This expansion of Pagel's earlier essay William Harvey Revisited continues the scholarly work that readers so enjoyed in his 1967 publication William Harvey's Biological Ideas.
The book is divided into ten chapters, some short, with chapter 10 on "Harvey, Aristotle, and Medieval Revisionism" running to 40 pages. Useful appendices of more than 50 pages precede a brief final assessment. Despite 467 footnotes there is an additional bibliography and an excellent index.
This is a volume written by a scholar's scholar. He makes clear at the outset that if there was any discovery, it was Harvey's idea that the blood must in some way circulate if one attempted to account (1) for the vast volume of fluid pumped and (2) for the positioning of valves in the veins and in the heart. Pagel, to good effect, quotes Sir Henry Dale's view of Harvey: "He created and displayed for all time the