Introduction: anatomy and the Renaissance

Harvey's natural philosophy, particularly that part of it related to anatomy and medicine, was formed partly by his reading. Before giving his own lectures on anatomy, he read widely among the anatomists of the previous seventy years or so. That period saw a great development in anatomy as a discipline within the schools. It had also seen the Reformation and the Renaissance. All three changes were linked. We shall see in a later chapter that the religious questions of the Reformation were important in determining how Harvey's doctrine was handled in the universities, and the origins of such attitudes lie in the earliest days of this period of change. Natural philosophy could not remain unaffected by these changes.

We shall look in this chapter primarily at authors whom Harvey read and quoted, and from whom he might therefore have taken components of his natural philosophy and material for his anatomy lectures. We shall not be concerned with wider questions about Renaissance anatomy unless they touch in some fairly direct way upon Harvey and the circulation. Among the authors that Harvey read, Vesalius occupies first place. Harvey quoted him more than forty times, more than any other modern author; moreover, Vesalius was personally responsible for much of the shape of Renaissance anatomy. He wrote at a time when the changes of the Reformation were becoming apparent.