Edition 360f2c85 · generated from Tabula content · 6 plates
Fits: GCSE History "Medicine through time"; NSW Science (nature of science)
Licence: photocopiable for classroom use by the purchaser (single teacher), or across one school with a school licence.
The body as known in c. 160s–190s. Colour what was understood; outline what was only described.The body as known in 1553 · 1556 · 1559. Colour what was understood; outline what was only described.The body as known in 1628. Colour what was understood; outline what was only described.The body as known in 1661. Colour what was understood; outline what was only described.
Story cards
Tab. VI: Arteries carry blood (c. 160s–190s)
Tie off an artery at both ends, cut it, and look inside.
How they knew: A ligature experiment on living animals. Isolate a stretch of artery between two ties, then open it.
What it overturned: The Erasistratean view that arteries carry air-like pneuma, and that blood appears in them only when they are wounded.
Status: established
Tab. IX: No pores in the septum (c. 1242)
Blood can't seep through the heart's wall, so it must go through the lungs. The manuscript was lost to sight until 1924.
How they knew: A reasoned commentary on the anatomy in Ibn Sina's Canon, arguing from the structure of the heart against Galen's account.
What it overturned: Galen's teaching, repeated by Ibn Sina, that blood passes from the right to the left side of the heart through invisible pores in the septum.
Status: contested. The date c. 1242 is inferred from his age when writing. Whether his work reached the 16th-century Europeans who described the same circulation is debated.
Tab. XII: Three Europeans and a suppressed book (1553 · 1556 · 1559)
In the 1550s the lung circuit is described again, in Europe, and the argument over who was first begins.
How they knew: Theological argument (Servetus); dissection and vivisection (Colombo).
What it overturned: Galen's septal pores, in European teaching.
Status: contested. Servetus published first but his book was suppressed; Valverde was first in print in an anatomy book and credited Colombo; Colombo's own book appeared in 1559. Priority is argued, and so is any link to Ibn al-Nafis.
Fabricius draws the little doors in the veins and gets their purpose backwards.
How they knew: Dissection, and the old trick of binding a limb to make the valves stand out under the skin.
What it overturned: Little; the valves had been glimpsed before. His contribution was the first full description, which set up Harvey's reinterpretation.
Status: established
Tab. XVI: The blood goes round (1628)
Arithmetic kills a thousand-year-old physiology.
How they knew: Vivisection of many animals, a simple experiment on the veins of the arm, and a quantitative argument about how much blood the heart pushes out.
What it overturned: Galen's physiology, in which blood is made continuously in the liver from food, flows outwards through the veins and is consumed by the body.
Status: established
Tab. XVII: The missing link (1661)
Through a microscope, in a frog's lung, the vessels Harvey needed but never saw.
How they knew: Microscopy of thin, transparent frog lungs, first dead and then living, with the help of his colleague Carlo Fracassati.
What it overturned: The idea that blood seeps from arteries to veins through the "porosities" of the flesh, and the old view of the lung as a solid, fleshy organ.
Status: established
Spot the myth
For each statement, decide: was it believed then, later overturned, or is it supported by the sources?
Followers of Erasistratus held that the arteries carry an air-like pneuma, and that blood appears in a cut artery only because it rushes in from the veins.
Blood seeps from the right to the left side of the heart through invisible pores in the septum.
The valves of the veins act as brakes on blood flowing outwards from the liver, so it does not pool in the hands and feet.
Blood is made continuously in the liver from digested food, flows outwards through the veins and is consumed by the tissues.
Galen argued in a dedicated treatise that the arteries naturally contain blood, against Erasistratus and his followers.
In his commentary on the anatomy of Ibn Sina's Canon, Ibn al-Nafis rejected the idea that blood passes through pores in the septum and described it travelling from the right ventricle through the pulmonary artery and lungs, returning by the pulmonary vein.
Michael Servetus described the pulmonary circulation in Christianismi restitutio (1553), a theological book published anonymously and almost entirely destroyed, with only three copies surviving.
Fabricius's De venarum ostiolis (1603) is the earliest known detailed description of the valves of the veins, though earlier anatomists, including Canano and Amato Lusitano, had observed them.
Discussion questions
Galen of Pergamon: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
What did people believe before Tab. VI, and why was that belief reasonable then?
Ibn al-Nafis: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
Tab. IX is marked "contested". What exactly is disputed, and what evidence would settle it?
Michael Servetus and Juan Valverde de Hamusco and Realdo Colombo: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
Tab. XII is marked "contested". What exactly is disputed, and what evidence would settle it?
Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
What did people believe before Tab. XIV, and why was that belief reasonable then?
Answer key and sources
believed then, later overturned [arteries-pneuma#b]
believed then, later overturned [septal-pores#b]
believed then, later overturned [venous-valves-brake#b]
believed then, later overturned [liver-makes-blood#b]
supported by the sources [galen-arteries-blood#c1]
supported by the sources [ibn-al-nafis-pulmonary-circulation#c1]
supported by the sources [pulmonary-circulation-europe#c1]
supported by the sources [fabricius-venous-valves#c1]
Every claim in this pack
[galen-arteries-blood#c1] Galen argued in a dedicated treatise that the arteries naturally contain blood, against Erasistratus and his followers. (established). Sources: Galen, Whether Blood Is Naturally Contained in the Arteries (2nd c. CE); David J. Furley, J. S. Wilkie, Galen on Respiration and the Arteries (1984); (19th-century correspondent), Exposition of a Libel upon the Memory of the Ancients (19th c.)
[galen-arteries-blood#c2] His proof was to tie an exposed artery at two points, open the segment between the ligatures, and show it was full of blood. (established). Sources: Galen, Whether Blood Is Naturally Contained in the Arteries (2nd c. CE); (19th-century correspondent), Exposition of a Libel upon the Memory of the Ancients (19th c.); David J. Furley, J. S. Wilkie, Galen on Respiration and the Arteries (1984)
[ibn-al-nafis-pulmonary-circulation#c1] In his commentary on the anatomy of Ibn Sina's Canon, Ibn al-Nafis rejected the idea that blood passes through pores in the septum and described it travelling from the right ventricle through the pulmonary artery and lungs, returning by the pulmonary vein. (established). Sources: Ibn al-Nafis, Sharḥ Tashrīḥ al-Qānūn (Commentary on the Anatomy of Avicenna's Canon) (c. 1242); M. Akmal, M. Zulkifle, A. H. Ansari, Ibn Nafis – a forgotten genius in the discovery of pulmonary blood circulation (2010); Hektoen International, Ibn al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation (2017)
[ibn-al-nafis-pulmonary-circulation#c2] The manuscript was rediscovered in Berlin in 1924 by the Egyptian physician Muhyo al-Deen Altatawi. (established). Sources: M. Akmal, M. Zulkifle, A. H. Ansari, Ibn Nafis – a forgotten genius in the discovery of pulmonary blood circulation (2010); Hektoen International, Ibn al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation (2017)
[ibn-al-nafis-pulmonary-circulation#c3] Whether his description reached sixteenth-century European anatomists is debated; one study raises the possibility that his work was a source for the European rediscovery. (contested). Sources: Buchs, History of a Discovery: Ibn Al-Nafis and the Lung Circulation (n.d.); M. Akmal, M. Zulkifle, A. H. Ansari, Ibn Nafis – a forgotten genius in the discovery of pulmonary blood circulation (2010)
[pulmonary-circulation-europe#c1] Michael Servetus described the pulmonary circulation in Christianismi restitutio (1553), a theological book published anonymously and almost entirely destroyed, with only three copies surviving. (established). Sources: Michael Servetus, Christianismi restitutio (1553); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofInformation.com), Who Discovered the Pulmonary Circulation? Servetus, Valverde or Colombo? (n.d.); Museo Galileo, Florence, Realdo Colombo (biography) (n.d.)
[pulmonary-circulation-europe#c2] Juan Valverde de Hamusco described the pulmonary circulation in print in 1556 in an anatomy book, crediting his teacher Realdo Colombo, whose own De re anatomica appeared in 1559. (established). Sources: Juan Valverde de Hamusco, Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano (1556); Realdo Colombo, De re anatomica libri XV (1559); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofInformation.com), Who Discovered the Pulmonary Circulation? Servetus, Valverde or Colombo? (n.d.); Museo Galileo, Florence, Realdo Colombo (biography) (n.d.)
[pulmonary-circulation-europe#c3] Because Servetus's book was suppressed and Ibn al-Nafis's commentary was unprinted, there is no evidence either was available to Colombo, who appears to have reached his conclusion independently. (contested). Sources: Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofInformation.com), Who Discovered the Pulmonary Circulation? Servetus, Valverde or Colombo? (n.d.); Museo Galileo, Florence, Realdo Colombo (biography) (n.d.)
[fabricius-venous-valves#c1] Fabricius's De venarum ostiolis (1603) is the earliest known detailed description of the valves of the veins, though earlier anatomists, including Canano and Amato Lusitano, had observed them. (established). Sources: Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente, De venarum ostiolis (1603); University of Missouri Digital Library (record), De Venarum Ostiolis (n.d.); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com, Garrison-Morton), Fabricius, De venarum ostiolis (n.d.)
[fabricius-venous-valves#c2] Fabricius believed the valves slowed the flow of blood away from the heart so that it would not rush into the hands and feet. (established). Sources: Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente, De venarum ostiolis (1603); University of Missouri Digital Library (record), De Venarum Ostiolis (n.d.); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com, Garrison-Morton), Fabricius, De venarum ostiolis (n.d.)
[fabricius-venous-valves#c3] His student William Harvey reinterpreted the valves as preventing backflow towards the extremities, evidence that venous blood flows towards the heart. (established). Sources: William Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628); University of Missouri Digital Library (record), De Venarum Ostiolis (n.d.); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com, Garrison-Morton), Fabricius, De venarum ostiolis (n.d.)
[harvey-circulation#c1] Harvey published Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus at Frankfurt in 1628. (established). Sources: William Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628); Neuss, Blood money: Harvey's De motu cordis (1628) as an exercise in accounting (2018); Stanford University, History 13 course reader, William Harvey (1578–1657) (n.d.)
[harvey-circulation#c2] His quantitative argument showed that the heart pushes out far more blood than the body could make from food, so the same blood must circulate. (established). Sources: William Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628); Neuss, Blood money: Harvey's De motu cordis (1628) as an exercise in accounting (2018); Stanford University, History 13 course reader, William Harvey (1578–1657) (n.d.)
[harvey-circulation#c3] He showed that the valves in the veins allow blood to flow only towards the heart. (established). Sources: William Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com, Garrison-Morton), Fabricius, De venarum ostiolis (n.d.); University of Missouri Digital Library (record), De Venarum Ostiolis (n.d.)
[malpighi-capillaries#c1] In two letters to Giovanni Alfonso Borelli printed at Bologna in 1661, Malpighi showed with a microscope that the lung is made of tiny air sacs rather than solid flesh. (established). Sources: Marcello Malpighi, De pulmonibus observationes anatomicae (two letters to Borelli) (1661); Luca Tonetti, Frogs' lungs and Malpighi's discovery of pulmonary capillaries (2015); University of Bologna (Scienza Giovane), Malpighi (continued) (n.d.)
[malpighi-capillaries#c2] Working on frogs with the help of Carlo Fracassati, he observed blood moving through minute vessels connecting arteries and veins in the lung, which Harvey had inferred but never seen. (established). Sources: Marcello Malpighi, De pulmonibus observationes anatomicae (two letters to Borelli) (1661); Luca Tonetti, Frogs' lungs and Malpighi's discovery of pulmonary capillaries (2015); University of Bologna (Scienza Giovane), Malpighi (continued) (n.d.)
[arteries-pneuma#b] Erasistratus and his followers held that the arteries naturally contain pneuma rather than blood. (established). Sources: Galen, Whether Blood Is Naturally Contained in the Arteries (2nd c. CE); David J. Furley, J. S. Wilkie, Galen on Respiration and the Arteries (1984); (19th-century correspondent), Exposition of a Libel upon the Memory of the Ancients (19th c.)
[arteries-pneuma#c] Galen showed by ligating an artery at two points that the isolated segment contains blood. (established). Sources: Galen, Whether Blood Is Naturally Contained in the Arteries (2nd c. CE); David J. Furley, J. S. Wilkie, Galen on Respiration and the Arteries (1984); (19th-century correspondent), Exposition of a Libel upon the Memory of the Ancients (19th c.)
[septal-pores#b] Galen taught that blood passes through pores in the interventricular septum, and Ibn Sina's Canon repeated the teaching. (established). Sources: Galen, De usu partium (On the Usefulness of the Parts) (2nd c. CE); M. Akmal, M. Zulkifle, A. H. Ansari, Ibn Nafis – a forgotten genius in the discovery of pulmonary blood circulation (2010); Hektoen International, Ibn al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation (2017)
[septal-pores#c] Ibn al-Nafis rejected the septal pores and described blood passing through the lungs instead; in Europe the lung route was described again in the 1550s. (established). Sources: Ibn al-Nafis, Sharḥ Tashrīḥ al-Qānūn (Commentary on the Anatomy of Avicenna's Canon) (c. 1242); M. Akmal, M. Zulkifle, A. H. Ansari, Ibn Nafis – a forgotten genius in the discovery of pulmonary blood circulation (2010); Museo Galileo, Florence, Realdo Colombo (biography) (n.d.)
[venous-valves-brake#b] Fabricius believed the venous valves slowed the flow of blood away from the heart. (established). Sources: Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente, De venarum ostiolis (1603); University of Missouri Digital Library (record), De Venarum Ostiolis (n.d.); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com, Garrison-Morton), Fabricius, De venarum ostiolis (n.d.)
[venous-valves-brake#c] Harvey showed that the venous valves allow blood to flow only towards the heart. (established). Sources: William Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628); University of Missouri Digital Library (record), De Venarum Ostiolis (n.d.); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com, Garrison-Morton), Fabricius, De venarum ostiolis (n.d.)
[liver-makes-blood#b] In Galenic physiology blood was made in the liver from food and consumed by the body rather than circulating. (established). Sources: Galen, De usu partium (On the Usefulness of the Parts) (2nd c. CE); Neuss, Blood money: Harvey's De motu cordis (1628) as an exercise in accounting (2018); Stanford University, History 13 course reader, William Harvey (1578–1657) (n.d.)
[liver-makes-blood#c] Harvey's quantitative argument showed the heart moves far more blood than the body could produce from food, so the blood must circulate. (established). Sources: William Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628); Neuss, Blood money: Harvey's De motu cordis (1628) as an exercise in accounting (2018); Stanford University, History 13 course reader, William Harvey (1578–1657) (n.d.)