Note 59 — THE LIFE OF WILLIAM HARVEY, M.D.

I pass by unnoticed in my text several names that have been very gratuitously associated with the discovery of the circulation, such as that of Father Paul the Venetian, Walter Warner and Mr. Prothero, Honoratus Faber, &c. The claims of Father Paul have been satisfactorily explained by Dr. Ent in his ‘Apology,’ who has shown that instead of Harvey borrowing from the Monk, the Monk, through the Venetian ambassador to London, who was Harvey’s friend, had borrowed from Harvey. The others do not require serious mention. Dr. Freind has given an excellent summary of the entire doctrine of the circulation in his Harveian Oration, to which it is with much pleasure that I refer the reader for other information. I also pass by the still-recurring denials by obtuse and ill-informed individuals of the truth, or of the sufficiency of the evidence of the truth, of the Harveian circulation. Those who can not see, must, contrary to the popular adage, be admitted to be still blinder than those who will not see.