Circulation by Thomas Wright (Vintage, £9.99)

 
p53 books
William Leith28 March 2013

We all know that the heart pumps blood around the body, and that this fact was somehow discovered by a man called William Harvey. Before Harvey, people thought blood moved through the body in a sluggish fashion. But then, in the early 17th century, Harvey saw that it shoots out of the heart with great force, travels through the arteries, and then makes its way back to the heart through the veins. So: how did he see this? It’s a pretty gruesome story — told very well here by Thomas Wright. Harvey dissected animals. Having become a prosperous doctor — he was the “physician ordinary” to James I — he kept a basement room full of animals in his house in Ludgate Circus. He used to tie dogs up and operate on their hearts while they were still alive.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in