes to the heart, being there joined by the other veins +of the body. The liver itself is fed by a very large vein (portal +vein--Fig. 1), which comes from the alimentary canal. The way the +ancients looked at this matter was, that the food, after being received +into the alimentary canal, was then taken up by the branches of this +great vein, which are called the 'vena portae', just as the roots of a +plant suck up nourishment from the soil in which it lives; that then it +was carried to the liver, there to be what was called "concocted," which +was their phrase for its conversion into substances more fitted for +nutrition than previously existed in it. They then supposed that the +next thing to be done was to distribute this fluid through the body; and +Galen like his predecessors, imagined that the "concocted" blood, having +entered the great 'vena cava', was distributed by its ramifications all +over the body. So that, in his view (Fig. 2), the course of the blood +was from the intestine to the liver, and from the liver into the great +'vena cava', including what we now call the right auricle of the heart, +whence it was distributed by the branches of the veins. But the whole of +the blood was not thus disposed of. Part of the blood, it was supposed, +went through what we now call the pulmonary arteries (Fig. 1), and, +branching out there, gave exit to certain "fuliginous" products, and +at the same time took in from the air a something which Galen calls the +'pneuma'. He does not know anything about what we call oxygen; but it +is astonishing how very easy it would be to turn his language into the +equivalent of modern chemical theory. The old philosopher had so just +a suspicion of the real state of affairs that you could make use of his +language in many cases, if you substituted the word "oxygen," which we +now-a-days use, for the word 'pneuma'. Then he imagined that the blood, +further concocted or altered by contact with the 'pneuma', passed to +a certain extent to the left side of the heart. So that Galen believed +that there was such a thing as what is now called the pulmonary +circulation. He believed, as much as we do, that the blood passed +through the right side of the heart, through the artery which goes to +the lungs, through the lungs themselves, and back by what we call the +pulmonary veins to the left side of the heart. But he thought it was +only a very small portion of the blood which passes to the right side of +the heart in this way; the rest of the blood, he thought, passed through +the partition which separates the two ventricles of the heart. He +describes a number of small pits, which really exist there, as holes, +and he supposed that the greater part of the blood passed through these +holes from the right to the left ventricle (Fig 2). + +It is of great importance you should clearly understand these teachings +of Galen, because, as I said just now, they sum up all that anybody knew +until the revival of learning; and they come to this--that the blood +having passed from the stomach and intestines through the liver, and +having entered the great veins, was by them distributed to every part of +the body; that part of the blood, thus distributed, entered the arterial +system by the 'anastomoses', as Galen called them, in the lungs; that +a very small portion of it entered the arteries by the 'anastomoses' in +the body generally; but that the greater part of it passed through the +septum of the heart, and so entered the left side and mingled with the +pneumatised blood, which had been subjected to the air in the lungs, +and was then distributed by the arteries, and eventually mixed with the +currents of blood, coming the other way, through the veins. + +Yet one other point about the views of Galen. He thought that both the +contractions and dilatations of the heart--what we call the 'systole' +or contraction of the heart, and the 'diastole' or dilatation--Galen +thought that these were both active movements; that the heart actively +dilated, so that it had a sort of sucking power upon the fluids which +had access to it. And again, with respect to the movements of the pulse, +which anybody can feel at the wrist and elsewhere, Galen was of opinion +that the walls of the arteries partook of that which he supposed to be +the nature of the walls of the heart, and that they had the power of +alternately actively contracting and actively dilating, so that he is +careful to say that the nature of the pulse is comparable, not to the +movement of a bag, which we fill by blowing into it, and which we empty +by drawing the air out of it, but to the action of a bellows, which is +actively dilated and actively compressed. + +Fig 3.--The course of the blood from the right to the left side of the +heart (Realdus Columbus, 1559). + +After Galen's time came the collapse of the Roman Empire, the extinction +of physical knowledge, and the repression of every kind of scientific +inquiry, by its powerful and consistent enemy, the Church; and that +state of things lasted until the latter part of the Middle Ages saw the +revival of learning. That revival of learning, so far as anatomy +and physiology are concerned, is due to the renewed influence of +the philosophers of ancient Greece, and indeed, of Galen. Arabic +commentators had translated Galen, and portions of his works had got +into the language of the learned in the Middle Ages, in that way; +but, by the study of the classical languages, the original text became +accessible to the men who were then endeavouring to learn for themselves +something about the facts of nature. It was a century or more before +these men, finding themselves in the presence of a master--finding that +all their lives were occupied in attempting to ascertain for themselves +that which was familiar to him--I say it took the best part of a hundred +years before they could fairly see that their business was not to follow +him, but to follow his example--namely, to look into the facts of nature +for themselves, and to carry on, in his spirit, the work he had begun. +That was first done by Vesalius, one of the greatest anatomists who ever +lived; but his work does not specially bear upon the question we are +now concerned with. So far as regards the motions of the heart and the +course of the blood, the first man in the Middle Ages, and indeed the +only man who did anything which was of real importance, was one Realdus +Columbus, who was professor at Padua in the year 1559, and published a +great anatomical treatise. What Realdus Columbus did was this; once +more resorting to the method of Galen, turning to the living animal, +experimenting, he came upon new facts, and one of these new facts was +that there was not merely a subordinate communication between the blood +of the right side of the heart and that of the left side of the heart, +through the lungs, but that there was a constant steady current of +blood, setting through the pulmonary artery on the right side, through +the lungs, and back by the pulmonary veins to the left side of the heart +(Fig.3). Such was the capital discovery and demonstration of Realdus +Columbus. He is the man who discovered what is loosely called the +'pulmonary circulation'; and it really is quite absurd, in the face of +the fact, that twenty years afterwards we find Ambrose Pare, the great +French surgeon, ascribing this discovery to him as a matter of common +notoriety, to find that attempts are made to give the credit of it to +other people. So far as I know, this discovery of the course of the +blood through the lungs, which is called the pulmonary circulation, is +the one step in real advance that was made between the time of Galen +and the time of Harvey. And I would beg you to note that the word +"circulation" is improperly employed when it is applied to the course of +the blood through the lungs. The blood from the right side of the +heart, in getting to the left side of the heart, only performs a +half-circle--it does not perform a whole circle--it does not return +to the place from whence it started; and hence the discovery of the +so-called "pulmonary circulation" has nothing whatever to do with that +greater discovery which I shall point out to you by-and-by was made +by Harvey, and which is alone really entitled to the name of the +circulation of the blood. + +If anybody wants to understand what Harvey's great desert really was, +I would suggest to him that he devote himself to a course of reading, +which I cannot promise shall be very entertaining, but which, in this +respect at any rate, will be highly instructive--namely, the works of +the anatomists of the latter part of the 16th century and the beginning +of the 17th century. If anybody will take the trouble to do that which +I have thought it my business to do, he will find that the doctrines +respecting the action of the heart and the motion of the blood which +were taught in every university in Europe, whether in Padua or in Paris, +were essentially those put forward by Galen, 'plus' the discovery of the +pulmonary course of the blood which had been made by Realdus Columbus. +In every chair of anatomy and physiology (which studies were not then +separated) in Europe, it was taught that the blood brought to the liver +by the portal vein, and carried out of the liver to the 'vena cava' +by the hepatic vein, is distributed from the right side of the heart, +through the other veins, to all parts of the body; that the blood of the +arteries takes a like course from the heart towards the periphery; and +that it is there, by means of the 'anastomoses', more or less mixed up +with the venous blood. It so happens, by a curious chance, that up to +the year 1625 there was at Padua, which was Harvey's own university, a +very distinguished professor, Spigelius, whose work is extant, and who +teaches exactly what I am now telling you. It is perfectly true +that, some time before, Harvey's master, Fabricius, had not only +re-discovered, but had drawn much attention to certain pouch-like +structures, which are called the valves of the veins, found in the +muscular parts of the body, all of which are directed towards the heart, +and consequently impede the flow of the blood in the opposite direction. +And you will find it stated by people who have not thought much about +the matter, that it was this discovery of the valves of the veins which +led Harvey to imagine the course of the circulation of the blood. Now +it did not lead Harvey to imagine anything of the kind. He had heard +all about it from his master, Fabricius, who made a great point of +these valves in the veins, and he had heard the theories which Fabricius +entertained upon the subject, whose impression as to the use of the +valves was simply this--that they tended to take off any excess of +pressure of the blood in passing from the heart to the extremities; for +Fabricius believed, with the rest of the world, that the blood in the +veins flowed from the heart towards the extremities. This, under the +circumstances, was as good a theory as any other, because the action of +the valves depends altogether upon the form and nature of the walls +of the structures in which they are attached; and without accurate +experiment, it was impossible to say whether the theory of Fabricius +was right or wrong. But we not only have the evidence of the facts +themselves that these could tell Harvey nothing about the circulation, +but we have his own distinct declaration as to the considerations which +led him to the true theory of the circulation of the blood, and amongst +these the valves of the veins are not mentioned. + +Fig. 4.--The circulation of the blood as demonstrated by Harvey (A.D. +1628). + +Now then we may come to Harvey himself. When you read Harvey's treatise, +which is one of the most remarkable scientific monographs with which I +am acquainted--it occupies between 50 and 60 pages of a small quarto in +Latin, and is as terse and concise as it possibly can be--when you come +to look at Harvey's work, you will find that he had long struggled with +the difficulties of the accepted doctrine of the circulation. He had +received from Fabricius, and from all the great authorities of the day, +the current view of the circulation of the blood. But he was a man +with that rarest of all qualities--intellectual honesty; and by dint of +cultivating that great faculty, which is more moral than intellectual, +it had become impossible for him to say he believed anything which he +did not clearly believe. This is a most uncomfortable peculiarity--for +it gets you into all sorts of difficulties with all sorts of +people--but, for scientific purposes, it is absolutely invaluable. +Harvey possessed this peculiarity in the highest degree, and so it was +impossible for him to accept what all the authorities told him, and he +looked into the matter for himself. But he was not hasty. He worked at +his new views, and he lectured about them at the College of Physicians +for nine years; he did not print them until he was a man of fifty +years of age; and when he did print them he accompanied them with a +demonstration which has never been shaken, and which will stand till the +end of time. What Harvey proved, in short, was this (see Fig. 4)--that +everybody had made a mistake, for want of sufficiently accurate +experimentation as to the actual existence of the fact which everybody +assumed. To anybody who looks at the blood-vessels with an unprejudiced +eye it seems so natural that the blood should all come out of the liver, +and be distributed by the veins to the different parts of the body, that +nothing can seem simpler or more plain; and consequently no one could +make up his mind to dispute this apparently obvious assumption. But +Harvey did dispute it; and when he came to investigate the matter he +discovered that it was a profound mistake, and that, all this time, the +blood had been moving in just the opposite direction, namely, from the +small ramifications of the veins towards the right side of the heart. +Harvey further found that, in the arteries, the blood, as had previously +been known, was travelling from the greater trunks towards the +ramifications. Moreover, referring to the ideas of Columbus and of Galen +(for he was a great student of literature, and did justice to all his +predecessors), Harvey accepts and strengthens their view of the course +of the blood through the lungs, and he shows how it fitted into his +general scheme. If you will follow the course of the arrows in Fig. 4 +you will see at once that--in accordance with the views of Columbus--the +blood passes from the right side of the heart, through the lungs, to the +left side. Then, adds Harvey, with abundant proof, it passes through the +arteries to all parts of the body; and then, at the extremities of their +branches in the different parts of the body, it passes (in what way he +could not tell, for his means of investigation did not allow him to say) +into the roots of the veins--then from the roots of the veins it goes +into the trunk veins--then to the right side of the heart--and then +to the lungs, and so on. + +That, you will observe, makes a complete circuit; and it was precisely +here that the originality of Harvey lay. There never yet has been +produced, and I do not believe there can be produced, a tittle of +evidence to show that, before his time, any one had the slightest +suspicion that a single drop of blood, starting in the left ventricle of +the heart, passes through the whole arterial system, comes back through +the venous system, goes through the lungs, and comes back to the place +whence it started. But that is the circulation of the blood, and it was +exactly this which Harvey was the first man to suspect, to discover, and +to demonstrate. + +But this was by no means the only thing Harvey did. He was the first +who discovered and who demonstrated the true mechanism of the heart's +action. No one, before his time, conceived that the movement of the +blood was entirely due to the mechanical action of the heart as a pump. +There were all sorts of speculations about the matter, but nobody had +formed this conception, and nobody understood that the so-called +systole of the heart is a state of active contraction, and the so-called +diastole is a mere passive dilatation. Even within our own age that +matter had been discussed. Harvey is as clear as possible about it. He +says the movement of the blood is entirely due to the contractions of +the walls of the heart--that it is the propelling apparatus--and all +recent investigation tends to show that he was perfectly right. And from +this followed the true theory of the pulse. Galen said, as I pointed +out just now, that the arteries dilate as bellows, which have an active +power of dilatation and contraction, and not as bags which are blown +out and collapse. Harvey said it was exactly the contrary--the arteries +dilate as bags simply because the stroke of the heart propels the blood +into them; and, when they relax again, they relax as bags which are no +longer stretched, simply because the force of the blow of the heart +is spent. Harvey has been demonstrated to be absolutely right in this +statement of his; and yet, so slow is the progress of truth, that, +within my time, the question of the active dilatation of the arteries +has been discussed. + +Thus Harvey's contributions to physiology may be summed up as follows: +In the first place, he was the first person who ever imagined, and still +more who demonstrated, the true course of the circulation of the blood +in the body; in the second place, he was the first person who ever +understood the mechanism of the heart, and comprehended that its +contraction was the cause of the motion of the blood; and thirdly, he +was the first person who took a just view of the nature of the pulse. +These are the three great contributions which he made to the science of +physiology; and I shall not err in saying--I speak in the presence of +distinguished physiologists, but I am perfectly certain that they will +endorse what I say--that upon that foundation the whole of our knowledge +of the human body, with the exception of the motor apparatus and the +sense organs, has been gradually built up, and that upon that foundation +the whole rests. And not only does scientific physiology rest upon +it, but everything like scientific medicine also rests upon it. As +you know--I hope it is now a matter of popular knowledge--it is the +foundation of all rational speculation about morbid processes; it is +the only key to the rational interpretation of that commonest of +all indications of disease, the state of the pulse; so that, both +theoretically and practically, this discovery, this demonstration of +Harvey's, has had an effect which is absolutely incalculable, and the +consequences of which will accumulate from age to age until they result +in a complete body of physiological science. + +Fig.5.--The junction of the arteries and veins by capillary tubes, +discovered by Malpighi (A.D. 1664). + +I regret that I am unable to pursue this subject much further; but there +is one point I should mention. In Harvey's time, the microscope was +hardly invented. It is quite true that in some of his embryological +researches he speaks of having made use of a hand glass; but that +was the most that he seems to have known anything about, or that was +accessible to him at that day. And so it came about, that, although he +examined the course of the blood in many of the lower animals--watched +the pulsation of the heart in shrimps, and animals of that kind--he +never could put the final coping-stone on his edifice. He did not know +to the day of his death, although quite clear about the fact that +the arteries and the veins do communicate, how it is that they +communicate--how it was that the blood of the arteries passed into the +veins. One is grieved to think that the grand old man should have gone +down to his tomb without the vast satisfaction it would have given to +him to see what the Italian naturalist Malpighi showed only seven years +later, in 1664, when he demonstrated, in a living frog, the actual +passage of the blood from the ultimate ramifications of the arteries +into the veins. But that absolute ocular demonstration of the truth of +the views he had maintained throughout his life it was not granted to +Harvey to see. What he did experience was this: that on the publication +of his doctrines, they were met with the greatest possible opposition; +and I have no doubt savage things were uttered in those old +controversies, and that a great many people said that these new-fangled +doctrines, reducing living processes to mere mechanism, would sap the +foundations of religion and morality. I do not know for certain that +they did, but they said things very like it. The first point was to +show that Harvey's views were absolutely untrue; and not being able to +succeed in that, opponents said they were not new; and not being able to +succeed in that, that they didn't matter. That is the usual course with +all new discoveries. But Harvey troubled himself very little about these +things. He remained perfectly quiet; for although reputed a hot-tempered +man, he never would have anything to do with controversy if he could +help it; and he only replied to one of his antagonists after twenty +years' interval, and then in the most charming spirit of candour and +moderation. But he had the great satisfaction of living to see his +doctrine accepted upon all sides. At the time of his death, there +was not an anatomical school in Europe in which the doctrine of the +circulation of the blood was not taught in the way in which Harvey had +laid it down. In that respect he had a happiness which is granted to +very few men. + +I have said that the other great investigation of Harvey is not one +which can be dealt with to a general audience. It is very complex, and +therefore I must ask you to take my word for it that, although not so +fortunate an investigation, not so entirely accordant with later results +as the doctrine of the circulation; yet that still, this little treatise +of Harvey's has in many directions exerted an influence hardly less +remarkable than that exerted by the Essay upon the Circulation of the +Blood. + +And now let me ask your attention to two or three closing remarks. + +If you look back upon that period of about 100 years which commences +with Harvey's birth--I mean from the year 1578 to 1680 or thereabouts--I +think you will agree with me, that it constitutes one of the most +remarkable epochs in the whole of that thousand years which we +may roughly reckon as constituting the history of Britain. In the +commencement of that period, we may see, if not the setting, at any rate +the declension of that system of personal rule which had existed under +previous sovereigns, and which, after a brief and spasmodic revival in +the time of George the Third, has now sunk, let us hope, into the limbo +of forgotten things. The latter part of that 100 years saw the dawn +of that system of free government which has grown and flourished, and +which, if the men of the present day be the worthy descendants of Eliott +and Pym, and Hampden and Milton, will go on growing as long as this +realm lasts. Within that time, one of the strangest phenomena which I +think I may say any nation has ever manifested arose to its height and +fell--I mean that strange and altogether marvellous phenomenon, English +Puritanism. Within that time, England had to show statesmen like +Burleigh, Strafford, and Cromwell--I mean men who were real statesmen, +and not intriguers, seeking to make a reputation at the expense of the +nation. In the course of that time, the nation had begun to throw off +those swarms of hardy colonists which, to the benefit of the world--and +as I fancy, in the long run, to the benefit of England herself--have +now become the United States of America; and, during the same epoch, +the first foundations were laid of that Indian Empire which, it may be, +future generations will not look upon as so happy a product of English +enterprise and ingenuity. In that time we had poets such as Spenser, +Shakespere, and Milton; we had a great philosopher, in Hobbes; and we +had a clever talker about philosophy, in Bacon. In the beginning of the +period, Harvey revolutionized the biological sciences, and at the end of +it, Newton was preparing the revolution of the physical sciences. I know +not any period of our history--I doubt if there be any period of the +history of any nation--which has precisely such a record as this to +show for a hundred years. But I do not recall these facts to your +recollection for a mere vainglorious purpose. I myself am of opinion +that the memory of the great men of a nation is one of its most precious +possessions--not because we have any right to plume ourselves upon their +having existed as a matter of national vanity, but because we have a +just and rational ground of expectation that the race which has brought +forth such products as these may, in good time and under fortunate +circumstances, produce the like again. I am one of those people who +do not believe in the natural decay of nations. I believe, to speak +frankly, though perhaps not quite so politely as I could wish--but I +am getting near the end of my lecture--that the whole theory is a +speculation invented by cowards to excuse knaves. My belief is, that so +far as this old English stock is concerned it has in it as much sap +and vitality and power as it had two centuries ago; and that, with due +pruning of rotten branches, and due hoeing up of weeds, which will grow +about the roots, the like products will be yielded again. The "weeds" +to which I refer are mainly three: the first of them is dishonesty, the +second is sentimentality, and the third is luxury. If William Harvey had +been a dishonest man--I mean in the high sense of the word--a man who +failed in the ideal of honesty--he would have believed what it was +easiest to believe--that which he received on the authority of his +predecessors. He would not have felt that his highest duty was to know +of his own knowledge that that which he said he believed was true, and +we should never have had those investigations, pursued through good +report and evil report, which ended in discoveries so fraught with +magnificent results for science and for man. If Harvey had been a +sentimentalist--by which I mean a person of false pity, a person who +has not imagination enough to see that great, distant evils may be much +worse than those which we can picture to ourselves, because they +happen to be immediate and near (for that, I take it, is the essence of +sentimentalism)--if Harvey had been a person of that kind, he, being +one of the kindest men living, would never have pursued those researches +which, as he tells us over and over again, he was obliged to pursue in +order to the ascertainment of those facts which have turned out to be of +such inestimable value to the human race; and I say, if on such grounds +he had failed to do so, he would have failed in his duty to the human +race. The third point is that Harvey was devoid of care either for +wealth, or for riches, or for ambition. The man found a higher ideal +than any of these things in the pursuit of truth and the benefit of his +fellow-men. If we all go and do likewise, I think there is no fear for +the decadence of England. I think that our children and our successors +will find themselves in a commonwealth, different it may be from that +for which Eliott, and Pym, and Hampden struggled, but one which will be +identical in the substance of its aims--great, worthy, and well to live +in. + + + +[Footnote 1: A Lecture delivered in the Free Trade Hall, November 2nd, +1878.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of William Harvey And The Discovery Of +The Circulation Of The Blood, by Thomas H. Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM HARVEY *** + +***** This file should be named 2939.txt or 2939.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/2939/ + +Produced by Amy E. 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Huxley + + + + +THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD* + +[*footnote] A Lecture delivered in the Free Trade Hall, November 2nd, +1878. + +I DESIRE this evening to give you some account of the life and labours +of a very noble Englishman--William Harvey. + +William Harvey was born in the year 1578, and as he lived until the year +1657, he very nearly attained the age of 80. He was the son of a small +landowner in Kent, who was sufficiently wealthy to send this, his +eldest son, to the University of Cambridge; while he embarked the +others in mercantile pursuits, in which they all, as time passed on, +attained riches. + +William Harvey, after pursuing his education at Cambridge, and taking +his degree there, thought it was advisable--and justly thought so, in +the then state of University education--to proceed to Italy, which at +that time was one of the great centres of intellectual activity in +Europe, as all friends of freedom hope it will become again, sooner or +later. In those days the University of Padua had a great renown; and +Harvey went there and studied under a man who was then very +famous--Fabricius of Aquapendente. On his return to England, Harvey +became a member of the College of Physicians in London, and entered +into practice; and, I suppose, as an indispensable step thereto, +proceeded to marry. He very soon became one of the most eminent +members of the profession in London; and, about the year 1616, he was +elected by the College of Physicians their Professor of Anatomy. It +was while Harvey held this office that he made public that great +discovery of the circulation of the blood and the movements of the +heart, the nature of which I shall endeavour by-and-by to explain to you +at length. Shortly afterwards, Charles the First having succeeded to +the throne in 1625, Harvey became one of the king's physicians; and it +is much to the credit of the unfortunate monarch--who, whatever his +faults may have been, was one of the few English monarchs who have shown +a taste for art and science--that Harvey became his attached and +devoted friend as well as servant; and that the king, on the other +hand, did all he could to advance Harvey's investigations. But, as you +know, evil times came on; and Harvey, after the fortunes of his royal +master were broken, being then a man of somewhat advanced years--over +60 years of age, in fact--retired to the society of his brothers in and +near London, and among them pursued his studies until the day of his +death. Harvey's career is a life which offers no salient points of +interest to the biographer. It was a life devoted to study and +investigation; and it was a life the devotion of which was amply +rewarded, as I shall have occasion to point out to you, by its results. + +Harvey, by the diversity, the variety, and the thoroughness of his +investigations, was enabled to give an entirely new direction to at +least two branches--and two of the most important branches--of what +now-a-days we call Biological Science. On the one hand, he founded all +our modern physiology by the discovery of the exact nature of the +motions of the heart, and of the course in which the blood is propelled +through the body; and, on the other, he laid the foundation of that +study of development which has been so much advanced of late years, and +which constitutes one of the great pillars of the doctrine of evolution. +This doctrine, I need hardly tell you, is now tending to revolutionise +our conceptions of the origin of living things, exactly in the same way +as Harvey's discovery of the circulation in the seventeeth century +revolutionised the conceptions which men had previously entertained with +regard to physiological processes. + +It would, I regret, be quite impossible for me to attempt, in the course +of the time I can presume to hold you here, to unfold the history of +more than one of these great investigations of Harvey. I call them +"great investigations," as distinguished from "large publications." I +have in my hand a little book, which those of you who are at a great +distance may have some difficulty in seeing, and which I value very +much. It is, I am afraid, sadly thumbed and scratched with annotations +by a very humble successor and follower of Harvey. This little book is +the edition of 1651 of the 'Exercitationes de Generatione'; and if you +were to add another little book, printed in the same small type, and +about one-seventh of the thickness, you would have the sum total of the +printed matter which Harvey contributed to our literature. And yet in +that sum total was contained, I may say, the materials of two +revolutions in as many of the main branches of biological science. If +Harvey's published labours can be condensed into so small a compass, +you must recollect that it is not because he did not do a great deal +more. We know very well that he did accumulate a very considerable +number of observations on the most varied topics of medicine, surgery, +and natural history. But, as I mentioned to you just now, Harvey, for +a time, took the royal side in the domestic quarrel of the Great +Rebellion, as it is called; and the Parliament, not unnaturally +resenting that action of his, sent soldiers to seize his papers. And +while I imagine they found nothing treasonable among those papers, yet, +in the process of rummaging through them, they destroyed all the +materials which Harvey had spent a laborious life in accumulating; and +hence it is that the man's work and labours are represented by so +little in apparent bulk. + +What I chiefly propose to do to-night is to lay before you an account of +the nature of the discovery which Harvey made, and which is termed the +Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood. And I desire also, with +some particularity, to draw your attention to the methods by which that +discovery was achieved; for, in both these respects, I think, there will +be much matter for profitable reflection. + +Let me point out to you, in the first place, with respect to this +important matter of the movements of the heart and the course of the +blood in the body, that there is a certain amount of knowledge which +must have been obtained without men taking the trouble to seek +it--knowledge which must have been taken in, in the course of time, by +everybody who followed the trade of a butcher, and still more so by +those people who, in ancient times, professed to divine the course of +future events from the entrails of animals. It is quite obvious to +all, from ordinary accidents, that the bodies of all the higher animals +contain a hot red fluid--the blood. Everybody can see upon the surface +of some part of the skin, underneath that skin, pulsating tubes, which +we know as the arteries. Everybody can see under the surface of the +skin more delicate and softer looking tubes, which do not pulsate, which +are of a bluish colour, and are termed the veins. And every person who +has seen a recently killed animal opened knows that these two kinds of +tubes to which I have just referred, are connected with an apparatus +which is placed in the chest, which apparatus, in recently killed +animals, is still pulsating. And you know that in yourselves you can +feel the pulsation of this organ, the heart, between the fifth and +sixth ribs. I take it that this much of anatomy and physiology has +been known from the oldest times, not only as a matter of curiosity, +but because one of the great objects of men, from their earliest +recorded existence, has been to kill one another, and it was a matter +of considerable importance to know which was the best place for hitting +an enemy. I can refer you to very ancient records for most precise and +clear information that one of the best places is to smite him between +the fifth and sixth ribs. Now that is a very good piece of regional +anatomy, for that is the place where the heart strikes in its +pulsations, and the use of smiting there is that you go straight to the +heart. Well, all that must have been known from time immemorial--at +least for 4,000 or 5,000 years before the commencement of our +era--because we know that for as great a period as that the Egyptians, +at any rate, whatever may have been the case with other people, were in +the enjoyment of a highly developed civilisation. But of what +knowledge they may have possessed beyond this we know nothing; and in +tracing back the springs of the origin of everything that we call +"modern science" (which is not merely knowing, but knowing +systematically, and with the intention and endeavour to find out the +causal connection of things)--I say that when we trace back the +different lines of all the modern sciences we come at length to one +epoch and to one country--the epoch being about the fourth and fifth +centuries before Christ, and the country being ancient Greece. It is +there that we find the commencement and the root of every branch of +physical science and of scientific method. If we go back to that time +we have in the works attributed to Aristotle, who flourished between +300 and 400 years before Christ, a sort of encyclopaedia of the +scientific knowledge of that day--and a very marvellous collection of, +in many respects, accurate and precise knowledge it is. But, so far as +regards this particular topic, Aristotle, it must be confessed, has not +got very far beyond common knowledge. He knows a little about the +structure of the heart. I do not think that his knowledge is so +inaccurate as many people fancy, but it does not amount to much. A very +few years after his time, however, there was a Greek philosopher, +Erasistratus, who lived about three hundred years before Christ, and +who must have pursued anatomy with much care, for he made the important +discovery that there are membranous flaps, which are now called +"valves," at the origins of the great vessels; and that there are +certain other valves in the interior of the heart itself. + +Fig. 1.--The apparatus of the circulation, as at present known. The +capillary vessels, which connect the arteries and veins, are omitted, +on account of their small size. The shading of the "venous system" is +given to all the vessels which contain venous blood; that of the +"arterial system" to all the vessels which contain arterial blood. + +I have here (Fig. 1) a purposely rough, but, so far as it goes, +accurate, diagram of the structure of the heart and the course of the +blood. The heart is supposed to be divided into two portions. It +would be possible, by very careful dissection, to split the heart down +the middle of a partition, or so-called 'septum', which exists in it, +and to divide it into the two portions which you see here represented; +in which case we should have a left heart and a right heart, quite +distinct from one another. You will observe that there is a portion of +each heart which is what is called the ventricle. Now the ancients +applied the term 'heart' simply and solely to the ventricles. They did +not count the rest of the heart--what we now speak of as the +'auricles'--as any part of the heart at all; but when they spoke of the +heart they meant the left and the right ventricles; and they described +those great vessels, which we now call the 'pulmonary veins' and the +'vena cava', as opening directly into the heart itself. + +What Erasistratus made out was that, at the roots of the aorta and the +pulmonary artery (Fig. 1) there were valves, which opened in the +direction indicated by the arrows; and, on the other hand, that at the +junction of what he called the veins with the heart there were other +valves, which also opened again in the direction indicated by the +arrows. This was a very capital discovery, because it proved that if +the heart was full of fluid, and if there were any means of causing +that fluid in the ventricles to move, then the fluid could move only in +one direction; for you will observe that, as soon as the fluid is +compressed, the two valves between the ventricles and the veins will be +shut, and the fluid will be obliged to move into the arteries; and, if +it tries to get back from them into the heart, it is prevented from +doing so by the valves at the origin of the arteries, which we now call +the semilunar valves (half-moon shaped valves); so that it is +impossible, if the fluid move at all, that it should move in any other +way than from the great veins into the arteries. Now that was a very +remarkable and striking discovery. + +But it is not given to any man to be altogether right (that is a +reflection which it is very desirable for every man who has had the +good luck to be nearly right once, always to bear in mind); and +Erasistratus, while he made this capital and important discovery, made a +very capital and important error in another direction, although it was +a very natural error. If, in any animal which is recently killed, you +open one of those pulsating trunks which I referred to a short time +ago, you will find, as a general rule, that it either contains no blood +at all or next to none; but that, on the contrary, it is full of air. +Very naturally, therefore, Erasistratus came to the conclusion that +this was the normal and natural state of the arteries, and that they +contained air. We are apt to think this a very gross blunder; but, to +anybody who is acquainted with the facts of the case, it is, at first +sight, an exceedingly natural conclusion. Not only so, but Erasistratus +might have very justly imagined that he had seen his way to the meaning +of the connection of the left side of the heart with the lungs; for we +find that what we now call the pulmonary vein is connected with the +lungs, and branches out in them (Fig. 1). Finding that the greater part +of this system of vessels was filled with air after death, this ancient +thinker very shrewdly concluded that its real business was to receive +air from the lungs, and to distribute that air all through the body, so +as to get rid of the grosser humours and purify the blood. That was a +very natural and very obvious suggestion, and a highly ingenious one, +though it happened to be a great error. You will observe that the only +way of correcting it was to experiment upon living animals, for there +is no other way in which this point could be settled. + +Fig.2,--The Course of the Blood according to Galen (A.D. 170). + +And hence we are indebted, for the correction of the error of +Erasistratus, to one of the greatest experimenters of ancient or modern +times, Claudius Galenus, who lived in the second century after Christ. +I say it was to this man more than any one else, because he knew that +the only way of solving physiological problems was to examine into the +facts in the living animal. And because Galen was a skilful anatomist, +and a skilful experimenter, he was able to show in what particulars +Erasistratus had erred, and to build up a system of thought upon this +subject which was not improved upon for fully 1,300 years. I have +endeavoured, in Fig. 2, to make clear to you exactly what it was he +tried to establish. You will observe that this diagram is practically +the same as that given in Fig. 1, only simplified. The same facts may +be looked upon by different people from different points of view. Galen +looked upon these facts from a very different point of view from that +which we ourselves occupy; but, so far as the facts are concerned, they +were the same for him as for us. Well then, the first thing that Galen +did was to make out experimentally that, during life, the arteries are +not full of air, but that they are full of blood. And he describes a +great variety of experiments which he made upon living animals with the +view of proving this point, which he did prove effectually and for all +time; and that you will observe was the only way of settling the +matter. Furthermore, he demonstrated that the cavities of the left +side of the heart--what we now call the left auricle and the left +ventricle--are, like the arteries, full of blood during life, and that +that blood was of the scarlet kind--arterialised, or as he called it +"pneumatised," blood. It was known before, that the pulmonary artery, +the right ventricle, and the veins, contain the darker kind of blood, +which was thence called venous. Having proved that the whole of the +left side of the heart, during life, is full of scarlet arterial blood, +Galen's next point was to inquire into the mode of communication +between the arteries and veins. It was known before his time that both +arteries and veins branched out. Galen maintained, though he could not +prove the fact, that the ultimate branches of the arteries and veins +communicated together somehow or other, by what he called +'anastomoses', and that these 'anastomoses' existed not only in the body +in general but also in the lungs. In the next place, Galen maintained +that all the veins of the body arise from the liver; that they draw the +blood thence and distribute it over the body. People laugh at that +notion now-a-days; but if anybody will look at the facts he will see +that it is a very probable supposition. There is a great vein (hepatic +vein--Fig. 1) which rises out of the liver, and that vein goes straight +into the 'vena cava' (Fig. 1) which passes to the heart, being there +joined by the other veins of the body. The liver itself is fed by a +very large vein (portal vein--Fig. 1), which comes from the alimentary +canal. The way the ancients looked at this matter was, that the food, +after being received into the alimentary canal, was then taken up by the +branches of this great vein, which are called the 'vena portae', just +as the roots of a plant suck up nourishment from the soil in which it +lives; that then it was carried to the liver, there to be what was +called "concocted," which was their phrase for its conversion into +substances more fitted for nutrition than previously existed in it. +They then supposed that the next thing to be done was to distribute +this fluid through the body; and Galen like his predecessors, imagined +that the "concocted" blood, having entered the great 'vena cava', was +distributed by its ramifications all over the body. So that, in his +view (Fig. 2), the course of the blood was from the intestine to the +liver, and from the liver into the great 'vena cava', including what we +now call the right auricle of the heart, whence it was distributed by +the branches of the veins. But the whole of the blood was not thus +disposed of. Part of the blood, it was supposed, went through what we +now call the pulmonary arteries (Fig. 1), and, branching out there, gave +exit to certain "fuliginous" products, and at the same time took in +from the air a something which Galen calls the 'pneuma'. He does not +know anything about what we call oxygen; but it is astonishing how very +easy it would be to turn his language into the equivalent of modern +chemical theory. The old philosopher had so just a suspicion of the +real state of affairs that you could make use of his language in many +cases, if you substituted the word "oxygen," which we now-a-days use, +for the word 'pneuma'. Then he imagined that the blood, further +concocted or altered by contact with the 'pneuma', passed to a certain +extent to the left side of the heart. So that Galen believed that +there was such a thing as what is now called the pulmonary +circulation. He believed, as much as we do, that the blood passed +through the right side of the heart, through the artery which goes to +the lungs, through the lungs themselves, and back by what we call the +pulmonary veins to the left side of the heart. But he thought it was +only a very small portion of the blood which passes to the right side of +the heart in this way; the rest of the blood, he thought, passed +through the partition which separates the two ventricles of the heart. +He describes a number of small pits, which really exist there, as +holes, and he supposed that the greater part of the blood passed +through these holes from the right to the left ventricle (Fig 2). + +It is of great importance you should clearly understand these teachings +of Galen, because, as I said just now, they sum up all that anybody +knew until the revival of learning; and they come to this--that the +blood having passed from the stomach and intestines through the liver, +and having entered the great veins, was by them distributed to every +part of the body; that part of the blood, thus distributed, entered the +arterial system by the 'anastomoses', as Galen called them, in the +lungs; that a very small portion of it entered the arteries by the +'anastomoses' in the body generally; but that the greater part of it +passed through the septum of the heart, and so entered the left side +and mingled with the pneumatised blood, which had been subjected to the +air in the lungs, and was then distributed by the arteries, and +eventually mixed with the currents of blood, coming the other way, +through the veins. + +Yet one other point about the views of Galen. He thought that both the +contractions and dilatations of the heart--what we call the 'systole' +or contraction of the heart, and the 'diastole' or dilatation--Galen +thought that these were both active movements; that the heart actively +dilated, so that it had a sort of sucking power upon the fluids which +had access to it. And again, with respect to the movements of the +pulse, which anybody can feel at the wrist and elsewhere, Galen was of +opinion that the walls of the arteries partook of that which he +supposed to be the nature of the walls of the heart, and that they had +the power of alternately actively contracting and actively dilating, so +that he is careful to say that the nature of the pulse is comparable, +not to the movement of a bag, which we fill by blowing into it, and +which we empty by drawing the air out of it, but to the action of a +bellows, which is actively dilated and actively compressed. + +Fig 3.--The course of the blood from the right to the left side of the +heart (Realdus Columbus, 1559). + +After Galen's time came the collapse of the Roman Empire, the extinction +of physical knowledge, and the repression of every kind of scientific +inquiry, by its powerful and consistent enemy, the Church; and that +state of things lasted until the latter part of the Middle Ages saw the +revival of learning. That revival of learning, so far as anatomy and +physiology are concerned, is due to the renewed influence of the +philosophers of ancient Greece, and indeed, of Galen. Arabic +commentators had translated Galen, and portions of his works had got +into the language of the learned in the Middle Ages, in that way; but, +by the study of the classical languages, the original text became +accessible to the men who were then endeavouring to learn for +themselves something about the facts of nature. It was a century or +more before these men, finding themselves in the presence of a +master--finding that all their lives were occupied in attempting to +ascertain for themselves that which was familiar to him--I say it took +the best part of a hundred years before they could fairly see that their +business was not to follow him, but to follow his example--namely, to +look into the facts of nature for themselves, and to carry on, in his +spirit, the work he had begun. That was first done by Vesalius, one of +the greatest anatomists who ever lived; but his work does not specially +bear upon the question we are now concerned with. So far as regards +the motions of the heart and the course of the blood, the first man in +the Middle Ages, and indeed the only man who did anything which was of +real importance, was one Realdus Columbus, who was professor at Padua +in the year 1559, and published a great anatomical treatise. What +Realdus Columbus did was this; once more resorting to the method of +Galen, turning to the living animal, experimenting, he came upon new +facts, and one of these new facts was that there was not merely a +subordinate communication between the blood of the right side of the +heart and that of the left side of the heart, through the lungs, but +that there was a constant steady current of blood, setting through the +pulmonary artery on the right side, through the lungs, and back by the +pulmonary veins to the left side of the heart (Fig.3). Such was the +capital discovery and demonstration of Realdus Columbus. He is the man +who discovered what is loosely called the 'pulmonary circulation'; and +it really is quite absurd, in the face of the fact, that twenty years +afterwards we find Ambrose Pare, the great French surgeon, ascribing +this discovery to him as a matter of common notoriety, to find that +attempts are made to give the credit of it to other people. So far as +I know, this discovery of the course of the blood through the lungs, +which is called the pulmonary circulation, is the one step in real +advance that was made between the time of Galen and the time of +Harvey. And I would beg you to note that the word "circulation" is +improperly employed when it is applied to the course of the blood +through the lungs. The blood from the right side of the heart, in +getting to the left side of the heart, only performs a half-circle--it +does not perform a whole circle--it does not return to the place from +whence it started; and hence the discovery of the so-called "pulmonary +circulation" has nothing whatever to do with that greater discovery +which I shall point out to you by-and-by was made by Harvey, and which +is alone really entitled to the name of the circulation of the blood. + +If anybody wants to understand what Harvey's great desert really was, I +would suggest to him that he devote himself to a course of reading, +which I cannot promise shall be very entertaining, but which, in this +respect at any rate, will be highly instructive--namely, the works of +the anatomists of the latter part of the 16th century and the beginning +of the 17th century. If anybody will take the trouble to do that which +I have thought it my business to do, he will find that the doctrines +respecting the action of the heart and the motion of the blood which +were taught in every university in Europe, whether in Padua or in Paris, +were essentially those put forward by Galen, 'plus' the discovery of +the pulmonary course of the blood which had been made by Realdus +Columbus. In every chair of anatomy and physiology (which studies were +not then separated) in Europe, it was taught that the blood brought to +the liver by the portal vein, and carried out of the liver to the 'vena +cava' by the hepatic vein, is distributed from the right side of the +heart, through the other veins, to all parts of the body; that the +blood of the arteries takes a like course from the heart towards the +periphery; and that it is there, by means of the 'anastomoses', more or +less mixed up with the venous blood. It so happens, by a curious +chance, that up to the year 1625 there was at Padua, which was Harvey's +own university, a very distinguished professor, Spigelius, whose work +is extant, and who teaches exactly what I am now telling you. It is +perfectly true that, some time before, Harvey's master, Fabricius, had +not only re-discovered, but had drawn much attention to certain +pouch-like structures, which are called the valves of the veins, found +in the muscular parts of the body, all of which are directed towards +the heart, and consequently impede the flow of the blood in the +opposite direction. And you will find it stated by people who have not +thought much about the matter, that it was this discovery of the valves +of the veins which led Harvey to imagine the course of the circulation +of the blood. Now it did not lead Harvey to imagine anything of the +kind. He had heard all about it from his master, Fabricius, who made a +great point of these valves in the veins, and he had heard the theories +which Fabricius entertained upon the subject, whose impression as to +the use of the valves was simply this--that they tended to take off any +excess of pressure of the blood in passing from the heart to the +extremities; for Fabricius believed, with the rest of the world, that +the blood in the veins flowed from the heart towards the extremities. +This, under the circumstances, was as good a theory as any other, +because the action of the valves depends altogether upon the form and +nature of the walls of the structures in which they are attached; and +without accurate experiment, it was impossible to say whether the +theory of Fabricius was right or wrong. But we not only have the +evidence of the facts themselves that these could tell Harvey nothing +about the circulation, but we have his own distinct declaration as to +the considerations which led him to the true theory of the circulation +of the blood, and amongst these the valves of the veins are not +mentioned. + +Fig. 4.--The circulation of the blood as demonstrated by Harvey (A.D. +1628). + +Now then we may come to Harvey himself. When you read Harvey's +treatise, which is one of the most remarkable scientific monographs +with which I am acquainted--it occupies between 50 and 60 pages of a +small quarto in Latin, and is as terse and concise as it possibly can +be--when you come to look at Harvey's work, you will find that he had +long struggled with the difficulties of the accepted doctrine of the +circulation. He had received from Fabricius, and from all the great +authorities of the day, the current view of the circulation of the +blood. But he was a man with that rarest of all +qualities--intellectual honesty; and by dint of cultivating that great +faculty, which is more moral than intellectual, it had become impossible +for him to say he believed anything which he did not clearly believe. +This is a most uncomfortable peculiarity--for it gets you into all +sorts of difficulties with all sorts of people--but, for scientific +purposes, it is absolutely invaluable. Harvey possessed this +peculiarity in the highest degree, and so it was impossible for him to +accept what all the authorities told him, and he looked into the matter +for himself. But he was not hasty. He worked at his new views, and he +lectured about them at the College of Physicians for nine years; he did +not print them until he was a man of fifty years of age; and when he +did print them he accompanied them with a demonstration which has never +been shaken, and which will stand till the end of time. What Harvey +proved, in short, was this (see Fig. 4)--that everybody had made a +mistake, for want of sufficiently accurate experimentation as to the +actual existence of the fact which everybody assumed. To anybody who +looks at the blood-vessels with an unprejudiced eye it seems so natural +that the blood should all come out of the liver, and be distributed by +the veins to the different parts of the body, that nothing can seem +simpler or more plain; and consequently no one could make up his mind +to dispute this apparently obvious assumption. But Harvey did dispute +it; and when he came to investigate the matter he discovered that it was +a profound mistake, and that, all this time, the blood had been moving +in just the opposite direction, namely, from the small ramifications of +the veins towards the right side of the heart. Harvey further found +that, in the arteries, the blood, as had previously been known, was +travelling from the greater trunks towards the ramifications. Moreover, +referring to the ideas of Columbus and of Galen (for he was a great +student of literature, and did justice to all his predecessors), Harvey +accepts and strengthens their view of the course of the blood through +the lungs, and he shows how it fitted into his general scheme. If you +will follow the course of the arrows in Fig. 4 you will see at once +that--in accordance with the views of Columbus--the blood passes from +the right side of the heart, through the lungs, to the left side. Then, +adds Harvey, with abundant proof, it passes through the arteries to all +parts of the body; and then, at the extremities of their branches in +the different parts of the body, it passes (in what way he could not +tell, for his means of investigation did not allow him to say) into the +roots of the vents--then from the roots of the veins it goes into the +trunk and veins--then to the right side of the heart--and then to the +lungs, and so on. + +That, you will observe, makes a complete circuit; and it was precisely +here that the originality of Harvey lay. There never yet has been +produced, and I do not believe there can be produced, a tittle of +evidence to show that, before his time, any one had the slightest +suspicion that a single drop of blood, starting in the left ventricle +of the heart, passes through the whole arterial system, comes back +through the venous system, goes through the lungs, and comes back to +the place whence it started. But that is the circulation of the blood, +and it was exactly this which Harvey was the first man to suspect, to +discover, and to demonstrate. + +But this was by no means the only thing Harvey did. He was the first +who discovered and who demonstrated the true mechanism of the heart's +action. No one, before his time, conceived that the movement of the +blood was entirely due to the mechanical action of the heart as a +pump. There were all sorts of speculations about the matter, but nobody +had formed this conception, and nobody understood that the so-called +systole of the heart is a state of active contraction, and the +so-called diastole is a mere passive dilatation. Even within our own +age that matter had been discussed. Harvey is as clear as possible +about it. He says the movement of the blood is entirely due to the +contractions of the walls of the heart--that it is the propelling +apparatus--and all recent investigation tends to show that he was +perfectly right. And from this followed the true theory of the pulse. +Galen said, as I pointed out just now, that the arteries dilate as +bellows, which have an active power of dilatation and contraction, and +not as bags which are blown out and collapse. Harvey said it was +exactly the contrary--the arteries dilate as bags simply because the +stroke of the heart propels the blood into them; and, when they relax +again, they relax as bags which are no longer stretched, simply because +the force of the blow of the heart is spent. Harvey has been +demonstrated to be absolutely right in this statement of his; and yet, +so slow is the progress of truth, that, within my time, the question of +the active dilatation of the arteries has been discussed. + +Thus Harvey's contributions to physiology may be summed up as follows: +In the first place, he was the first person who ever imagined, and +still more who demonstrated, the true course of the circulation of the +blood in the body; in the second place, he was the first person who +ever understood the mechanism of the heart, and comprehended that its +contraction was the cause of the motion of the blood; and thirdly, he +was the first person who took a just view of the nature of the pulse. +These are the three great contributions which he made to the science of +physiology; and I shall not err in saying--I speak in the presence of +distinguished physiologists, but I am perfectly certain that they will +endorse what I say--that upon that foundation the whole of our +knowledge of the human body, with the exception of the motor apparatus +and the sense organs, has been gradually built up, and that upon that +foundation the whole rests. And not only does scientific physiology +rest upon it, but everything like scientific medicine also rests upon +it. As you know--I hope it is now a matter of popular knowledge--it is +the foundation of all rational speculation about morbid processes; it +is the only key to the rational interpretation of that commonest of all +indications of disease, the state of the pulse; so that, both +theoretically and practically, this discovery, this demonstration of +Harvey's, has had an effect which is absolutely incalculable, and the +consequences of which will accumulate from age to age until they result +in a complete body of physiological science. + +Fig.5.--The junction of the arteries and veins by capillary tubes, +discovered by Malpighi (A.D. 1664). + +I regret that I am unable to pursue this subject much further; but there +is one point I should mention. In Harvey's time, the microscope was +hardly invented. It is quite true that in some of his embryological +researches he speaks of having made use of a hand glass; but that was +the most that he seems to have known anything about, or that was +accessible to him at that day. And so it came about, that, although he +examined the course of the blood in many of the lower animals--watched +the pulsation of the heart in shrimps, and animals of that kind--he +never could put the final coping-stone on his edifice. He did not know +to the day of his death, although quite clear about the fact that the +arteries and the veins do communicate, how it is that they +communicate--how it was that the blood of the arteries passed into the +veins. One is grieved to think that the grand old man should have gone +down to his tomb without the vast satisfaction it would have given to +him to see what the Italian naturalist Malpighi showed only seven years +later, in 1664, when he demonstrated, in a living frog, the actual +passage of the blood from the ultimate ramifications of the arteries +into the veins. But that absolute ocular demonstration of the truth of +the views he had maintained throughout his life it was not granted to +Harvey to see. What he did experience was this: that on the +publication of his doctrines, they were met with the greatest possible +opposition; and I have no doubt savage things were uttered in those old +controversies, and that a great many people said that these new-fangled +doctrines, reducing living processes to mere mechanism, would sap the +foundations of religion and morality. I do not know for certain that +they did, but they said things very like it. The first point was to +show that Harvey's views were absolutely untrue; and not being able to +succeed in that, opponents said they were not new; and not being able +to succeed in that, that they didn't matter. That is the usual course +with all new discoveries. But Harvey troubled himself very little +about these things. He remained perfectly quiet; for although reputed +a hot-tempered man, he never would have anything to do with controversy +if he could help it; and he only replied to one of his antagonists +after twenty years' interval, and then in the most charming spirit of +candour and moderation. But he had the great satisfaction of living to +see his doctrine accepted upon all sides. At the time of his death, +there was not an anatomical school in Europe in which the doctrine of +the circulation of the blood was not taught in the way in which Harvey +had laid it down. In that respect he had a happiness which is granted +to very few men. + +I have said that the other great investigation of Harvey is not one +which can be dealt with to a general audience. It is very complex, and +therefore I must ask you to take my word for it that, although not so +fortunate an investigation, not so entirely accordant with later results +as the doctrine of the circulation; yet that still, this little +treatise of Harvey's has in many directions exerted an influence hardly +less remarkable than that exerted by the Essay upon the Circulation of +the Blood. + +And now let me ask your attention to two or three closing remarks. + +If you look back upon that period of about 100 years which commences +with Harvey's birth--I mean from the year 1578 to 1680 or +thereabouts--I think you will agree with me, that it constitutes one of +the most remarkable epochs in the whole of that thousand years which we +may roughly reckon as constituting the history of Britain. In the +commencement of that period, we may see, if not the setting, at any +rate the declension of that system of personal rule which had existed +under previous sovereigns, and which, after a brief and spasmodic +revival in the time of George the Third, has now sunk, let us hope, +into the limbo of forgotten things. The latter part of that 100 years +saw the dawn of that system of free government which has grown and +flourished, and which, if the men of the present day be the worthy +descendants of Eliott and Pym, and Hampden and Milton, will go on +growing as long as this realm lasts. Within that time, one of the +strangest phenomena which I think I may say any nation has ever +manifested arose to its height and fell--I mean that strange and +altogether marvellous phenomenon, English Puritanism. Within that +time, England had to show statesmen like Burleigh, Strafford, and +Cromwell--I mean men who were real statesmen, and not intriguers, +seeking to make a reputation at the expense of the nation. In the +course of that time, the nation had begun to throw off those swarms of +hardy colonists which, to the benefit of the world--and as I fancy, in +the long run, to the benefit of England herself--have now become the +United States of America; and, during the same epoch, the first +foundations were laid of that Indian Empire which, it may be, future +generations will not look upon as so happy a product of English +enterprise and ingenuity. In that time we had poets such as Spenser, +Shakespere, and Milton; we had a great philosopher, in Hobbes; and we +had a clever talker about philosophy, in Bacon. In the beginning of +the period, Harvey revolutionized the biological sciences, and at the +end of it, Newton was preparing the revolution of the physical sciences. +I know not any period of our history--I doubt if there be any period of +the history of any nation--which has precisely such a record as this to +show for a hundred years. But I do not recall these facts to your +recollection for a mere vainglorious purpose. I myself am of opinion +that the memory of the great men of a nation is one of its most precious +possessions--not because we have any right to plume ourselves upon +their having existed as a matter of national vanity, but because we +have a just and rational ground of expectation that the race which has +brought forth such products as these may, in good time and under +fortunate circumstances, produce the like again. I am one of those +people who do not believe in the natural decay of nations. I believe, +to speak frankly, though perhaps not quite so politely as I could +wish--but I am getting near the end of my lecture--that the whole +theory is a speculation invented by cowards to excuse knaves. My +belief is, that so far as this old English stock is concerned it has in +it as much sap and vitality and power as it had two centuries ago; and +that, with due pruning of rotten branches, and due hoeing up of weeds, +which will grow about the roots, the like products will be yielded +again. The "weeds" to which I refer are mainly three: the first of +them is dishonesty, the second is sentimentality, and the third is +luxury. If William Harvey had been a dishonest man--I mean in the high +sense of the word--a man who failed in the ideal of honesty--he would +have believed what it was easiest to believe--that which he received on +the authority of his predecessors. He would not have felt that his +highest duty was to know of his own knowledge that that which he said +he believed was true, and we should never have had those +investigations, pursued through good report and evil report, which ended +in discoveries so fraught with magnificent results for science and for +man. If Harvey had been a sentimentalist--by which I mean a person of +false pity, a person who has not imagination enough to see that great, +distant evils may be much worse than those which we can picture to +ourselves, because they happen to be immediate and near (for that, I +take it, is the essence of sentimentalism)--if Harvey had been a person +of that kind, he, being one of the kindest men living, would never have +pursued those researches which, as he tells us over and over again, he +was obliged to pursue in order to the ascertainment of those facts which +have turned out to be of such inestimable value to the human race; and +I say, if on such grounds he had failed to do so, he would have failed +in his duty to the human race. The third point is that Harvey was +devoid of care either for wealth, or for riches, or for ambition. The +man found a higher ideal than any of these things in the pursuit of +truth and the benefit of his fellow-men. If we all go and do likewise, +I think there is no fear for the decadence of England. I think that our +children and our successors will find themselves in a commonwealth, +different it may be from that for which Eliott, and Pym, and Hampden +struggled, but one which will be identical in the substance of its +aims--great, worthy, and well to live in. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Circulation of the Blood + diff --git a/old/thx1910.zip b/old/thx1910.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ceef282 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thx1910.zip |