de Micheli Alfredo
Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, México, D.F., México.
Arch Cardiol Mex. 2015 Apr-Jun;85(2):150-3. doi: 10.1016/j.acmx.2014.09.002. Epub 2014 Dec 29.
Modern medical science was born in the post-Renaissance age and began to consolidate towards the middle of the XVII century thanks to physicists, physiologists and biologists, most of whom were direct or indirect pupils of Galileo. The discovery of blood circulation by Harvey is now considered the only progress in physiology at the beginning of the XVII century, comparable to the current advances seen in physical sciences. The history of this exploit could be written from view point of the progressive advance in knowledge. In his experiments, Harvey referred to the authentic not imaginary experiments, and put forward irrefutable quantitative arguments. We can therefore claim that his discovery of blood circulation was the first proper explanation of an organic process and the starting point leading to experimental physiology. So it seems justified to assert that modern medical science did not all rise suddenly, but was gradually structured starting from the middle of the XVII century following the path traced by William Harvey in light of Galileo's thought.
现代医学诞生于文艺复兴之后的时代,并在17世纪中叶开始巩固,这要归功于物理学家、生理学家和生物学家,他们中的大多数人是伽利略的直接或间接弟子。哈维发现血液循环现在被认为是17世纪初生理学领域唯一可与当前物理科学进展相媲美的进步。这段光辉历程的历史可以从知识的逐步进步的角度来书写。在他的实验中,哈维参考的是真实而非想象中的实验,并提出了无可辩驳的定量论据。因此,我们可以说他对血液循环的发现是对一个有机过程的首次恰当解释,也是通向实验生理学的起点。所以,断言现代医学并非突然兴起,而是从17世纪中叶开始,沿着威廉·哈维依据伽利略的思想所开辟的道路逐渐构建起来,似乎是合理的。