We all know that the heart pumps blood around the body, and that this fact was somehow discovered by a man called William Harvey. Before Harvey, people thought blood moved through the body in a sluggish fashion. But then, in the early 17th century, Harvey saw that it shoots out of the heart with great force, travels through the arteries, and then makes its way back to the heart through the veins. So: how did he see this? It’s a pretty gruesome story — told very well here by Thomas Wright. Harvey dissected animals. Having become a prosperous doctor — he was the “physician ordinary” to James I — he kept a basement room full of animals in his house in Ludgate Circus. He used to tie dogs up and operate on their hearts while they were still alive.
