William Harvey, 1578-1657

Biographical note

English physician, the first to describe correctly and in exact detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped around the body by the heart. William Harvey's masterpiece is his Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Living Beings); published in 1628 in the city of Frankfort, this 72 page book contains the matured account of the circulation of the blood. The quarto has 17 chapters which give a perfectly clear and connected account of the action of the heart and the consequent movement of the blood around the body.