William Harvey : a history of the discovery of the circulation of the blood / by R. Willis ; with a portrait of Harvey, after Faithorne.
- Date:
- 1878
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: William Harvey : a history of the discovery of the circulation of the blood / by R. Willis ; with a portrait of Harvey, after Faithorne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
367/406 page 347
![But we know from Harvey himself that he did not deny the existence of the lacteal veins, never opposed Aselli, and had even observed the vessels in question in the course of his dissections before Aselli’s book appeared. It was their office and the nature of their contents that he questioned, not their reality; as it was the sufficiency of the delicate thoracic duct that made, him pause in assenting at once to the important function assigned to it by Pecquet. With all these misrepresentations, however, Professor Ceradini has not exhausted his jealousy and dislike of Harvey. He would blacken the great anatomist morally yet more, and says, “ He died impenitent in 1678, six years after the discoveries of Bartholin.”1 Is this seemly—is it not indecent ? The use of such language, suggesting thoughts of a far-off historical incident, is as surely reprehensible as it is out of place in a scientific discussion. Ceradini s conclusion, in few words, is this : that Harvey had no merit beyond that of having furnished a new demonstration and completed in some sort the doctrine of the circulation.2 How little such a conclusion is borne out by the facts I confidently leave to the decision of every impartial mind. non sua Solo il nega i vasi chiliferi come i linfatici e la stessa funzione del dutto toracico.” (Op. cit. p. 182-3.) 1 “E muore impenitente l’anno 1678, [1677] sei anni doppo le scoperte di Bartholin.” (Ib.) 2 “ Non avesse Harvey altro merito di quello in fuori de averne fornito una nuova dimostrazione e completata in qualche forma la dottrina [della circolazione].” (Ib., p. 184.)](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21996404_0369.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
