'I Follow Aristotle': How William Harvey Discovered the Circulation of the Blood

by Andrew Cunningham

Overview

This book presents a new interpretation of how and why the discovery of the circulation of the blood in animals was made. It has long been known that the English physician William Harvey (1578–1657) was a follower of Aristotle, but his most strikingly ‘modern’ and original discovery – of the circulation of the blood – resulted from Harvey following Aristotle’s ancient programme of investigation into animals. This is a new reading of the most important discovery ever made in anatomy by one man and produces not only a radical re-reading of Harvey as anatomist, but also of Aristotle and his investigations of animals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032162249
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/29/2024
Series:	The History of Medicine in Context
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andrew Cunningham was for many years Wellcome Trust Lecturer and then Senior Research Fellow in the History of Medicine in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University.

Table of Contents

Preface / Prologue. 'Nine years and more': an overview of the story / Introduction / Chapter 1. Aristotle's animal and the question of the soul / Chapter 2. Aristotle On the causes of the parts of animals / Chapter 3. Aristotle's animal in Padua: the anatomical investigations of Fabricius / Chapter 4. William Harvey: pupil, physician, Professor / Chapter 5. William Harvey, searcher into the vegetative soul / Chapter 6. ‘The wonderful circulation of the blood, first found out by me’ / Chapter 7. Method and experiment / Chapter 8. 'The anatomy of the blood': the blood as a new research object / Chapter 9. Precursing Aristotle: Why and how did we lose this Aristotle? / Chapter 10. Harvey and his historians: Why and how did we lose this Harvey? / Appendix: English or Latin? / Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Alain Touwaide, PhD (Ronin Institute)
Description: The history of William Harvey and his discovery of blood circulation is a classic, which this book revisits from a new perspective, documenting Harvey's educational background in Padua, Italy, leading to a reinterpretation of the story.
Purpose: Harvey's discovery has been reinterpreted several times, from a Renaissance and pre-scientific discovery to a reassessment of an Arabic source (Ibn al-Nafis) possibly known in Padua through a Latin translation. This book aims to reframe Harvey's discovery in its exact scientific context and to read his work against this context, leading to a very new and different interpretation of Harvey's work. It is an exercise in accurate historical criticism.
Audience: This is a book for specialists, be they of history of medicine, history of philosophy, intellectual history, or Renaissance culture. However, it could also be a textbook for students (with a solid background in the classics, history of medicine, and cultural history) as a methodological lesson in reading sources and building compelling interpretations on this basis.
Features: The book builds a very clear and linear history, starting with Aristotle, his natural-history questions, and his method, and working toward a question of why historians lost sight of the exact nature of Harvey's discovery. Between these two points, the author guides readers through the teaching of Aristotle in Padua, Harvey's education and early career in Padua, his research and method (applied to circulation), and the status of blood in pre- and Harveian science. It is a solid journey through the question under examination, well built, and perfectly clear.
Assessment: This is small masterpiece, not only of medical history, but also of clarity, accuracy, and effectiveness. With great mastery, the author dismounts what might have been a myth of medical history by methodically dissecting Harvey's curriculum, activity, work, and investigation on blood with a constant eye on the classical tradition. As the author includes in the preface, this will likely be his last book. It certainly will be his most achieved work.

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