William Harvey Flashcards
Born 1578 - Studied medicine at padua and learn about anatomy.
He was a physiatrist to two kings, James I and Charles I.
Valued experimentation to test theories.
He wanted to study the body as a living system - dead bodies don’t have a heart beat.
Experimented on animals that were alive - heart beat too fast - could see what was happening.
Used frogs - cold blooded - heart beat slowly.
Discovered heart hearts like a pump.
He discovered there was a fixed amount of blood that wasn’t use up and replaced.
Blood circulated around the body, it was pumped out of the heart in a arteries and returned back via the veins - valves in veins stopped blood going backwards.
By implication, his discovery meant that bleeding patients didn’t make sense - If blood was circulating couldn’t be too much.
Published ideas using printing press on books, ‘On The Motion Of The Heart’ in 1628.
