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Overview
In the first major biographical study of Harvey in 50 years, Thomas Wright charts the meteoric rise of a yeoman's son to the elevated position of King Charles I's physician, taking the reader from farmlands of Kent to England's royal palaces, and paints a vivid portrait of an extraordinary mind formed at a fertile time in England's intellectual history. Set in late Renaissance London, the book features an illustrious cast of historical characters, from Francis Bacon and John Donne to Robert Fludd, whose corroboration of Harvey's ideas helped launch his circulation theory.
After he published his discoveries, Harvey became famous throughout Europe, where he demonstrated his theory through public vivisections. Although his ideas met with vociferous opposition, they eventually triumphed and Harvey became renowned as the only man in the history of natural philosophy to live to see a revolutionary theory gain wide currency. But just as intellectual ideas could be toppled, so too could kings. When Charles I was overthrown during the Civil War of the 1640s, his loyal court physician fell also, and Harvey, an unrepentant Royalist, was banished from London under the English Republic. He died in the late 1650s, a gout-ridden, melancholy man, uncertain of his achievement.
A victim of the political turmoil of the times, William Harvey was nevertheless the mainspring of vast historical changes in anatomy and physiology. Wright's biography skillfully repositions Harvey as a man who embodied the intellectual and cultural spirit of his age, and launched a revolution that would continue to run its course long after his death.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780199931699 |
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Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Publication date: | 10/01/2012 |
Pages: | 288 |
Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Prologue. A new theory (1636): 'Blood moves ... in a circle, continuously' xvii
Part I Raising Himself from the Ground
1 A Kentish upbringing (1578-1593): 'Half Farmer and half Gentleman' 3
2 Cambridge studies I (1593): 'Making low legs to a nobleman' 10
3 Cambridge studies II (c. 1593-1599): 'Devoting himself assiduously to his studies' 20
Essay 1 Galen, Mondino, and Vesalius: A brief history of anatomy 30
4 Paduan studies I (1599-C.1600): 'Fair Padua, nursery of the arts' 40
Essay 2 A dissection of sacred hearts, feeling hearts, and thinking hearts 54
5 Paduan studies II (c. 1600-1602): 'The exposition of anatomy' 61
6 Early years in London (c.1602-c.1610): 'Begin the world' 75
7 Advances (c.1610-c.1625): 'Good endeavours bring forth much good frute' 88
Part II Placing his Head Among the Stars
8 A public lecture (late 1610s): 'Nasty (yet recompensed by admirable variety)' 101
9 Private research (late 1610s-1620s): 'A dog, crow, kite, raven ... anything to anatomize' 115
Essay 3 A short history of vivisection 127
10 Birth of the theory (late 1610s-1620s): 'I began to bethink my self 132
Essay 4 Francis Bacon, experiment, and empiricism 138
11 Demonstration (late 1610s-1620s): 'Whereby I offer you to perceive and judge 147
Essay 5 The landscape of Harvey's imagination (I): Microcosm and macrocosm 156
Essay 6 The landscape of Harvey's imagination (II): Perfect circles 167
Essay 7 Everyday influences on Harvey's theory 176
12 Publication and reception (1628-1650s): "Twos beleeved ... he was crack-brained' 186
13 Dissemination and defence (1628-1636): 'He is a circulator!' 195
Essay 8 Descartes' clockwork universe 205
14 Civil War years (the 1640s): 'Anabaptists, fanatics, robbers, and murderers' 210
15 Last years (the 1650s): 'Shut-breeches' 219
Acknowledgements 227
Notes 229
Bibliography 239
Further Reading 251
List of Illustrations 253
Index 255