William Harvey and the circulation of the blood Flashcards

All 7 cards in this deck

What did William Harvey discover about the blood?

That blood circulates around the body, pumped by the heart, and is not constantly made and burned up as Galen claimed.

What methods did William Harvey use in his work?

A scientific approach: dissection, experiment, observation and recording his results.

When did Harvey publish his work on the circulation of the blood?

1628, in An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood.

True or false? Harvey's discovery of circulation immediately produced effective new treatments.

False. It greatly improved understanding of physiology, but treatments such as bloodletting continued.

Which new technology helped William Harvey think of the heart as a pump?

Mechanical water pumps.

How did Harvey's position as a royal physician help his discovery gain acceptance?

As a doctor to King James I, his work had status and publicity, so other doctors were more likely to take it seriously.

By roughly when was Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood being taught in medical schools?

By about 1700, decades after he published it in 1628.