History of the RSM
Feature of the month - September
William Harvey’s "Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus":
“Probably the most famous medical book ever published.”
In 1917 Sir William Osler presented to the Society a copy of the very rare 1628 edition of William Harvey’s "Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus: (An anatomical disquisition concerning the motion of the heart and blood)", usually called just De motu cordis.
Osler once remarked: “Not to have the 1628 Harvey in the RSM is a reproach which I should like to see removed.” He subsequently bought a copy at auction and immediately wrote to the Society’s Librarian to ask: “When is the next meeting of the Library Committee at which I will present it?”.
It is the rarest book held in the RSM Library, and only 55 copies of this edition are known still to be in existence.
It has been described by Christine R. English in Thornton’s Medical books, libraries and collectors as “probably the most famous medical book ever published…despite its unimpressive appearance…” and in the opinion of the editors of Morton’s Medical bibliography with Vesalius’s Fabrica (1543), De motu cordis “shares the honour as the greatest book in the history of medicine. By fundamentally changing our conceptions of the functions of the heart and blood vessels, Harvey pointed the way to reform of all of physiology and medicine.”
Harvey (1578-1657) was born at Folkestone in Kent. He studied at Cambridge and at the University of Padua in Italy, and began practicing in London in 1602.
Harvey researched the movement of the heart and the circulation of the blood. De motu cordis presents his observation that the blood moves around the body in a circle, propelled by the heart through the arteries and returned through the veins.
De motu cordis was printed on inferior paper and often poorly bound, which hastened the deterioration of the book. Most copies have been cut down and are bound in volumes with other tracts, so we are fortunate that our copy is in good condition and has been kept in its original separate state.
Bibliography
Morton, L.T. - Morton's Medical bibliography: an annotated check-list of texts illustrating the history of medicine. (Garrison and Morton).
Edited by Jeremy M. Norman. Aldershot, Scolar, 1991
Thornton, J.L. - Thornton's Medical books, libraries, and collectors: a study of bibliography and the book trade in relation to the medical sciences. Edited by Alain Besson. Aldershot, Gower, 1990.