Harvey Publishes De Motu Cordis

Timeline

1. 1616–1627College of Physicians of London · LondonIn the Lumleian anatomy lectures at the College of Physicians of London, Harvey combined his Paduan training with extensive animal and human dissection to gradually present to colleagues the claim that the heart is a pump and blood circulates along a closed path, accumulating in his lecture notes the experimental evidence later used in his book.
2. 1627–1628London · LondonHarvey condensed over ten years of lectures and experiments into a short Latin treatise, dedicated to Charles I and the College of Physicians of London, and acknowledged in the preface that the new doctrine might be seen as presumptuous, hoping first to have it examined by college colleagues before publication.
3. 1628Frankfurt · FrankfurtEnglish-born publisher William Fitzer printed the first quarto edition of the book in Frankfurt, with two copperplate engravings of venous ligatures. Publishing on the continent facilitated entry into the European Republic of Letters via the book fair, and also related to Harvey's friend Robert Fludd already publishing with Fitzer.
4. 1628–1630Europe · EuropeThe first edition used poor paper and had many errata, but the circulation theory quickly entered continental debates. Some Galenic physicians rejected it; Descartes and others accepted blood circulation but explained the heart's mechanism differently. The book introduced quantitative experiment into physiology, changing medicine's basic understanding of the heart and blood vessels thereafter.