William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood

Abstract

HomeCirculation ResearchVol. 124, No. 8William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood Free AccessResearch ArticlePDF/EPUBAboutView PDFView EPUBSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationsTrack citationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyReddit Jump toFree AccessResearch ArticlePDF/EPUBWilliam Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood Roberto Bolli Roberto BolliRoberto Bolli Correspondence to Roberto Bolli, MD, Institute of Molecular Cardiology, University of Louisville, KY 40292. Email E-mail Address: [email protected] From the Institute of Molecular Cardiology, University of Louisville, KY. Search for more papers by this author Originally published11 Apr 2019https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.119.314976Circulation Research. 2019;124:1169–1171In keeping with its emphasis on the human dimension of science,1,2Circulation Research publishes a column entitled Beyond Science, which is dedicated (among other things) to highlighting individuals who have made progress in medicine and biology possible. I believe that the history of medicine should be an integral part of the education of physicians and biomedical researchers alike, for it enables them to understand who pierced the darkness of ignorance, who moved human knowledge forward, who gave us the science and technology that we enjoy, who bestowed on mankind the greatest gift of all—the gift of knowledge—a gift that so many people take for granted and without which we would not be doing what we are doing today. Sadly, many people, and particularly young people, have no idea where our current scientific and technological knowledge came from; who made the discoveries and inventions on which contemporary medicine and biomedical research are based; what amazing gifts these scientists and inventors have given us; how hard it was to accomplish what they accomplished; what beliefs and qualities enabled them to do it; and, importantly, how grateful we must be to them for their gifts to humanity. Therefore, I have decided to publish brief articles focused on key individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to human knowledge. Below is the first of 3 essays describing the life and legacy of William Harvey, the father of cardiovascular physiology.These 3 articles (which will be published in 3 consecutive issues of the journal) are an edited version of 3 President’s Letters that I wrote about 10 years ago for Heart News and Views, the news bulletin of the International Society for Heart Research (the source articles can be found in volumes 17, numbers 1, 2, and 3, 2009–10 of the newsletter). Three books have been used to provide specific information and quotes: Doctors:The Biography of Medicine, by Sherwin B. Nuland and Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1988; The Personality of William Harvey, by Geoffrey Keynes, Cambridge University Press, 1949; and Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus, by William Harvey, translated by Chauncey D. Leake and Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL 1970. Herewith is the first installment of this series.Part IWilliam Harvey (Figure) was arguably the most important cardiovascular investigator of all times. That most people know about Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Jennifer Lawrence but never heard of William Harvey is appalling but scarcely surprising. What surprises me is that even among cardiovascular scientists, physicians, and physician-scientists, many either do not know or are only remotely familiar with Harvey, although his legacy is a gift of unfathomable value that he has given us and that constitutes the basis for our daily work in medicine and biomedical research. It is like inheriting a million dollars and not knowing who gave it to us. Knowledge of history is as critical for physicians as it is for everybody else. As Cicero said, “To know nothing of what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.” What a truism. Therefore, I think it is very important to understand how the knowledge of the circulation of the blood, which we take for granted, came about. This is one of the few advances in medicine that can be single-handedly credited to one man, William Harvey.Download figureDownload PowerPointFigure. This is a portrait of Harvey at age 43. He was short, dark-haired, and very nervous. He was also full of energy—almost as if in perpetual motion. He awoke at night because of his energy and had to walk until he got tired enough to go back to sleep. He had a very, very active mind.Harvey not only made one of the most important discoveries in medicine but also was one of the founders of modern science. Indeed, I believe that his greatest legacy is not the discovery of the circulation but the establishment of scientific experimentation as the method of choice for biological research. Experimental medicine began with Harvey. With, perhaps, the exception of Louis Pasteur, Harvey is the most honored contributor to medical knowledge in history. There are Harvey societies, Harvey meetings, Harvey prizes, and there is the famous Harveian Lecture held by the Royal College of Physicians every year, which is the pinnacle of glory for a physician. Monetarily, if you are lucky enough to own a copy of his book, De Motu Cordis, you have a treasure, because 30 years ago a copy was worth $300 000 and now, no doubt, much more.William Harvey was born on April 1, 1578, in Folkestone (in Kent, United Kingdom). He was the first of 7 children, and the son of a very wealthy businessman, Thomas Harvey, who enriched himself by trading with the Orient. Being from a wealthy family, William never had to worry about such mundane things as money; furthermore, his brothers held him in such high regard that they took good care of his finances. At the age of 8, William was sent to King’s College, a grammar school in Canterbury where students were not allowed to speak any languages other than Latin and Greek. That was the beginning of his classical education, and he grew to be quite fond of classical studies. (At that time, and for many centuries, physicians and scientists were educated in classical disciplines, including Latin, Greek, ancient history, philosophy, classical literature, etc. That was the kind of education that produced the greatest inventors and scientists of all times, the likes of Harvey, Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, Pasteur, etc, the giants who took mankind from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It is a shame that this education has all but disappeared today.)In 1594 William entered Caius College, in Cambridge, where Kentians (people from Kent, like him) were preferentially admitted at the time and graduated 4 years later with a Bachelor’s degree. The graduates of Caius College were encouraged by the founder of the school, Dr John Caius, to pursue medical studies abroad. In the late 16th century, if one wanted to go abroad to receive a good medical education, the place to go was Italy. It was like going to America in the 21st century. Specifically, one would go to northern Italy, which offered very prestigious universities such as Bologna, Padua, Pisa, and others. Among these, probably the most famous medical school was the University of Padua, where William matriculated in 1598 at the age of 20. Padua had a great reputation for a number of reasons. Apart from the fact that Copernicus had studied there and that, at the time when Harvey was a student, Galileo was teaching mathematics (although the 2 of them apparently did not cross paths), Padua had a stellar cadre of very distinguished faculty members. Harvey’s favorite teacher was the anatomist Hieronymus Fabricius, also known as Fabricius ab Acquapendente (the successor of Gabriele Falloppio, after whom the Fallopian tubes were named). Fabricius became a very good mentor for Harvey. He described—among many things—the presence of valves in the veins but had no idea what their function was. This discovery became a key turning point in Harvey’s life, because it inspired him to investigate the function of these valves, and in doing so, to discover the circulation.At that time, Padua was a very cosmopolitan university, much like contemporary American universities. Going to Padua in the 16th century would be akin to going to Harvard nowadays (and probably just as expensive!). Students flocked there from all over Europe—from Germany, Belgium, France, England, Spain, and elsewhere. Each group of students from a given country was called a Nation, and each Nation elected a Councilor to lead it; the body of the Councilors, together with the Rectors, was the governing body of the university. Apparently, Harvey had a charismatic personality, because he managed to be elected as the Councilor of the English Nation, a position of high distinction that gave him the privilege of having his own stemmata painted in the Great Hall of the University. One can still see them there today.On April 25, 1602, Harvey received his diploma of Doctor of Physic from the University of Padua. He then returned to England and, 2 years later, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Dr Lancelot Browne, the personal physician of Queen Elizabeth and, subsequently of King James. By becoming Browne’s relative, Harvey was catapulted into the “good society” of London and had access to many VIPs, which greatly facilitated his career. We know very little about his marriage, except that he had no children (which left him plenty of time to do his anatomic studies), that Elizabeth (whose brother, ironically, was named Galen) had a pet parrot, and that she died before him. Three years after his marriage (1607), he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and 2 years later (1609) he was appointed physician at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where he developed a good medical practice. At the same time, he continued to study anatomy and do research (thereby being the precursor of what nowadays is referred to as the clinician-scientist).In 1615, Harvey was given the prestigious title of Lumleian Lecturer at the College of Physicians. This was a major post in the College; he was required to give 2 lectures a week in 6-year cycles, which he did until 1650. His meteoric ascent continued unabated. Two years later (1618), he became the Physician Extraordinary to King James I. When the king died, there were rumors that Harvey had plotted to kill him, and that he was part of a Catholic plot. He was investigated but fortunately for him, Charles I (the successor of James I) held him in high esteem, protected him, and appointed him as his own personal physician.In 1628, Harvey published the book that would forever change medicine, De Motu Cordis. In 1651, he published his second book, De Generatione Animalium, which was not as groundbreaking as the first but had some important intuitions. In 1654, he was offered the prestigious Presidency of the College of Physicians, but he refused for health reasons. He was suffering from gout, and his life was becoming increasingly miserable. In 1656, while he was living in Oxford and a year before his death, he donated money to Merton College to establish an endowment for the Harveian Lecture, which has been delivered yearly since 1658—and has become, as I have mentioned, one of the highest recognitions for a physician.On April 24, 1657, Harvey wrote to a colleague: “I am not only ripe in years, but also… a little weary. It seems to me indeed that I am entitled to an honorable discharge.” Less than 2 months later, on June 3, 1657, his wish was granted; he died of a stroke, at the age of 79.(To be continued)DisclosuresNone.FootnotesThe opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association.Correspondence to Roberto Bolli, MD, Institute of Molecular Cardiology, University of Louisville, KY 40292. Email [email protected]edu