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Medicine in Britain, c1250–present

Case studies: William Harvey and the Great Plague of 1665

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Galen on blood, Harvey's proof of circulation in 1628, the heart's output and the valves, why treatment was slow to change, then the plague of 1665, shut-up houses, searchers of the dead, bans and posies.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How did Harvey show that fresh blood could not be made each time?

Key term

Who were the searchers of the dead?

Key term

What did the London authorities forbid in order to slow the plague?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What had Galen taught about what happens to blood in the body?

    Model answer

    That the liver constantly made new blood, which the body then burned up as fuel.

  2. 2

    What did Harvey prove about the blood, and when did he publish it?

    Model answer

    That the same blood circulates continuously around the body, pumped by the heart; he published this in 1628.

  3. 3

    How did Harvey show that fresh blood could not be made each time?

    Model answer

    He worked out how much the heart pumped and showed the body could not possibly produce that quantity of new blood.

  4. 4

    What did the valves in the veins tell Harvey?

    Model answer

    That blood in the veins could flow only one way, back towards the heart.

  5. 5

    Why did Harvey’s discovery take so long to change how patients were treated?

    Model answer

    He could not see the tiny vessels joining arteries to veins, so some doctors doubted him, and bloodletting continued for two more centuries.

  6. 6

    In which year did the Great Plague strike London?

    Model answer

    1665.

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