celebrated Father Paul.* This was occasioned by the following incident: the Venetian embassador in England, being presented by Dr. Harvey with his manuscript work on the Circulation of the Blood, upon his return to Venice lent it to that illustrious Jesuit, who transcribed from it's pages the most remarkable particulars: and his papers, after his death falling into the hands of less enlightened executors, gave rise to the report. But Harvey received letters from deinde in ipsâ Arteriâ Venosâinspirato aëre miscetur, et exspiratione à fuligine repurgatur, atque ita tandem per diastolen attrahitur, aptasupellex ut fiat spiritus vitalis." He then proceeds to establish the transmission of the blood from the right to the left ventricle through the lungs. But as he assigns no cause for the propulsion of the blood into the Arteria Venosa, says nothing about the muscular power of the heart in that function, is silent about the office of the valves which prevent it's return, and alleges no other reasons for believing that it is transmitted through the lungs (for he does not attempt to prove the communication of the Vena Arteriosa with the Arteria Venosa) except that more blood passes to the lungs from the heart than is necessary for their especial support, his statements appear to partake the nature less of a demonstration than of a dream. He even places with Galen (and in this he was supported by Columbus, whose system of anatomy made it's appearance at Venice in 1559) the source of the blood in the liver! In some respects, however, Columbus (by a sort of lucky casualty) was more correct; though he also denied the muscular character of the heart, and stated no experiment to establish the connexion of the Vena Arteriosa with the Arteria Venosa. But some time afterward we find Cæsalpinus treading very nearly in the same steps, and equally ignorant of the causes of the motion of the blood, and equally destitute of experiments to prove it's transmission through the lungs from the right to the left ventricle of the heart. * Of this opinion, Honoratus Faber professed himself to be the author; alleging that Sarpi, being already too much suspected of heterodoxy, durst not make his hypothesis public from his apprehensions of the Inquisition,' Fra. Fulgentio, the most intimate friend of Father Paul, which placed his right beyond a doubt. Upon the whole, we may conclude in the words of Dr. Freind," As this great discovery* was entirely owing to our countryman, so he has explained it with all the clearness imaginable: and though much has been written upon that subject, I may venture to say, his own book is the shortest, the plainest, and the most convincing of any; as we may be satisfied, if we look into the many apologies written in defence of the Circulation." In 1623, letters were granted by James I., permitting Dr. Harvey to attend his Majesty as the Physicians in Ordinary did, with a promise that he should succeed to that office upon the first vacancy. He was subsequently, in 1630, appointed Physician to Charles I. Thus was he compensated for the reluctance, with which his theory was admitted, by the favourable regard of his Sovereigns. Charles in particular, who had a taste for the curiosities of science as well as of art, used frequently with his courtiers to witness Harvey's experiments and dissections; and, by furnishing him with a number of birds in different stages of gestation, essentially aided his inquiries. He, likewise, nominated him to accompany the young Duke of Lenox † on his travels: *Upon the discovery itself, and it's importance in medicine (which Freind proceeds largely to discuss) Granger simply observes, that "it is perhaps impossible to define health and sickness in fewer words, than that the one is a free, and the other an obstructed circulation." Upon this occasion, the Trustees of St. Bartholomew's Hospital permitted him to appoint Dr. Smith his deputy. On his return, as his duty to the King required his frequent absence, Dr. Andrews was elected in his place, but he still continued to receive his stipend as before. and it is probable, that he injoined his attendance upon himself on his journey to Scotland in 1633, as Harvey has from his own view given a most lively description of that great resort of sea-fowl, the Bass Island. At the breaking out of the civil war, he remained attached both by office and affection to Charles I.; and, after the battle of Edge-Hill, proceeded with the rest of the household to Oxford. He was there incorporated M. D., in 1642; and three years afterward, created by the King's mandate Warden of Merton College, in the room of Dr. Nathaniel Brent, who deserting the royal party had taken the Covenant, and left the University: but, upon the surrender of that city in 1646 to the parliamentary forces, he relinquished his office to his predecessor, and passed his time privately in the neighbourhood of the metropolis.* In 1651, at Ent's request, he published his Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium: quibus accedunt quædam de Partu, de Membranis ac Humoribus Uteri, et de Conceptione.' This valuable work, of which the general inference is, the universal prevalence of oval generation, was rendered less perfect by the abstraction of some of his papers. For, though he had permission to attend the King upon his leaving Whitehall, his house in London during his absence was plundered of it's furniture; and his 'Adversaria,' with a number of anatomical observations especially respecting the generation of insects, to his deep concern and the heavy loss of posterity irrecoverably perished. Dr. Harvey had the happiness to see his great * He had a villa himself at Lambeth, and one of his brothers (five of whom were Turkey merchants) resided chiefly in a house near Richmond. doctrine generally received. And, in 1652, a statue was erected to his honour by the College of Physicians; inscribed GUILIELMO HARVEIO Viro monumentis suis immortali Hoc insuper Collegium Medicorum Londinense Posuit Qui enim Sanguini Motum ut et Animalibus Ortum dedit meruit esse Two years afterward, on the resignation of Dr. Prujean, he was during his absence chosen their President; an office however which, upon account of his age and weakness, he declined to accept. As he had no children, he settled his paternal inheritance upon them. He had three years before built them in their own garden a room for their meetings, and a library or museum filled with choice books and chirurgical instruments; and, in 1656, he presented to them the deeds of his patrimonial estate of 561. per ann. He was then present at the first feast instituted by himself, to be continued annually with a commemoration-speech in Latin, in honour of the benefactors of the College. After having endured many infirmities for several years, he died June 3, 1657, at the advanced age of eighty, and was interred in the chapel of Hempsted belonging to the church of Great Samford in Essex, where a monu ment with the following incription was erected to his memory: It has been reported, that finding himself deprived of his sight, he drank a glass of opium, and expired soon afterward: but the tranquillity and self-possession, with which he encoun GUILIELMUS HARVEIUS Cui tam colendo nomini assurgunt omnes Academiæ, Orbi salutem sibi immortalitatem Qui Ortum et Generationem Animalium solus omnium cui debet Quod sibi innotuit humanum genus seipsam Medicina Colleg. Med. Lond. Anatomes et Chirurgia Professor Quibus illustrem construxit Bibliothecam Contemplando sanando inveniendo sudores Varias domi forisque statuas quum totum circuit III Jun. Ann., Salutis MDCLVIII Æt. LXXV Dr. Harvey was not only eminently learned in the sciences more immediately connected with his profession, but well versed also in other branches of literature. He was deeply read in ancient and modern tered death, seem sufficiently to refute this calumny. Entius himself says, Fessâ tandem fractâque senectute funeri suo propinquus, rerumque aliarum omnium securus, pulsuum suorum rhythmos explorabat; ut qui vivus valensque vitæ exordia, ejusdemque progressus, alios docuisset, ipsemet jam denascens mortis præludia addisceret. Tandemque octogesimum annum emensus die, qui tertius præteriti mensis erat, occubuo sole placidissimo animo mortalitatem exuit, fatique necessitatem implevit. |