Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1885 — William Harvey. [ARTICLE]

William Harvey.

William Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, was born at Folkstone, England, April 1, 1578. He was of a well-to-do family, and received a university education, taking his first degree at Cambridge in 1597. Having selected physic for his profession, he went in 1598 to the University of Padua, then the most celebrated school of medicine in the world. There he received his diploma as Doctor of Medicine in 1002, and returning to London, began the practice of his profession. In 1009 he was appointed physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and in 1015 was made lecurer at the College of Physicians. It is generally supposed that in his first course of lectures in 1616 he expounded those original and accurate views of the circulation of the blood with which his name has since been associated. He continued to demonstrate the subject in lectures, strengthening his theory with new illustrations, till he finally gave his discovery to the world in a treatise published in 1628. In 1628 Harvey was appointed physician to King James 1., and in 1632 received the same appointment for his successor, Charles I. He accompanied the Earl of Arundel in his embassy tp the German Emperor in 1036, and while in Nuremberg lectured there on his great discovery. He attended King Charles in his various expeditions, and was with him at the battle of Edgeliill, 1042. In 1046 he withdrew from practice and occupied himself in revising and completing his essays, etc., for publication. He contributed funds about this time to build a handsome addition to the College of Physicians in London, and in 1054 the college, as an expression of gratitude, elected him its President; but he declined the office on account of his age and infirmities. In 1050 he resigned his lectureship, after having held it for forty years. He died at London, June 3, 1057. —Inter Ocean.