Opinions on Vesalius

Vesalius is a very interesting man. He was the “talk of the hour” way before I was born. He was also a physician and anatomist. People always refer to him as the founder of modern anatomy. Some people may even think that he’s the reason I became so interested in the anatomy and flow of blood in mammals. Through his work with muscles, Vesalius believed that a criteria for muscles was their voluntary motion. On this theory, he decided that the heart was not a true muscle due to its obvious involuntary nature of its motion. How outrageous is that!! Now I know that the heart is a muscle since it is what pumps blood throughout the body. Vesalius also identified two chambers and two atria. The right atrium was considered a continuation of the inferior and superior venae cavae and the left atrium was considered a continuation of the pulmonary vein. Vesalius had a few wild theories, but in the end, most of his discoveries did help me. Without his finding of the vesicles, it made my search easier. “Neither is it by any means to be allowed that the heart only moves in the lines of its straight fibres, although the great Vesalius giving this notion countenance, quotes a bundle of osiers bound in a pyramidal heap in illustration; meaning, that as the apex is approached to the base, so are the sides made to bulge out in the fashion of arches, the cavities to dilate, the ventricles to acquire the form of a cupping-glass and so to suck in the blood.” (Chapter 1) Thanks to him, I was able to conclude that the heart pumps blood throughout all the of the body using the same blood. I know, you would expect me to despise him, but upon doing my work I had to follow his footsteps. I began to grow fond of him and I still believe he was a brilliant man.

Idea For a New Book

"On The Motion Of The Heart And Blood In Animals"

Lately, I’ve been thinking… I’m almost done with my studies and I think I want to write a novel about it to document it all and show everyone the secret behind the oh-so mysterious heart. I hope it will give a clear and connected summary of the action of the heart and the resulting movement of the blood around the body. I’m going to include a detailed analysis of the overall structure of the heart (from what I saw in cold-blooded animals). The arteries are  important in the summary of how the heart works. They’re able to show how their pulsation depends upon the shrinking of the left ventricle, while the right ventricle powers its charge of blood into the pulmonary artery. The two ventricles move together almost simultaneously and not independently like other people think they do. I’d record separately about each of the animals I have dissected. I observed the heart of animals such as eel, fish, snails, invisible shrimp, chicks before its hatching and even pigeons. When I used the inactive heart of a dead pigeon and wet it with saliva, I was able to witness a brief pulsation. I was able to see and conclude that the heart has an ability to recover from fatigue. This is a big deal!! I recognized the existence of the Ductus Arteriosus and was able to explain its relative function. "In embryos, consequently, whilst the lungs are yet in a state of inaction, performing no function, subject to no motion any more than if they had not been present, nature uses the two ventricles of the heart as if they formed but one, for the transmission of the blood.” (Chapter 6)The most detailed part of my book will definitely be  the actual quantity of blood passing through the heart from the veins to the arteries. Unlike what Galen believed, (the liver as the origin of venous blood), I was able to estimate the size of the heart, how much blood is pumped through each pump, and the amount of times the heart beats in a half an hour. All of these estimates are low, so people can see the vast amount of blood Galen's theory needed the liver to produce. I think this novel will be a great hit and will change the minds of everyone and what they thought of the heart.

Image of Veins of a Human

Image of veins from my Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus

Going Back to Work

Going Back to Work

Today I went back to working. It was super exhausting. When I arrived, there were rats and other various cold blooded animals ready for me to work on. (EW!!) But I guess I'm used to it since I've been doing this for almost forever. I performed more tests on them and continued to cut them open. I think I may be closer to finding out about how the blood moves thought our body! How cool is that? Today I came across this organ that is located in the animal with many veins connected to it, in every single animal. It sort of seems like an office in our body because it brings blood (which is in the veins) to other places of our body. I believe it pumps majority of the blood throughout our body. It’s a bit hard to understand at first glance since I am just using my bare eyes. There is no microscope I could accurately look through so I would need to go back and double check. I'll keep you guys updated and post a few more pictures and sketches of my advancements.

I would practice vivisection in order to learn more about the heart. Many people disagree in this but i believe it is the simplest thing to do since many people won't give up their lives for me nor was it religiously acceptable to cut open the dead. Yet, there were many people who believed in this practice since it was better than performing this on humans. "

if we carefully watch the movements of the heart in the vivisection of an animal, we shall perceive four motions distinct in time and in place, two of which are proper to the auricles, two to the ventricles. With all deference to such authority I say that there are four motions distinct in point of place, but not of time; for the two auricles move together, and so also do the two ventricles, in such wise that though the places be four, the times are only two." (Chapter 4) 

To examine the heart, I used animals of many different species and then cut into their chest. I would take away the bone and muscle in order to see the heart. I don't use and pain-killing medication because after all, theyre just animals. Also, pain medication could change the rate that the heart usually works in. “The motions of the dying heart were particularly informative.” (Chapter 2) The thing I don't understand is how people do not believe my results. Very few people mind that I perform on animals but even so, the results are clear and simple. They have been recorded and written. What is there not to believe?