Dear Dr. Brown, I am writing to you today to tell you about the theories of Galen and William Harvey and how they differed.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Claudius Galen and William Harvey

24th February 2003

Dear Dr. Brown

I am writing to you today to tell you about the theories of Galen and William Harvey and how they differed.

Prior to Harvey's experiments, a man by the name of Claudius Galen had many theories on the topic of blood and circulation. Generally, Galen's theories were accepted by society. Galen believed that in the body there were two sources of blood, the liver and the heart. The liver is the sender of venous blood which was believed to carry nutrients. The heart on the other hand was the origin of the arterial blood which supposedly carried the spirit. Claudius Galen also believed that as the body's supply of blood runs low, more blood is produced.

Galen began his study of medicine around the age of sixteen when his father had a dream suggesting this path. Galen travelled to Smyrna and Corinth to study with both a Rationalist and with an Empiricist. When Galen's father died, Galen travelled to Egypt where he lived for perhaps five years (152-157). What Galen might have studied in Alexandria is highly speculative. However,