Page:The Harveian oration delivered at the Royal College of Physicians June 26, 1889 (IA b22361285).pdf/13

 mixed with air in the lungs, and thus in some sort having acquired the nature of spirit, is carried by the arteria venosa or pulmonary vein into the left ventricle, from whence being received into the aorta, it is by the ramifications of this vessel transmitted to all parts of the body.’ The learned translator of Harvey’s works, to whom all Harveian orators must feel indebted, observes ‘This much looks very like an exposition of the circulation of the blood as understood at the present time.’ And so it does indeed, but then we find that Columbus could not have had a correct idea of the manner in which the external stream was continued in the veins, and the circle completed for we find him adopting the notion of the day, as to the origin of the veins from the liver, which is quite incompatible with a correct appreciation of the movement of the blood in a circle. And thus it was that the great truth became the prize of Harvey.

It may have been imperfectly conceived by others, suspicions of its true nature may have entered the minds of men, but Harvey made it stand forth, assume form, and show purpose. When