That we may therefore conceive how the blood comes to be the very life; we must first know, that the substantial generation of the vital spirit itself is made and nourished by the inspired air, and the most subtil blood. The vital spirit hath its origin from the left ventricle of the heart, but its perfection chiefly from the lungs it is a fine spirit, produced by the power of a gentle heat, of a bright color, of an igneous quality; and is, as it were, a lucid vapor from the purest blood, having the substance of water, air, and fire. It is generated by the air which we inspire, mixt in the lungs with the elaborated subtil blood, which the right ventricle communicates to the left.

'Now this communication this communication is not made through the septum of the heart, as 'tis commonly believed; but the subtil blood is driven by a wonderful contrivance, from the right ventricle of the heart, through a long duct, into the lungs, by which it is prepared, and made bright; then it passeth from the vena arteriosa into the arteria cenosa; there it mixeth with inspired air, and is purged from its fuligo by expiration. Lastly, the whole mixture is brought into the left ventricle of the

heart by diastole, and is become fit matter to produce the vital spirit.'

• That the communication and the preparation, are made through the lungs, we learn, from the various conjunction and communication of the vena arteriosa with the arteria venosa in the lungs; this is confirmed by the considerable bigness of the vena arteriosa, which had never been so large, nor would send forth from the heart into the lungs, such a quantity of the pure blood, was it only for the nourishment of the lungs; nor would the heart serve the lungs upon that account, since the lungs themselves in an embryo, till the time of its birth, do receive their nourishment from something else, because of the little membranes of the heart, according to Galenus.'

'A little after he adds, that vital spirit therefore is transfused from the left ventricle of the heart into the arteries of the whole body, in such a manner that the most subtil portion of it flies upward, where it is further refined, especially in the plexus retiformis, under the basis of the cerebrum, where the vital spirit begins to be changed into the animal one, drawing nearer to the true nature of a rational soul.'

6

This is that famous passage (adds the author of the history) which is so much taken

notice of, on account of the circulation of the blood. There are indeed several things here that are remarkable, viz. that the blood, in a great stream, passes through a very large and wide duct, from the right ventricle of the heart, into the lungs; that there the blood is purified; and from thence it is driven, by the pulmonary vein, into the left ventricle of the heart; that there is an immediate communication between the arteries and the veins, by anastomosis; that the most pure part of the blood, refined in the lungs, enters the arteries, and from the arteries into the veins, &c. This shows that Servetus was a great observer of nature, and no doubt would have improved those notions and carried them much further, had he not been prevented by an untimely death.'

If the description which Doctor Servetus gave of the circulation of the blood was not so complete as that of Dr. Harvey, it is to be remembered that the former lived a century before the latter, and appears to have been the first who made the discovery, and that his persecutors prevented his further investigation of the subject. It is not improbable but the de

struction of his book which contained this discovery, excepting a very few copies, might

prevent its being known to the learned world until so long after.

As to Dr. Wotton's saying 'Well had it been for the church of Christ, if he had cónfined himself to his own profession;' wherein does this appear? What did Servetus do to injure any church, or disturb the peace of any man living? Could not he point out what he thought the errors of his fellow christians, and endeavor to enlighten mankind, without injuring them? It is true too many men are offended when their mistakes are pointed out; but ought this to be the case? He thought for himself, and he made his opinions public; but what harm could arise to the church from his doing this? How absurd and unjust it is for writers, with a single dash of the pen, without giving themselves the trouble to examine the merits of a cause, obliquely to condemn, as injurious characters, men whose learning and penetration they are compelled to acknowledge! The world might then (adds Dr. Wotton) have had just cause to bless his memory." if his supposed heteredox opinions rendered even his professional labors useless! The Dr. could not deny that he possessed great sagacity, and that the glory of discovering that the whole mass of blood passes through the lungs, by the

As

pulmonary artery and vein,' belongs to him. With the Doctor's leave, the world has just cause to bless the memory of Servetus, not only for this important discovery; but also for the noble stand he made for christian liberty and the rights of conscience, against bigots and persecutors; for his steady exertions to discover and promote truth; and for the sacrifice he made of his reputation and his life, in attempting to extirpate deep-rooted errors and prejudices.

SECTION IV.

His Edition of Ptolemy's Geography.

The Doctor is said to have made some very important corrections, with the assistance of ancient manuscripts, in Pirckheymer's translation of Ptolemy; but not to have made the least alteration in the description of Judea, which he gave word for word as it stood before. His first edition of Ptolemy's geography was printed at Lyons, in 1555, in one Volume Folio; that of Pirckheymer had been published at Strasburgh ten years before.

This book is divided into three parts. The first part contains one hundred and forty-nine