Customer Reviews

The Anatomical Exercises: De Motu Cordis and De Circulatione Sanguinis in English Translation

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

William Harvey (1578 - 1657) was the first to have a very comprehensive understanding of the circulation and motion of blood through the body. Others before such as Galen and Aristotle had excellent understanding of the issue, but a few issues were left unresolved or unclear.

This book contains Harvey's monumental study, "De Motu Cordis" (Of the Movement of the Heart) often called "On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals" plus two related letters "De Circulatione Sanguinis" (Of the Circulation of Blood) also known as "Two Anatomical Exercitations Concerning the Circulation of the Blood to John Riolan" that further address issues, that some of the people who read his work, had. This endeavor was big in scope since Harvey says that the questions of solving completely the relations of the heart, the lungs, the contents that flowed thorough the arteries and veins, and the motion and circulation of blood was almost too big to answer so much so that only God would know these matters in correct context. However, Harvey pushed forward and succeeded, via the dissection of multiple animals and reading other research, to induce these principle to man. He of course was not the first to attempt such a study, but he was the first successful one - and for this he is an icon in medicine and physiology.

This Dover edition is a very good early copy of Harvey's work that was available during his lifetime.

Here are a few issues Hervey discusses (this list is not exhaustive):

"On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals"

Almost all anatomists, physicians, and philosophers agreed with Galen - use of pulsation is the same with respiration and refrigeration of blood, but one flows through the Animal faculty and the other through the Vital (1); people in the past spoke of the heart and the arteries in relation to the lungs; problems in thinking air is pulsed in the arteries and air passing through the skin, examples given from animals (2-4); Galen's experiment proving the arteries carry only blood (5-7); he notes that pulses are more frequent than respiration - they are not related directly to each other (8); "arteria venosa" when cut has no air or fumes arising, but only blood; experiment on cutting a dogs wind pipe and blowing in the lungs stores air which can be seen when the breast is cut (12)

Live dissection of animals and movement of the heart on warm and cold creatures; leads to observations: 1) pulsation of the heart is felt outwardly 2) there are contractions on all sides of the heart 3) the heart while in motion feels harder 4) the heart is like a muscle and turns white on fish and reptiles when it tenses and softens as it as it pumps; old belief is that the heart is full of blood when it beats; beating, tension of the heart and forcible constriction of blood are all done simultaneously (19-21); direction of flow in the arteries is deduced (24); pulsing of arteries is just the impulsion of blood into the arteries (27); ears of the heart begin to move after a dove's heart ceases to move and Harvey puts a warm finger on the heart of the dove; Aristotle observes early development of the heart in a hen's egg (31-32)

Observations that all creatures including insects have a heart (33); the motion of the heart (35-38); in birth there are 4 vessels of the heart: "vena cava", "vena arteriosa", "arteria venalis", "arteria magna" (43); motion of blood in embryos (44-46); the route of blood flow and relation to breathing and opening of veins by Galen (51-54); 3 things to investigate 1) blood is continually transmitted in great abundance (cannot be accounted by what we consume) 2) blood driven int every member and part of the body via arteries abundantly 3) blood circulates and returns to the heart (61); takes 30 minutes for the blood in man to drain out (65); experiment on blood circulation by tying arm with a cloth (72-90); anatomy of the hearts in animals and slight errors in Aristotle's understanding (103-118)

"Two Anatomical Exercitations Concerning the Circulation of the Blood to John Riolan"

These are just letters that deal with objections that some raised for Harvey's concepts.

For more ancient medical resources please read:

Hippocratic Writings (Penguin Classics)
Selected Works (Oxford World's Classics) by Galen
A Sourcebook in Medieval Science (Source Books in the History of the Sciences)

Bravo to William Harvey!

This book deserves wide readership for those interested in the history of science and medicine.