ABSTRACT
Part V of the Discours de la Méthode, published anonymously in 1637 at Leyden, offers the reader ‘in particular the explanation of the movement of the heart’.2 This detailed account (nearly half of the fifth part3), which includes Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood, is a preeminent example of Descartes’ méthode, and introduces numerous innovations which illustrate an important aspect of what is at stake in Descartes’ medical and physiological4 research. In the Dioptrique, one of the Essais which accompany the Discours, Descartes also discusses the structure of the eye, focusing on the optic nerves in the third Discourse, and explains the structure and use of the nerves in the fourth Discourse dealing with senses. In Discourse IV, he shows how critical he can be towards ‘anatomists and physicians’ who have not explained the use of the nerves. We must note, in this context, both the citing of William Harvey’s name (Harvaeus) and of the title of Harvey’s book (De Motu Cordis) in the margins of the Discours,5 as well as the appraisal given in the text of ‘an English physician, who must be praised for having broken the ice’ on the circulation of the blood. Harvey is indeed the only author’s name quoted in the Discours;6 and his name is quoted respectfully, as that of someone having made a genuine discovery.
