Western Civilization II / Unit 5 WC2 0412 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Galen's Humors, Vesalius, and Harvey
Captions available
The idea
Medicine lagged: Galen's four humors and bleeding ruled, and cadavers were taboo. Vesalius, a Fleming at Padua, drew anatomy from dissection; Harvey showed the heart pumps blood in circulation, not the liver, and the microscope found the capillaries that closed his circuit.
In practice
Print and Renaissance drawing made anatomy shareable.
Where people slip
The anchor calls Vesalius Italian; he was Flemish. Humors and miasmas persisted anyway.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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