Edition 360f2c85 · generated from Tabula content · 6 plates
Fits: IB TOK; Modern History (source analysis)
Licence: photocopiable for classroom use by the purchaser (single teacher), or across one school with a school licence.
The body as known in c. 2nd–1st c. BCE (compilation). 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 2015 (and 1787). Colour what was understood; outline what was only described.The body as known in 2018. Colour what was understood; outline what was only described.
Story cards
Tab. IV: The circulation that wasn't (c. 2nd–1st c. BCE (compilation))
Did Chinese medicine describe the circulation of the blood 2,000 years before Harvey? Not in the way the claim suggests.
How they knew: Not a discovery, but a reading. This story follows a claim from a 1685 European book to modern popular history, and checks it against how specialists translate the text.
What it overturned: Nothing. This plate corrects us, not them. The popular myth is "China anticipated Harvey".
Status: revised. The popular claim that the Huangdi Neijing describes Harvey's circulation of the blood depends on a contested translation. Specialists such as Paul Unschuld read the passages as describing the flow of qi in vessels, without blood circulation or a heart that pumps.
Tab. X: Whirlpools close the valve (c. 1512–13)
Leonardo worked out how the aortic valve shuts, and almost nobody saw it for centuries.
How they knew: Close drawing of the ox heart, reasoning about water flow, and a proposed glass model of the aortic root with seeds in water to make the flow visible.
What it overturned: No prior account of how the valve's cusps close existed. His insight sat unpublished until modern flow studies reached the same answer.
Status: contested. The vortex explanation is in his drawings and was confirmed by modern studies. Whether he actually built the glass model he described is disputed. His anatomical notes went unpublished, so they had no influence on anatomy for centuries.
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.
Tab. XIX: A student saw them first (Aug–Nov 1677)
Living "animalcules" in semen, and an unusually honest attribution.
How they knew: Single-lens microscopes of extraordinary power, ground by Leeuwenhoek himself.
What it overturned: Ham's own first guess that the moving particles were a product of decay, and the assumption that semen was a uniform fluid.
Status: established
Tab. XXV: Discovered in 2015, described in 1787 (2015 (and 1787))
The brain's coverings have lymphatic vessels. An Italian anatomist drew them two centuries earlier.
How they knew: Modern imaging and tissue labelling in mice (2015); dissection and injection of lymphatics by Mascagni (1787).
What it overturned: The 19th- and 20th-century textbook view that the brain has no lymphatic drainage.
Status: contested. The 2015 papers were widely reported as a discovery. Paolo Mascagni had described lymphatics in the dura mater in 1787, and the 2015 authors' circle later acknowledged this. "First" depends on whether a forgotten description counts.
Tab. XXVI: A new organ? (2018)
Fluid-filled spaces under the skin and around the organs, and an argument about what counts as an organ.
How they knew: Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy, which images living tissue during endoscopy and avoids the fluid loss caused by conventional slide preparation.
What it overturned: The picture of these connective-tissue layers as dense walls, which came from slides where the fluid had drained away during preparation.
Status: contested. The fluid-filled spaces are real. Whether they amount to a new organ, rather than a new view of known tissue made visible by better methods, is disputed.
Spot the myth
For each statement, decide: was it believed then, later overturned, or is it supported by the sources?
Blood seeps from the right to the left side of the heart through invisible pores in the septum.
The brain and its coverings lack lymphatic vessels and drainage.
Isaac Vossius, in a book published in London in 1685, was among the first Europeans to claim that the Chinese had known the circulation of the blood for thousands of years, citing texts including the Huangdi Neijing.
In drawings of about 1512–13, Leonardo proposed that eddies forming in the sinuses behind the aortic valve cusps help close the valve after each heartbeat.
Discussion questions
Compilers of the Huangdi Neijing and Isaac Vossius: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
Tab. IV is marked "revised". What exactly is disputed, and what evidence would settle it?
Leonardo da Vinci: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
Tab. X 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?
Johan Ham and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: what method did they use, and why did it convince (or fail to convince) people at the time?
What did people believe before Tab. XIX, and why was that belief reasonable then?
Answer key and sources
believed then, later overturned [septal-pores#b]
believed then, later overturned [brain-no-lymphatics#b]
supported by the sources [huangdi-circulation-myth#c1]
supported by the sources [leonardo-aortic-valve#c1]
Every claim in this pack
[huangdi-circulation-myth#c1] Isaac Vossius, in a book published in London in 1685, was among the first Europeans to claim that the Chinese had known the circulation of the blood for thousands of years, citing texts including the Huangdi Neijing. (established). Sources: Isaac Vossius, Variarum observationum liber (1685); Jeremy M. Norman (HistoryofMedicine.com), [Entry on Isaak Vossius and the claim that the Chinese knew the circulation] (n.d.); Oxford University Research Archive, [Paper on Isaac Vossius and Robert Hooke and European views of Chinese learning] (n.d.)
[huangdi-circulation-myth#c2] Joseph Needham's translations suggested the classics described a circulation of vital energy with the heart as a pump; Paul Unschuld translates the same passages as describing neither blood circulation nor a pumping heart. (contested). Sources: Nature correspondence, [Letter on Needham's and Unschuld's readings of Chinese circulation passages] (2000); Paul U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (1985); Dominik Wujastyk (Indology list), Blood circulation (list post) (1999)
[huangdi-circulation-myth#c3] In the Huangdi Neijing the vessels carry qi, and only sometimes blood. (established). Sources: Dominik Wujastyk (Indology list), Blood circulation (list post) (1999); Paul U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (1985); (compiled, attributed to the Yellow Emperor), Huangdi Neijing (Inner Classic of the Yellow Emperor) (c. 2nd–1st c. BCE)
[leonardo-aortic-valve#c1] In drawings of about 1512–13, Leonardo proposed that eddies forming in the sinuses behind the aortic valve cusps help close the valve after each heartbeat. (established). Sources: Royal Collection Trust, Leonardo da Vinci, The aortic valve c.1512–13 (RCIN 919082) (n.d.); B. Boon, Leonardo da Vinci on atherosclerosis and the function of the sinuses of Valsalva (2009)
[leonardo-aortic-valve#c2] The vortex mechanism was confirmed by modern studies, including MRI. (established). Sources: B. Boon, Leonardo da Vinci on atherosclerosis and the function of the sinuses of Valsalva (2009); Royal Collection Trust, Leonardo da Vinci, The aortic valve c.1512–13 (RCIN 919082) (n.d.)
[leonardo-aortic-valve#c3] Whether Leonardo actually built the glass model of the aortic root he described is disputed by historians. (contested). Sources: B. Boon, Leonardo da Vinci on atherosclerosis and the function of the sinuses of Valsalva (2009); Royal Collection Trust, Leonardo da Vinci, The aortic valve c.1512–13 (RCIN 919082) (n.d.)
[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.)
[ham-leeuwenhoek-spermatozoa#c1] In August 1677 the medical student Johan Ham showed Leeuwenhoek small moving "animalcules" he had seen in semen; Leeuwenhoek recorded that Ham had seen them first. (established). Sources: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Alle de brieven van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (collected letters) (1939–); Royal Society Archive catalogue, Leeuwenhoek letter on spermatozoa, 1677 (EL/L3/7) (n.d.)
[ham-leeuwenhoek-spermatozoa#c2] Leeuwenhoek reported the observations to the Royal Society in November 1677; the original letter is lost, but a translation was printed in the Philosophical Transactions. (established). Sources: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Observationes de natis e semine genitali animalculis (Philosophical Transactions 12, no. 142, p. 1040) (1677); Royal Society Archive catalogue, Leeuwenhoek letter on spermatozoa, 1677 (EL/L3/7) (n.d.); Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Alle de brieven van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (collected letters) (1939–)
[meningeal-lymphatics#c1] In 2015 two independent groups, Louveau and colleagues in Nature and Aspelund and colleagues in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reported lymphatic vessels in the meninges. (established). Sources: A. Louveau et al., Structural and functional features of central nervous system lymphatic vessels (2015); A. Aspelund et al., A dural lymphatic vascular system that drains brain interstitial fluid and macromolecules (2015); (review, PubMed Central), So You've Made a Novel Discovery: The History of Our Knowledge of Central Nervous System Lymphatics May Change Your Mind (n.d.)
[meningeal-lymphatics#c2] Paolo Mascagni had described lymphatics in the cerebral dura mater in his 1787 atlas of the lymphatic system, written in Latin and largely overlooked. (established). Sources: Paolo Mascagni, Vasorum lymphaticorum corporis humani historia et ichnographia (1787); (review, PubMed Central), So You've Made a Novel Discovery: The History of Our Knowledge of Central Nervous System Lymphatics May Change Your Mind (n.d.); Frontiers in Immunology (review), [Review of meningeal lymphatics including their history, article 3043] (2019)
[meningeal-lymphatics#c3] Later nineteenth-century work, notably by Key and Retzius, influenced the long-standing view that the brain lacks lymphatic drainage. (contested). Sources: Axel Key, Gustaf Retzius, Studien in der Anatomie des Nervensystems und des Bindegewebes (1875–1876); (review, PubMed Central), So You've Made a Novel Discovery: The History of Our Knowledge of Central Nervous System Lymphatics May Change Your Mind (n.d.)
[interstitium-organ#c1] In 2018 Benias, Theise and colleagues reported fluid-filled spaces within connective tissue throughout the body, which they argued had been missed because preparing tissue for slides drains the fluid and collapses them. (established). Sources: P. C. Benias, R. G. Wells, B. Sackey-Aboagye, et al. (N. D. Theise), Structure and Distribution of an Unrecognized Interstitium in Human Tissues (2018); Prodromos Hytiroglou, Ian R. Wanless, The Interstitial Space Takes Shape (2018); Washington Square News (NYU), Langone Discovered New Organ in the Human Body (2018)
[interstitium-organ#c2] Press coverage called it a "new organ"; other anatomists welcomed the imaging but called the organ label a distraction, and later commentary argued the interstitium itself was not new. (contested). Sources: Washington Square News (NYU), Langone Discovered New Organ in the Human Body (2018); McGill University, Office for Science and Society, [Retrospective on the 2018 interstitium 'new organ' claim] (n.d.); Prodromos Hytiroglou, Ian R. Wanless, The Interstitial Space Takes Shape (2018)
[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.)
[brain-no-lymphatics#b] Nineteenth-century work by Key and Retzius influenced the long-held view that the brain lacks lymphatic drainage. (established). Sources: Axel Key, Gustaf Retzius, Studien in der Anatomie des Nervensystems und des Bindegewebes (1875–1876); (review, PubMed Central), So You've Made a Novel Discovery: The History of Our Knowledge of Central Nervous System Lymphatics May Change Your Mind (n.d.)
[brain-no-lymphatics#c] Two 2015 studies reported lymphatic vessels in the meninges, overturning the textbook view. (established). Sources: A. Louveau et al., Structural and functional features of central nervous system lymphatic vessels (2015); A. Aspelund et al., A dural lymphatic vascular system that drains brain interstitial fluid and macromolecules (2015); (review, PubMed Central), So You've Made a Novel Discovery: The History of Our Knowledge of Central Nervous System Lymphatics May Change Your Mind (n.d.)