On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
“The heart of animals is the foundation of their life, the sovereign of everything within them, the sun of their microcosm, that upon which all growth depends, from which all power proceeds”. – William Harvey
As Newton changed the way humans understood the universe, Harvey changed our understanding about the heart. His discoveries re defined our existence and our concept about life. Before reading Harvey, I’ve never had thought about my heart and how it worked. I guess I took it for granted and never really asked myself how was I being kept alive? I was deeply mesmerized when I understood how he built his argument and saw the proofs with my own eyes. I can say it was one of the most profound and deep moments of my existence because I got to understand the motor that keeps every animal alive. How did he come up with his argument? What tools did he use? On what evidence did he rely?
“Scientists establish a new way of seeing rightly by believing that the clues are not chaotic impressions but real object yielding order and harmony” –Richard Gelwick.
Harvey encountered the questions that were asked before, however he saw them in a different light and used different methods to prove his argument. First, he saw the motion of the heart with a different mind-set and different questions. He thought that the motion and blood circulation of the heart should be harmonious, as everything in nature is, and that every part composing it had a purpose and an important function. After the questions and notions were established, he proved and discovered things by doing vivisections (cutting animals alive) and by inspection.
“When I see how many questions can be answered, how many doubts resolved, how much obscurity illustrated by the truth we have declared, the light we have made to shine, I see a field of such a vast extent in which I might proceed so far, and expatiate so widely, that this my tractate would not only swell out into a volume, which was beyond my purpose, but my whole life, perchance, would not suffice for its completion”. -Harvey
Being a genuine questioner was an essential aspect of Harvey’s discovery because he truly wanted to understand how the heart worked, he didn’t take the previous theories without questioning them because he was deeply interested to see and understand things by himself. “The motion of the heart is extremely complex and perplexing”. –Harvey. He was deeply passionate and overwhelmed about the complexity of the heart.
How did he prove his theories? He proved them both by observation and reason, he actually observed over and over again what his theory stated. He proved that the blood passes through the lungs and heart by the pulse of the ventricles, which send the blood to the whole body. Also, that the blood moves in a circular motion and the pulsation of the heart is the source of blood circulation. He actually states that the source of life is the right auricle, the first to live and the last to die. Another important discovery he made is that when the heart becomes tense, blood is expelled and when it relaxes, it receives blood. Also, he discovered the passage of the blood from the veins to the arteries, and its distribution to the whole body by means of these vessels. I found really interesting that the arteries receive blood from the heart and expel it to the whole body, while the veins bring the blood back to the heart. This shows how every part of the body has a specific function and purpose. By his observations he proved wrong the previous theory of the heart, at the end of his treatise he states:
“All these appearances, and many others, to be noted in the course of dissection, if rightly weighed, seem clearly to illustrate and fully to confirm the truth contended for throughout these pages, and at the same time to oppose the vulgar opinion; for it would be very difficult to explain in any other way to what purpose all is constructed and arranges as we have seen it to be”.
By observation, meaningful questions, logic and genuine interest, Harvey understood the motion of the heart and blood in animals. He proved wrong the previous theory and presented a more accurate logic to understand the heart. I dare to say that what moved him to answer his questions was his love of truth and the candour of cultivated minds. Harvey understood the “how” of life; he dived into that question instead of answering the “why”. I am perplexed on how the heart works and how it’s the source of life; without that complex part of the body we wouldn’t breathe. The most powerful quote of the whole treatise is the following:
“The heart, consequently, is the beginning of life; the sun of the microcosm, even as the sun in his turn might be designated the heart of the world; for it is the heart by whose virtue and pulse the blood is moved, perfected and made nutrient, and is preserved from corruption and coagulation; it is the household divinity which, discharging its function, nourishes, cherishes, quickens the whole body and is indeed the foundation of life, the source of all action.”
I’m grateful that my heart beats and that it gives me life. I’m grateful for the healthy hearts of the people that surround me, it’s unimaginable to think how many hearts are beating in this precise instant and how many hearts have ceased to beat. The heart is the source of everything. Without a heart, we couldn’t be experiencing everything we do in our day to day. We wouldn’t live. Most of all, I’m grateful for human beings like Harvey, who love and pursue truth by making meaningful questions about how everything works. People like him have pushed humanity understanding forward, and thanks to him; I now have an understanding on how the heart is the beginning of life and why it’s essential.
“Scientists establish a new way of seeing rightly by believing that the clues are not chaotic impressions but real object yielding order and harmony” –Richard Gelwick.
Harvey encountered the questions that were asked before, however he saw them in a different light and used different methods to prove his argument. First, he saw the motion of the heart with a different mind-set and different questions. He thought that the motion and blood circulation of the heart should be harmonious, as everything in nature is, and that every part composing it had a purpose and an important function. After the questions and notions were established, he proved and discovered things by doing vivisections (cutting animals alive) and by inspection.
“When I see how many questions can be answered, how many doubts resolved, how much obscurity illustrated by the truth we have declared, the light we have made to shine, I see a field of such a vast extent in which I might proceed so far, and expatiate so widely, that this my tractate would not only swell out into a volume, which was beyond my purpose, but my whole life, perchance, would not suffice for its completion”. -Harvey
Being a genuine questioner was an essential aspect of Harvey’s discovery because he truly wanted to understand how the heart worked, he didn’t take the previous theories without questioning them because he was deeply interested to see and understand things by himself. “The motion of the heart is extremely complex and perplexing”. –Harvey. He was deeply passionate and overwhelmed about the complexity of the heart.
How did he prove his theories? He proved them both by observation and reason, he actually observed over and over again what his theory stated. He proved that the blood passes through the lungs and heart by the pulse of the ventricles, which send the blood to the whole body. Also, that the blood moves in a circular motion and the pulsation of the heart is the source of blood circulation. He actually states that the source of life is the right auricle, the first to live and the last to die. Another important discovery he made is that when the heart becomes tense, blood is expelled and when it relaxes, it receives blood. Also, he discovered the passage of the blood from the veins to the arteries, and its distribution to the whole body by means of these vessels. I found really interesting that the arteries receive blood from the heart and expel it to the whole body, while the veins bring the blood back to the heart. This shows how every part of the body has a specific function and purpose. By his observations he proved wrong the previous theory of the heart, at the end of his treatise he states:
“All these appearances, and many others, to be noted in the course of dissection, if rightly weighed, seem clearly to illustrate and fully to confirm the truth contended for throughout these pages, and at the same time to oppose the vulgar opinion; for it would be very difficult to explain in any other way to what purpose all is constructed and arranges as we have seen it to be”.
By observation, meaningful questions, logic and genuine interest, Harvey understood the motion of the heart and blood in animals. He proved wrong the previous theory and presented a more accurate logic to understand the heart. I dare to say that what moved him to answer his questions was his love of truth and the candour of cultivated minds. Harvey understood the “how” of life; he dived into that question instead of answering the “why”. I am perplexed on how the heart works and how it’s the source of life; without that complex part of the body we wouldn’t breathe. The most powerful quote of the whole treatise is the following:
“The heart, consequently, is the beginning of life; the sun of the microcosm, even as the sun in his turn might be designated the heart of the world; for it is the heart by whose virtue and pulse the blood is moved, perfected and made nutrient, and is preserved from corruption and coagulation; it is the household divinity which, discharging its function, nourishes, cherishes, quickens the whole body and is indeed the foundation of life, the source of all action.”
I’m grateful that my heart beats and that it gives me life. I’m grateful for the healthy hearts of the people that surround me, it’s unimaginable to think how many hearts are beating in this precise instant and how many hearts have ceased to beat. The heart is the source of everything. Without a heart, we couldn’t be experiencing everything we do in our day to day. We wouldn’t live. Most of all, I’m grateful for human beings like Harvey, who love and pursue truth by making meaningful questions about how everything works. People like him have pushed humanity understanding forward, and thanks to him; I now have an understanding on how the heart is the beginning of life and why it’s essential.