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Analysis Of William Harvey: A Life In Circulation

Decent Essays

In the essay “William Harvey: A Life in Circulation” by Thomas Wright, Wright indicates that William Harvey’s theory of the circulation of blood gave rise to controversies in Europe. Harvey was a well-known anatomist to the medical establishment in Nuremberg, Germany, and an author of a Latin volume titled Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus.
The book contains Harvey’s theory which opened doors for acceptance and criticism. Equally important, Harvey had an opportunity to give a lecture regarding his theory at the University of Altdorf. During his lecture in the University, he informed his audience about how the blood flows from the heart to arteries, the rest of the body, veins, and ultimately, back to the heart. …show more content…

Primrose believed that Harvey’s purpose was to overthrow the fundamentals necessary for reasoning. To show protest, Harvey condemned his critics for using foul languages through his writing in Anatomical Exercitations which was addressed to Jean Riolan, a professor at University of Paris and a representative of Galen. Interestingly, the presence of a professor in University of Altdorf during Harvey’s lecture named Caspar Hofmann, a member of Nuremberg medical establishment, and Harvey’s old friend from University of Padua, made Harvey optimistic of receiving support for his theory. Similar to Harvey, Hofmann was also known by his students for questioning venerable Galen principles. For that reason, English critics claimed that Harvey plagiarized Hofmann’s writing, but Harvey denied the …show more content…

Harvey asked for Hofmann’s opinion about his lecture, and so Hofmann gave his honest judgement. He started by saying that Harvey’s demonstration did not prove anything, then he questioned Harvey’s knowledge about how blood flows between arteries and veins. Harvey indicated that a possible reason behind it was the formation of anastomosis. Also, Harvey honestly confessed that he did not fully understand the matter yet, and insisted that he should not be rejected due to lack of deeper understanding of his new discovery. Still, Hofmann was not convinced. Due to Hofmann’s accomplishments, he conceitedly questioned Harvey’s result which was done using arithmetic; leaving Harvey humiliated. Formerly, arithmetic was not a basis in finding causes of a phenomenon in anatomy or philosophy, and it was not considered to be academically important. Therefore, Harvey’s theory was considered insupportable.Moreover, Hofmann believed that Nature was perfect, and used that belief as a basis to question the purpose of Harvey’s theory. Hofmann believed that Nature was not absurd to create more blood than needed by the body just to contaminate it and reuse it. As a matter of fact, Harvey was aware of Nature’s capability, and the consequences of presenting an idea against

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