Arguably the greatest Englishman in the history of science after Isaac Newton, The first biography of William Harvey, the Englishman who discovered the circulation of the blood, and a vivid and visceral portrait of seventeenth-century thought and imagination, by the quirky, charming author of Oscar's Books.
For a man of such diminutive stature, William Harvey made a huge and inestimable impact on modern medicine. Arguably the greatest Englishman in the history of science after Isaac Newton, Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood overturned centuries of long-held beliefs, and unusually, he lived to see his own doctrine established in his lifetime. Set in the thumping heart of late Renaissance London, Tom Wright's vivid portrait of Harvey also shows how his physiological ideas permeated culture and language, from London's bustling trade networks to the discovery of meteorological cycles, and featuring a dramatic cast of historical characters, from Francis Bacon, England's erstwhile Lord Chancellor and a former patient, and John Donne's sensual poetry which too places the heart at the centre of man's existence, to Robert Fludd, whose support and corroboration of Harvey's ideas helped launch his circulation theory.
Prior to 1620, the anatomic tradition was governed by the thoughts of Galen, the celebrated second century Roman physician, who claimed the liver generated blood, and that the body was composed of four humours which in turn determined a man's temperament: melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine or choleric. Harvey began to explore the notion that the heart was the central organ, a notion that a number of brilliant continental minds had been probing for almost a century before. Harvey obsessively and tenaciously pursued his idea, dissecting a menagerie of animals, dead and alive, in his private research chamber. He published his findings in his magnum opus De Motu Cordis in 1628, which he dedicated to King Charles I.But just as Harvey's theory placed the heart at the centre of man, it posited the King as the centre of the body politic.
It was a conservative and dangerous allegiance -- and just as cherished Galenic ideas could be toppled, so was the King in the ensuing Civil War. Harvey was exiled, his London home ransacked, and he died, gout-ridden, in the eaves of his brother's house in Bishopsgate. Circulation celebrates the remarkable rise of a yeoman's son to the elevated position of King's physician, and above all, admires an extraordinary mind amid a rich, fertile time in England's intellectual history.
About the Author
Thomas Wright was educated at Saint Thomas More RC School, Bedford, and Magdalen College, Oxford. His groundbreaking Oscar's Books (Chatto & Windus, 2008), a portrait of his hero Oscar Wilde though his reading, was hailed by Craig Brown as 'an original and eccentric landmark in the art of literary biography'. His play, Death in Genoa, was recently produced in London and broadcast on website of The Independent. He lives in Oxford.
Industry Reviews
A book that combines scholarly science with narrative excitement to spectacular effect -- Mark Lawson
A concise, skilful and eloquent book -- Charles Nicholl * Guardian *
Thomas Wright's book opens brilliantly and bloodily and continues in the same vein...a captivating intellectually gripping journey into our country's scientific past -- Druin Burch * Mail on Sunday *
In Circulation, Wright tells a good story, warts and all -- Duncan Wu * Independent *
[An] acute, imaginative book -- John Carey * Sunday Times *
The little man of 'perpetual movement' has found a fine advocate in Thomas Wright, whose highly readable Circulation combines recent scholarship with more than a touch of drama * Times Literary Supplement *
Thomas Wright's lucid biography...deftly puts Harvey into his cultural context -- Hermione Eyre * Prospect *
As soon as I started this book, I was gripped with curiosity -- William Leith * Spectator *
Thomas Wright's lively little book on Harvey's revolutionary idea is a panegyric to the man's whirring mind, and to the excitements of thinking more generally -- Helen Brown * Daily Telegraph *
Excellent and often bloodthirsty... A highly readable account of a great Englishman * Tablet *
A vivid biography of William Harvey, which reveals his complex character -- Patricia Fara * BBC History Magazine *
It's a pretty gruesome story - told very well here by Thomas Wright -- William Leith * Evening Standard *
An engaging and lively account of an endlessly curious man * Independent *
