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Hippocrates (460 to 377 BC) first ascribed a person’s pulse to the blood vessels and found that these blood vessels traced to the heart. Aristotle (322 BC) described the heart as the power of thought and felt it contained the soul source of bodily heat. Galen (131 -201 AD) observed, “…blood is drawn from the right ventricle into the left, owing to there being perforations in the septum between them”. This structural concept was perpetuated for 1500 years without challenge, until direct examination in the Renaissance period revealed more accurate facts. Da Vinci (1452 – 1519) secretly dissected and drew the human heart.
Serpiginous Splenic Artery – Da Vinci
This is a drawing of the “meseraic vessels” – presumably the celiac axis. Da Vinci was able to interview and perform an autopsy on a centenarian. He describes the dessicated and tortuos state of the vessels of this patient accurately depicting the atherosclerotic process. He describes the narrowed lumen and the consequences of poor blood flow.The translation of da Vinci’s text accompanying this one inch image is remarkably insightful and pioneering. (see atherosclerosis hisrorical da Vinci) 13045b

“da Vinci had the unique experience of being able to know and perform an autopsy on an centenarian and described his findings of the aorta and splenic artery – characteristic of atherosclerosis. He observed the tortuosisy of the vessels, the calcification, the aneurysmal nature, the hardening and the lumenal narrowing of the atherosclerotic process. The following is the direct translation of daVinci’s writing. “The artery and vein which in the aged, extend between the spleen and the liver, acquire so thick a covering that it contracts the passage of the blood which comes from the meseraic (mesenteric portal) veins. By means of these veins the blood through the liver to the heartand the two major veins (cava) and consequently through the entire body. These veins apart from the thickening grow in length and twist like a snake, ….. …I have found there stones in the vessels which pass beneath the clavicles of the chest. These were as large as chestnuts of the color and shape of truffles or of dross or clinkers of iron. These stones were extremely hard, like these clinkers, and had formed sacs attached to the said vessels, in the manner of goiters. …And this old man, a few hours before his death, told me that he had passed one hundred years, and that he was concious of no failure of body, except feebleness. And thus sitting upon a bed in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova Florence, without any untoward movement or sign, he passed from this life. And I made an anatomy to see the cause of death to see the cause of death so sweet, which I found to proceed from debility through lack of blood and deficiency of the artery (aorta) which nourishes the heart and other lower members. I found this artery very dessicated, shrunken and withered. This anatomy I described very carefully, and with great ease owing to the absence of fat and humor which rather hinder recognition of the parts. The other anatomy was that of a child of 2 yeqrs in which I found everything to be oppposite to that old man. The aged who enjoy good health die through lack of nourishment. This happens because the lumen of the meseraic (mesenteric portal) veins is constantly constricted by the thickening of the coverings of these vessels; which progress as far as the capillary vessels (vene chapillari) which are the first to close up entirely. As a consequence of this, the old dread the cold more than the young and those who are extremely old have a skin the color of wood or of dry chestnut because the skin is almost completely deprived of nourishment. The tunics of the vessels behave in man as in oranges, in which the peel thickens and the pulp diminishes the older they become. And if you say that it is the thickened blood which does not flowthrough the vessels, this is not true, for the blood does not thicken in the vessels because it is continually dies and is renewed.”

Vesalius (1514-1564) challenged Galen’s idea of the septum and suggested that the ventricular septum was impermeable. Stephen Hales (1733) was the first to measure blood pressure. In 1816, Rene T. H. Laennec invented the stethoscope. In 1903, Willem Einthoven a Dutch physiologist discovered and applied EKG technology to map the hearts electrical activity. Christiaan Barnard of South Africa performed the first human heart transplant in 1967.
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, wrote, “The vessels which spread themselves over the whole body, filling it with spirit, juice, and motion, are all of them but branches of an original vessel. I protest, I do not know where it begins or where it ends, for in a circle there is neither a beginning nor an end.” Although Hippocrates did not have the opportunity to view the body with today’s imaging modalities, the assumptions that he made in 470 B.C. were fairly accurate.
 Hippocrates first ascribed a person’s pulse to the blood vessels and found that these blood vessels traced to the heart. 322 B.C. – Aristotle describes the heart as the power of thought and felt it contained the soul source of bodily heat. 131-201 AD – Galen observes, “…blood is drawn from the right ventricle into the left, owing to there being perforations in the septum between them.” This structural concept was perpetuated for 1500 years without challenge, until direct examination in the Renaissance period revealed more accurate facts. 1452-1519 – Da Vinci (1452 – 1519) secretly dissects and drew the human heart. 1514-1564 – Vesalius (1514-1564) challenges Galen’s idea of the septum and suggests that the ventricular septum was impermeable. 1733 – Stephen Hales is the first to measure blood pressure. 1816 – Rene T. H. Laennec invents the stethoscope. 1903 – Willem Einthoven, a Dutch physiologist, discovers and applies EKG technology to map the heart’s electrical activity. 1967 – Christiaan Barnard of South Africa performs the first human heart transplant.

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Cardiac Syncitium

It goes round and around, fetching and taking, in circles and cycles, always moving in pulsatile fashion, mostly forward, but sometimes a little backward. This is the circulation. Although Hippocrates had a hint of a continuum and a cycle, his perceptions were not fully realized until Harvey’s work in the early 1600’s. Harvey’s work stands central to all that happened before, and all that will come after.(Image composite by Ashley Davidoff M.D.)

Galen’s Concept of the Organs and their Faculties
Heat plays a central role part in the theory of Galen. The three ?faculties? of the body are the nutritive, vital and logical faculties. The nutritive faculty is related to the stomach which “cooks” the food and converts it into chyle. The chyle is transported to the liver by the portal vein. In the liver further heat converts the food into blood and adds natural spirit. Some of the blood is transported via the veins to the heart where more heat is added to create vital spirit. The blood becomes thinner is distributed to the body by the arteries giving warmth and enables growth. The vital spirit is measured through the pulse. The brain adds psychic pneuma, which provides the rational and logical faculty in the form of thought will and choice. These are distributed to the body via the nerves. The logical faculty reigns supreme and is followed in orderof importance by the vital and nutrtive faculties. The transport systems of the body include the nerves which transmit the logical faculty, the arteries which transport the vital spirit, and the veins which transport the blood with nutritive faculty from the liver. Galen faculties of the body nutrition portal vein stomach liver vein heart vital faculty pneuma lungs brain logical faculty animal spirits Davidoff art Copyright 2008 13169c18b01.8s