The Harvey Project.
About the Project.
Participants.
Biography of William Harvey.
Exhibit Development.
Exhibits.
Images.
Research.
Bibliography.
SmartBoard
Harvey and Galen
Until the early modern era, understandings of human physiology and pathology were credited to Galen of Pergamum. Perhaps the most influential Greek physician after Hippocrates, Galen refined medicine, however imperfectly, into a science. He was an avid experimenter and frequently dissected living and dead animals. Since human dissection was forbidden, Galen applied his insights into the bodily structure of animals to humans. Galen was not limited to experimental conclusions. He employed a teleological philosophy—the notion that all parts of the body were created for a clearly defined purpose. Much of Galenic physiology is therefore based on speculation and inference. Where quantifiable explanations were simply unavailable, Galen referred to the presence of “spirits” in order to fill the gap in his reasoning.
William Harvey differed from his classical predecessors through experimental and quantitative methodology. Interested predominantly in the process of blood circulation, Harvey avoided authoritative theories of the body. In short, Harvey isolated his phenomena. He dispensed with the work of “spirits” in favor of mathematical and morphological arguments.
Would it be accurate to refer to William Harvey as a “modern scientist”? Not quite. Although Harvey’s methods were removed from classical theory, he did not mark a clean break from antiquity. Eager to dispense of Galen’s suppositions, Harvey was quick to cite Galen when supporting his own conclusions. Moreover, his Aristotelian worldview suggests significant continuity with the past. Perhaps it would be wise to think of Harvey as a transitional figure in the history of medicine.
Galen vs. William Harvey: Post-Exhibit Quiz
1) According to Galen, the arteries contained which of the following?
a) Air
b) Natural spirits
c) Animal spirits
d) Blood
2) To whom was the heart analogous to a “pump,” functioning largely as the “king of the body?”
a) Aristotle
b) Galen
c) William Harvey
d) Fabricius of Aquapendente
3) William Harvey could not quantify the existence of what?
a) Lungs
b) Veins
c) Capillaries
d) Valves
4) Which organ, argued Galen, was responsible for the production of blood in the entire human body?
a) Brain
b) Heart
c) Stomach
d) Liver
5) William Harvey remained a firm intellectual disciple of which classical philosopher?
a) Plato
b) Aristotle
c) Xenophon
d) Thales
6) William Harvey published his discovery of the circulation of the blood in ?
a) On the Motions of the Heart and Blood in Animals
b) De Humani Corpois Farica
c) Thus Spoke Zarathustra
d) How to Win Friends & Influence People
7) To whom was the brain first viewed as the controlling organ of the body?
a) William Harvey
b) Galen
c) Hippocrates
d) Friedrich Nietzsche
8) According to Galen, blood flowed into the heart where it was endowed with _?
a) Air
b) Humors
c) Vital spirits
d) Chyle
9) William Harvey identified what as the primary source of life?
a) Air
b) Black bile
c) Yellow bile
d) Blood
10) The relationship between Galen and Harvey’s understanding of the body can best be characterized as?
a) Continuity and change
b) Identical
c) Stark contrast
d) Unknown
Answer Key
1) a
2) c
3) c
4) d
5) b
6) a
7) b
8) c
9) d
10) a
Harvey the Observer
In order to better understand the circulation of blood, William Harvey relied on a series of observations and experiments to explain blood flow in the body. The Harvey the Observer station, was meant to recreate Harvey’s method and visitors were given the opportunity to become William Harvey by performing his famous arm experiment.
Visitors would place their left arm in the arm box, which was wired to an arduino board. The arduino board was connected to a computer and three buttons on the arm box allowed communication between the arm box and the computer. On the computer was a program that simulated the steps in Harvey’s arm experiment. By pressing the buttons on the arm, the computer would walk visitors though the experiment by providing simulations and further directions on the screen. The computer program depicted the flow of blood. In another simulation, visitors were instructed to hold their finger down on a vein on the arm box, under which, was a button which prompted the computer to show a simulation of the resulting blocked blood flow. The station even included a simulation of blood pooling to depict the purpose of valves.
Upon finishing the experiment, visitors learned just like William Harvey that, based on their observations, blood circulates throughout the body, in only one direction, and the valves serve to regulate the flow of blood. Through these observations Harvey, came to a better understanding of the behaviour of blood in the body, greatly contributing to our present-day knowledge of circulation. The digital medium of this station allowed this message to come accross in the most effective way and visitors seemed to enjoy the interactiveness.
Below are photographs of the different stages of the program (i.e. what the visitor would see on the computer at different stages in the simulated arm experiment).
Introductory Page 
Explanation of Harvey's Experimental Setup 
Simulation of Blood Pooling when Valve A is Pressed 
Simulation of Blood Being Pushed Between Valves B & C 
Concluding Page Showing Continuous Blood Flow 
Harvey's World
In Harvey's World, visitors learned about Harvey's younger days, and how his education influenced his development as an anatomist. By pressing buttons in a model operating theatre, visitors could read slides relating to three important figures: the anatomist, the student, and the body.
The slides were activated by pushing a button in the model, which went through an Arduino board and through a processing programme. Some visitors would get impatient and try to press another button before the 2 or 3 slides had popped up, again proving the importance of quick, to the point digital exhibits.
The model was built out of foamcore and corrugated plastic. It represented a cross-section of the real operating theatre at the University of Padua.
The Heart and Mechanical Philosophy
The purpose of this exhibit was twofold:
Firstly, that William Harvey was a mechanical philosopher. This philosophy revolved around the belief that the body could be envisioned as a machine – it was a series of pumps, levers, etc, that worked in concert in order to function as a whole. The simulated heart had two buttons which needed to be pushed in a pre-defined order to output the appropriate ‘normal’ heart signal. If it was too slow or fast, the screen displayed an irregular heartbeat. In doing so, the user understood that the heart was the center of the circulatory system, and functioned as a pump (not just an organ).
Secondly, the exhibit demonstrated visually that the left side of the heart contained more muscle as a result of its need to create more force than the right side. Most people who visited the exhibit were unaware of this difference in muscle mass, which meant that our visual representation of this was well received.
The first attempt at creating a heart that could be held was a small foam ball.
The sensors were too fragile to solder successfully and the foam did not illustrate the heart muscle well.
The second foam heart.
Wires in the heart. Checking that the sensors work before inserting them.
The mechanical heart exhibit
The finished heart complete with sensors and wiring.
The mechanical heart is handheld, and operated by pushing the red and blue buttons. The visual result is a green line on the screen which responds to correct and incorrect simulated beat sequences. A correct sequence results in a healthy heart beat, an incorrect sequence is qualified as too fast or too slow. Additionally, sensors were added to the buttons creating the sensation of a vibration when pushed.
