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The
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries:
In 1628, William Harvey
published “Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Circulatione Sangunis
in Animalibus” in which he outlined the circulation of the
blood and the normal function of the heart. This was an enormous advance
in medicine and pathology.
In this painting by Robert
Hannah, William Harvey demonstrates his experiments on deer to King
Charles I and the future King Charles II
The Italian Marcello Malpighi
(1628-1694) expanded Harvey’s work. He discovered the capillaries
and red blood cells and described the microscopic features of the kidneys,
lungs and spleen.
The microscope revolutionised pathology. Hans and Zacharias
Janssen of Holland are credited with the manufacture of the first microscope
but it was almost immediately superseded by the superior instrument of
Cornelius Drebbel of Holland. Another Dutchman, Antonj van Leeuwenhoek,
popularised the use of microscopy.
Robert Hooke’s microscope as shown in
an engraving from his Micrographica (1667).
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