George Jackson Fisher

“ The history of the physical sciences gives more than one example of the discovery of an important fact by two or more persons, in different places and at different dates, each without previous knowledge of what the other had observed. So do we find it in this instance, Cæsalpinus rediscovered the pulmonary circulation without knowing that both Servetus and Columbus had each previously and independently discovered the same, for he nowhere alludes to them; and he was too noble and honorable a man to bedeck himself with glories not his own. ”

“ I will merely state that Padua became the seat and center of "Averroist Aristotelianism," and that Petrus de Apono, about the year 1300, became a famous expositor of these doctrines in their relation to medicine, and an equally noted example of heterodoxy in matters of faith; so much so that his effigy was burned in the public market-place by the executioner, at the command of the Inquisitors. Though for ages both Aristotle and Averroës were regarded as the supreme masters of the science of proof, yet their teachings were considered inimical to the requirements of religious faith ”

“ Next all-fools-day will be the tercentenary of Harvey, when all Christendom ought to be interested in the justice of his claims to the glory of consummating a discovery of so much consequence to mankind. No mere national pride should bias the minds of men whereby memorials may be placed at Rome, Pisa, and Bologna, in rivalry with that which is to be erected at Folkestone, in England, to commemorate the time and place of Harvey's birth. ”

“ It is not unlikely that the extreme admiration which Averröes always entertained for the writings of Aristotle was inspired by the enthusiastic teachings of Ibn-Tofail. His unbounded admiration of Aristotle amounted to a profound reverence, for thus we find Averröes asserting that "the doctrine of Aristotle is the perfection of truth, and his understanding attained the utmost limit of human ability; so that it might be truly said of him that he was created and given to the world by Divine Providence, that we might see in him how much it is possible for man to know." ”

“ I propose to give a brief account of the antecedent errors and discoveries to the time of Harvey—that of Erasistratus, who taught that the arteries were air-vessels; of Galen, who demonstrated that they are blood-vessels as well as the veins; of Vesalius, who convinced the world that Galen erred in declaring that holes existed in the partition between the two sides of the heart; of Servetus, Columbus, and Cæsalpinus, who, quite independently of each other, discovered the circulation through the lungs; of Fabricius, who discovered the valves in the veins ”

“ This poor philosopher had not yet reached the end of his eventful life. Owing to the misrule of his successor in the regency of Morocco, the discontented people earnestly petitioned the ruler of the Faithful to restore their former governor, whose mildness and wisdom had secured to them so high a degree of prosperity and so many blessings. After much deliberation Averroës was restored to freedom, reinstated in his positions of honor, where his moral virtues, his amiability, his justice, and his humanity, were exercised to the advantage of his fellow-beings. ”

“ Freind, in his "History of Physic," denies that he had anything more than a vague notion of this function. I copy the words of Nemesius as translated by Freind for the benefit of the curious:
"The motion of the pulse takes its rise from the heart, and chiefly from the left ventricle of it; the artery is with great vehemence dilated and contracted, by a sort of constant harmony and order. While it is dilated, it draws the thinner part of the blood from the next veins, the exhalation or vapor of which blood is made the aliment for the vital spirit. ”

“ Averroës lived not long after Avenzoar, whom he calls "admirable, glorious, the treasure of all knowledge," and the most supreme in physic from Galen to his own time. Averroës was personally acquainted with the sons of Avenzoar. He was a great student. It is said that, under the most approved teachers of his time, he mastered theology, jurisprudence, mathematics, philosophy, and medicine. He flourished at a time when the Moslem caliphate in Spain had attained its maximum splendor, and such as had only been excelled by the ancient Oriental glories of Arabia and Persia. ”

“ Claudius Galen (a. d. 131) , next to Hippocrates the most celebrated physician the world ever produced, was born at Pergamus, in Asia Minor, about the year of our Lord 131, and educated in anatomy and medicine at Alexandria, then the most famous school in the world. At the age of thirty-four he settled at Rome, where he distinguished himself as a skillful practitioner, and became the physician to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The period of his death is not known, but it is stated that he was still living in the reign of Septimius Severus. Galen was a voluminous writer. ”

“ Such was the force of the fanatical indignation against poor Averroës, that everywhere he was subjected to the jeers and insults of a bigoted populace. All this occurred about the year 1195, at which time a general effort was made to destroy all liberal culture in Andalusia, reserving only such practical branches as would prove most useful to the people, including medicine, surgery, mathematics, and astronomy. ”

“ Jan Stephan van Calcar, the favorite pupil and-wonderful imitator of the world-renowned Titian (not Titian himself, as some have declared) , was employed to design anatomical figures, and the best engravers cut them in wood to adorn that massive and splendid old folio—that opus magnum, which was published in Basel, in the year 1543, three and a third centuries ago. ”

“ Instant death was demanded by some, while others insisted on permitting him to live, and extorting from him a public recantation of his errors. The final decision was that he should be led out bareheaded, at the hour of prayer, and placed on the upper step at the entrance of the mosque, that every one as he passed in might have an opportunity of showing his holy wrath and indignation by spitting in the heretic's face. ”

“ We are obliged to glance back through several centuries and make the acquaintance of nearly a score of anatomical celebrities, who have each contributed some observation or discovery leading to the final comprehension and complete interpretation of God's beautiful but simple method of circulating the vital fluid and keeping it ever replenished and pure. ”

“ Time will not allow me to tell the whole story of how Calvin vindictively threatened him, and drew up thirty-eight articles of accusation against him, and how the poor, unfortunate man fled and disguised himself, and was subsequently arrested and tried by a grave council of sixty, who, after deliberating three full days on his heresy and the degree of punishment to be inflicted, fixed upon a heavy fine, and death by slow, torturing fires ”

“ Averroës, being master of the Melekitic law, was appointed cadi of Seville in the year 1169, and for a quarter of a century occupied his time in similar offices in Cordova, Seville, and Morocco, belonging at the same time to the court of the reigning monarch Jusuf Almansur, who, it is said, was fond of engaging him in philosophic discussions in relation to the Islam faith. ”

“ William Harvey (1578-1657) .—I will be brief in my sketch of the crowning hero of the story of the circulation of the blood. William Harvey was born of a highly-respectable Kentish family, April 1, 1578—wanting one year of three centuries ago. Great men have chiefly come of superior and noble-minded mothers. ”