William ‘Slasher’ Harvey
Dave Vedage delves into the genius of this Barts physician
Modern medicine has its roots in the scientific method, and its defined technique of method of enquiry has revolutionized the conditions under which we live in modern times. This revolution began on a small site in West Smithfield at the Royal Hospital of St Bartholomew, pioneered by the work of William Harvey in 1628 in his magnum opus, De Motu Cordis, from which emanated one of the most significant advances ever made in medical and biological sciences, the discovery of the circulatory system of the heart. This was the dawn of the modern scientific era, when the humanism of the renaissance began to evolve into the rational and empirical approach of the age of enlightenment and during the ensuing 17th century Harvey led a gradual transformation in medical thought away from the classical principles.
William Harvey, described as a humorous but extremely precise man studied medicine at the famed University of Padua in Italy. It was here that the foundation of his knowledge of the anatomy of the veins was laid and where he gained an interest in the movement of the blood in the body, and most probably an appreciation of scientific investigation.
On his return to England, Harvey worked at St Bartholomew’s Hospital as an assistant physician, later becoming physician there in 1609 until 1643. During this time, there were no ‘laboratories’ for experimentation attached to a hospital but Harvey certainly had something of the kind, probably in his own house. This was a couple of centuries before his time and was where he accordingly set about the dissection of the human cadaver and of every kind of living organism which he thought might help him to gain knowledge, beginning with mammals so that the rapid heart movements could be seen in slow motion. From this pioneering work in the employment of comparative anatomy to elucidate human anatomy, Harvey proceeded to deal in a logical manner with the various difficulties in following the course taken by the blood.
Harvey also measured the capacity of the chambers of the heart and calculated their output, this being the first instance of ‘quantification’ in physiology. Harvey’s discovery was perhaps all the more remarkable because he had no means of demonstrating the minute details. This skilled and ingenious investigation led Harvey to discover the sequence of this mechanism of the heart.
His acute mind appreciated spontaneously the value of direct experiment and inductive reasoning for the resolution of fundamental problems in physiology such as the properties and movement of the blood in the animal body. All this would be called ‘research’ today, but such a concept did not exist until Harvey laid the foundations for systemic scientific investigation, foundations on which all research since then has been based. Harvey understood the practical means to harness natural science to the service of mankind and carried it on into the field later to be known as ‘physiology’, and this was to lead to the full and triumphant elucidation of the basic problem of the circulation of the blood.
De Motu Cordis quickly became known for its rejection of traditional methods. It was viewed as challenging the traditional system of deductive reasoning, advocating experimentation and sensory experience. It set forth clearly and concisely a new concept of the anatomy and physiology of the animal kingdom based logically on ocular demonstration of the truth of each detail of the vascular system, and set for all time the pattern of scientific investigation. The physician to St Bartholomew’s had provided not only the basis for a new concept of human physiology, but had also shown how scientific research should be done.
Harvey’s other accomplishments also include being the first to suggest that humans and other mammals reproduced via the fertilisation of an egg by sperm and in addition to his hospital duties and his extensive private practice which climaxed with his appointment as ‘Physician Extraordinary’ to King James I and later King Charles, Harvey became deeply involved in the affairs of the College of Physicians, to which he was intensely loyal until his death in 1657.
Today, Harvey’s legacy lives on through his accomplishments and his name being given to the Barts and The London annual research showcase day and laboratory centre at Charterhouse square as well as a hospital in Ashford bearing his name. Harvey’s brilliance in his search for scientific truth made him the leading medical scientist of the 17th Century and the founder of modern physiology.
Indeed, the way in which Harvey tested his ideas and accumulated quantitative data to support his findings was arguably just as important to the development of medicine and science as the discovery itself and thus must rank amongst the most influential men in London hospitals' history.
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