Note 150 — Chapter V
Reading edition
Harvey: On the Motion, etc., Syd. 32, l. 39 to 33, l. 31; Op. Omn. 34, l. 24 to 35, l. 19. In Galen's book, from which Harvey here quotes, the quoted passage is preceded by a corrected statement of the mechanics of the valves of the heart, and a declaration that their mechanics were unknown to Erasistratus. Then follow these words:—
"If this be so, O followers of Erasistratus, let us omit all else and consider only what is in controversy. As to the vena cava, which conveys blood from the liver into the heart, in which of two ways are its membranes [i.e. the segments of the tricuspid valve] inserted: do they extend from the interior [of the ventricle] outward, or contrariwise, from without inward? But perhaps this is of no great moment!"
The preceding words are immediately followed by the words quoted by Harvey. The context shows that the phrase "from without inward" indicates the true insertion of the "membranes" of the tricuspid valve, according to both Galen and the facts. Harvey himself refers his quotation from Galen to the treatise "On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, Book VI." It is from chapter 6 of that book. The Latin text quoted by Harvey, and that from which the quotation in this note has been translated, may be found in the Ninth Juntine Edition of Galen's works, consisting of Latin translations by various hands. This edition was published in Venice in 1625, three years before the publication of Harvey's treatise. The title of the edition is: Galeni Opera ex Nona Juntarum Editione, etc. Venetiis, apud Juntas, MDCXXV, Cum privilegiis. The passage quoted in this note is: "Prima classis," folio 264 D, l. 53-56. Harvey's quotation is: folio 264 D, l. 56 to folio 264 (verso) E, l. 3. The Greek text of the passage quoted in this note is to be found in Kn. Vol. V, 550, l. 9-15; Mül. 541, l. 4-9. The Greek text of Harvey's quotation is in Kn. Vol. V, 550, l. 15 to 551, l. 6; Mül. 541, l. 10 to 542, l. 2. The Latin rendering printed in the Juntine edition gives the true meaning of the Greek text, but in a rather lumbering fashion.