Discovery of cardiovascular physiology

  Galen and William Harvey were the ones who made great contributions to the discovery of medicine .In around 162 AD Galen laid the foundation of circulatory system through his experiments on dead people and animals since he was not allowed access to human bodies. He believed that the liver produced blood and was pumped by veins to the rest of the body in an open ended system. He also believed that the heart was a source of innate heat which was cooled off by respiration which provided vital spirits. Galen managed to demonstrate that arteries carry out both blood and air in contrast to another theory before him which stated that they contain air only. He also discovered that the heart and arteries intrinsically pulsate and that arteries and veins carry the same blood. Many years after Galen his work continued to be used until, Harvey later revolutionized the cardiovascular system. He carried out experiments on humans and proposed that the heart pumps blood and it circulated in a ...