William Harvey
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William Harvey lived in the early 1900s, was born April 1, 1578 in Folke Stone, Kent. He was famous for discovering how the circulation of the blood for the first time, he showed how the heart serves as a pump to force blood through veins and arteries. Harvey studied medicine at the university of Padua in Italy, where scientist and surgeon Hieronymus Fabricius tutored him. Fabricius was fascinated by the anatomy recognized that the veins in the human body had one way valves but was puzzled on their function. Harvey solved the riddle of what part the valves played in the circulation of blood through the body. In 1602, return from Italy, Harvey established himself as a physician. In 1607, he became a fellow of the Royal College of physicians, and in 1609 he was appointed physician to St. Bartholomew's hospital. In 1618, he became a physician to Elizabeth's successor James the first and to James’s son Charles when he became king.
Harvey’s research was furthered through the dissection of animals. Harvey was first to suggest that humans and other mammals reproduced via the fertilization of an egg sperm. It took further two centuries before mammalian egg was observed but Harvey got creditability. He had 6 years attendance at grammar school at Canterbury, 16 years at Caius College in Cambridge. He left Cambridge and proceeded to the University of Padua for 5 years. Harvey became convinced that ancient Greek anatomist Galen's ideas about blood movement must be wrong. They thought that blood was formed in the liver and absorbed by the body and blood flowed through the septum of the heart. Harvey first studied the heartbeat, establishing the existence of the pulmonary circulation process and noting the one way flow of blood. He then wrote a book called "On the Motion of the Heart and Blood of Animals", which explained how the blood flows in animals. Harvey died June 3rd, 1657. His death was caused by a stroke.
Chapter I: The Author’s Motives For Writing
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"When I first gave my mind to vivisections, as a means of discovering the motions and uses of the heart, and sought to discover these from actual inspection, and not from the writings of others, I found the task . . . so full of difficulties, that I was almost tempted to think . . . that the motion of the heart was only to be comprehended by God. For I could [not understand] . . . when and where dilatation and contraction occurred, by reason of the rapidity of the motion, which in many animals is accomplished in the twinkling of an eye, coming and going like a flash of lightning; so that the
systole presented itself to me now from this point, now from that; the diastole the same; and then everything was reversed, the motions occurring, as it seemed, variously and confusedly together. My mind was therefore greatly unsettled nor did I know what I should myself conclude, nor what believe from others. . .At length, by using greater and daily diligence and investigation, making frequent inspection of many and various animals, and collating numerous observations, I thought that I had attained to the truth, that I should extricate myself and escape from this labyrinth, and that I had discovered what I so much desired, both the motion and the use of the heart and arteries. From that time I have not hesitated to expose my views upon these subjects, not only in private to my friends, but also in public, in my anatomical lectures, after the manner of the Academy of old. These views as usual, pleased some more, others less; some chid and calumniated me, and laid it to me as a crime that I had dared to depart from the precepts and opinions of all anatomists; others desired further explanations of the novelties, which they said were both worthy of consideration, and might perchance be found of signal use. At length, yielding to the requests of my friends, that all might be made participators in my labors, and partly moved by the envy of others, who, receiving my views with uncandid minds and understanding them indifferently, have essayed to traduce me publicly, I have moved to commit these things to the press, in order that all may be enabled to form an opinion both of me and my labors. . . Finally, if any use or benefit to this department of the republic of letters should accrue from my labors, it will, perhaps, be allowed that I have not lived idly."
systole presented itself to me now from this point, now from that; the diastole the same; and then everything was reversed, the motions occurring, as it seemed, variously and confusedly together. My mind was therefore greatly unsettled nor did I know what I should myself conclude, nor what believe from others. . .At length, by using greater and daily diligence and investigation, making frequent inspection of many and various animals, and collating numerous observations, I thought that I had attained to the truth, that I should extricate myself and escape from this labyrinth, and that I had discovered what I so much desired, both the motion and the use of the heart and arteries. From that time I have not hesitated to expose my views upon these subjects, not only in private to my friends, but also in public, in my anatomical lectures, after the manner of the Academy of old. These views as usual, pleased some more, others less; some chid and calumniated me, and laid it to me as a crime that I had dared to depart from the precepts and opinions of all anatomists; others desired further explanations of the novelties, which they said were both worthy of consideration, and might perchance be found of signal use. At length, yielding to the requests of my friends, that all might be made participators in my labors, and partly moved by the envy of others, who, receiving my views with uncandid minds and understanding them indifferently, have essayed to traduce me publicly, I have moved to commit these things to the press, in order that all may be enabled to form an opinion both of me and my labors. . . Finally, if any use or benefit to this department of the republic of letters should accrue from my labors, it will, perhaps, be allowed that I have not lived idly."
William Harvey was born in 1578, after Cambridge, England and Padua, Italy; he began practicing medicine in London hospital. He studied his favorite subject-The Circulation System. He gave his mind to vivisections, means of discovering the motions and uses of the heart. He was attempted to think that the motion of the heart was only to be comprehended by god. He couldn't understand when and where dilatation and contraction occurred, which in animals is accomplished in the twinkling of an eye and going like flash of lightning. The "systole" is the contraction of the heart, Harvey said "My mind was therefore greatly unsettled nor did I know that I should myself conclude, nor what believe from others." He made frequent inspections and investigations of many and various animals collating numerous observations. "I thought that I had attained to the truth, that I should extricate myself and escape from this labyrinth and that I discovered what I so much desired." William Harvey had a great amount of goals and in his opinion, he has achieved them.
Harvey was important to the time period of the Renaissance because without him, the world wouldn't know about the blood circulation untill later on in time, which could have caused more deaths because surgeons and doctors wouldn't know how to do anything without knowing how the blood flows. They would be at a risk of killing the person. It was a huge advancement in time because it helped with a great amount of science about the human body and has changed peoples perspective of the human body. Also, without knowing animals blood flow it would be hard to know how much blood came out of them when people would slaughter them for food.
Science was important to the time period because in late 1500's and early 1600's there were so many advancements that were happening and William Harvey's finding was one of many. Williams discovery was one of the major findings because without his discovery many other advancements wouldn't be possible. This was a a time of science because Harvey discovered the circulation of blood. To make that happen he went to many schools to learn and with dedication, he ended up figuring it out. He also found the circulation of blood in animals, which shows how dedecated he was to figuring everything out about this specific topic. Overall, the Renaissance was a time of science.
Citations:
"About William Harvey." About William Harvey. Medical Research Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. BBC News. BBC, 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"Famous Scientists." Science Blog RSS. N.p., 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"William Harvey." William Harvey. Soylent Communications, 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"About William Harvey." About William Harvey. Medical Research Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. BBC News. BBC, 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"Famous Scientists." Science Blog RSS. N.p., 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"William Harvey." William Harvey. Soylent Communications, 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.