Harvey vs Galen: does blood circle or ebb?

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WILLIAM HARVEY vs GALEN go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.

WILLIAM HARVEY

I tied off the vessels, watched the valves, and did the arithmetic: the heart pumps far too much blood for the liver to keep making it fresh.

GALEN

Nonsense measured by a clock. Blood is brewed in the liver, sipped by the flesh, and consumed like fuel—it does not run laps.

WILLIAM HARVEY

Then show me where it vanishes, Galen. My ligature swells one way and empties the other; the blood returns because it circles.

GALEN

You trust a bandage and a number over reason itself—yet I confess, your heart keeps better time than my liver ever did.

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