OUR DEBT TO HARVEY

Hokitika Guardian, 9 July 1928, Page 4

OUR DEBT TO HARVEY

(By T. F. Manning In the “Daily Mail.’’)

Tiie discovery of the circulation of the blood by D,r. William Harvey 300 years ago is said to be the most important physiological discovery ever made. Before this .Servetus taught that the blood passes from the right ventricle (lower chamber) of the henrt through .the lungs and back to the left ventricle. What H'a r vey found out is that the blood travels in a complete circle through the body and lungs from the heart hack to the heart.

The heart of a human being and of all mammalia is a two-fold organ the right part 'being completely separated from the left; each side consists of two chambers, an Auricle and a ventricle. liarvey found that starting from the left ventricle or lower chamber, whence it is pumped into the arteries, carried throughout the body, returned in the veins to the right auricle, to begin its journey again. This is about all we know of it today, with exception of tlie further discovery of Malpighi, when miscroscopes were invented, that the passage of the blood from the terminations of the arteries to the veins is by way of minute capillary Vessels invisible with the magnifying glass available in Harvey’s time.

Every day the discovery made by Harvey is of vital importance to the physician and the surgeon. When lie feels a patient’s pulse it is Harvey’s discovery which enables the surgeon to ju'dgo its significance. Thus, too, the meaning of high blood pressure, such a common complaint in these times, is made clear. When a surgeon is amputating a leg he understands why lie must apply a tourniquet round the limb to prevent copious bleeding. The tying of apt cries during some operations and after accidents, a much later discovery, is explained by knowledge of how the blood circulates; so is thd openiqg of veins for the transfusion of blood. We understand why morphia injected under the skin goes to the brain and relieves pain, and why certain treatment of varicose veins is beneficial.

Diagnosis of some diseases of the heart is made possible, so too is diagnosis of disease of the kidneys and other organs. Knowledge of the circulation of the blood has enabled us to understand how oxygen and nutriment are carried to th.o tissues and waste products are removed. Many ideas of practical value to-day would not have been thought of without Harvey’s discovery. No doubt someone would have made the discovery i sooner or later, hut it was Harvey who diu make it, and at a time whpn he had no aid from all the aoparntus available to physiologists of the present ago.