Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 1 of 2).djvu/202

102 him. Whatever he has denied in the circulation of the blood, therefore, whether with reference to the mesentery or any other part, and with an eye to the lacteal veins or the ancient system of physic, or any other consideration, must be ascribed to his courtesy and modesty, and is to be excused.

Thus far, I think, it appears plain enough, from the very words and arguments of our author, that there is a circulation everywhere; that the blood, wherever it is, changes its place, and by the veins returns to the heart; so that our learned author seems to be of the same opinion as myself. It would therefore be labour in vain, did I here quote at greater length the various reasons which I have consigned in my work on the Motion of the Blood, in confirmation of my opinions, and which are derived from the structure of the vessels, the position of the valves, and other matters of experience and observation; and this the more, as I have not yet seen the treatise on the Circulation of the Blood of the learned writer; nor, indeed, have I yet met with a single argument of his, or more than his simple negation, which would lead me to see wherefore he should reject a circulation which he admits as universal, in certain parts, regions, and vessels.

It is true that by way of subterfuge he has recourse to an anastomosis of the vessels on the authority of Galen, and the evidence of daily experience. But so distinguished a personage, an anatomist so expert, so inquisitive, and careful, should first have shown anastomoses between the larger arteries and larger veins, and these, both obvious and ample, having mouths in relation with such a torrent as is constituted by the whole mass of the blood, and larger than the capacity of the continuous branches, (from which he takes away all circulation,) before he had rejected those that are familiarly known, that are more likely and more open; he ought to have clearly shown us where these anastomoses are, and how they are fashioned, whether they be adapted only to permit the access of the blood into the veins, and not to allow of its regurgitation, in the same way as we see the ureters connected with the urinary bladder, or in what other manner things are contrived, But—and here I speak over boldly perhaps—neither our learned author himself, nor Galen, nor any experience, has ever