ABSTRACT
Dr Descartes dons a white coat and proceeds to sharpen a large knife. A large
African monkey (actually a chimpanzee) is on the table in front of him.
‘I wish here to set forth the explanation of the movement of heart and arteries
which, being the first and most general movement that is observed in animals, will
give us the means of easily judging as to what we ought to think about all the rest.
And so that there may be less difficulty in understanding what I shall say on this
