May 2015 Vol. 3 No. 5

Search Pubmed for articles by:
 

Review

Ibn al- Nafīs and Servetus laid the foundation of circulation of the blood and Harvey discovered it

Nāsir Pūyān (Nasser Pouyan)

Nāsir pūyān (Nasser Pouyan), Tehran, 16616-18893, Iran

Email: nasser_pouyan@yahoo.com

Accepted May 19, 2015

Abstract

Concerning the anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the circulation of the heart, since Hippocrates (460-377 BC) until William Harvey (1578-1657) practically nothing was known. At a later period the first person in the European tradition to propose a separate transit of the blood through the lungs (pulmonary circulation) was Italian theologian and physician, Michael Servetus (1511-1553). A much earlier than Servetus was Ibn al- Nafīs (c.1210-1280) a Syrian born Egyptian physician, who described the pulmonary circulation, but there is no evidence that Servetus knew his description. Matteo Realdo Colombo (1516-1559) Italian anatomist and surgeon outlined the pulmonary circulatory system solely on the basis of physiological reasoning. Andrea Cesalpino (1519-1603) another Italian physician affirmed that the heart was the origin of blood vessels, and perhaps he was one of the most important precursors of William Harvey. Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) outstanding Belgian anatomist and surgeon who is considered the father of anatomy who revolutionized the study of medicine with his detailed description of the anatomy of human body showed that the intraventricular partition is impermeable. Nevertheless, it was the English physician William Harvey (1578-1657) whose experiments actually proved for the first time that blood was pumped around the body in a closed system. For the proof of the circulation of the blood, he argued that the rapidity with which the veins refill and the sheer amount of blood passing through were the documentary evidence of its circulation. Eventually, Harvey brought the circulation of the blood into effect.

Keywords: Circulation of the blood, Ibn al- Nafīs, Michael Cervetus, and William Harvey.