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How the Heart Became Muscle: from René Descartes to Nicholas Steno

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How the Heart Became Muscle: from René Descartes to Nicholas Steno University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School April 2019 How the Heart Became Muscle: From René Descartes to Nicholas Steno Alex Benjamin Shillito University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, and the Philosophy Commons Scholar Commons Citation Shillito, Alex Benjamin, "How the Heart Became Muscle: From René Descartes to Nicholas Steno" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7939 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. How the Heart Became Muscle: From René Descartes to Nicolas Steno by Alex Benjamin Shillito A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Roger Ariew, Ph.D. Douglas Jesseph, Ph.D. Alex Levine, Ph.D. Colin Heydt, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 22, 2019 Keywords: 17th Century, Medicine, Mechanism, Microcosm Copyright © 2019, Alex Benjamin Shillito DEDICATION For my parents, who supported my studies when their culture didn’t. For my brother, who opened my head. And for Noam Chomsky; keep truckin. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Controversy and Context ........................................................................................14 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................14 2. Some Controversy and Context .....................................................................................15 3. Some Context and Controversy .....................................................................................20 Chapter Three: Threads and Motion in Descartes’ Physiology .....................................................28 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................28 2. Descartes’ Opinion: Not New, but Old ..........................................................................29 3. Hobbes’ on Fermentation and Systole ...........................................................................37 4. Before the Heart was a Muscle ......................................................................................42 Chapter Four: Harvey and the Weather—Propriae Motiones in the Microcosm ..........................52 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................52 2. A Microcosmic Mosaic ..................................................................................................55 3. Harvey’s Microcosmic Ideas and the Seat of the Soul ..................................................66 3.1. elements, celestial bodies, and divine motion in Aristotle..............................67 3.2. Harvey’s microcosm—flames and floods .......................................................73 3.3. a potential objection and conclusion ...............................................................79 Chapter Five: Aristotle’s Sputum ..................................................................................................84 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................84 2. Ross’ Unbearable Karma ...............................................................................................85 3. A Weird Gang of Strange Men: An Inconsequential Section on Three Inconsequential People ................................................................................................87 4. Ross and Descartes ........................................................................................................90 3.1. an omen of steno .............................................................................................94 5. Ross and Harvey: Soul, Motion, Cosmos ......................................................................97 5.1. the role of faculties..........................................................................................98 5.2. objections Harvey never asked for ................................................................100 5.3. microcosmi perfecti ......................................................................................105 6. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................108 i Chapter Six: Modernity’s Muscular Midwife ..............................................................................110 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................110 2. The Chaos Manuscript, Schools, and Cartesian Circles ..............................................114 2.1. Descartes in the script (1656-1659) ..............................................................114 2.2. some observations from Leiden (1660-1663) ...............................................117 2.3. cartesian circles (1664-1665) ........................................................................121 4. The Heart Becomes Muscle .........................................................................................124 5. Steno’s Microcosm and the Synthesis of Themes .......................................................130 Chapter Seven: Conclusion ..........................................................................................................135 References… ................................................................................................................................142 Appendix I ...................................................................................................................................148 Appendix II ..................................................................................................................................149 Appendix III .................................................................................................................................151 Appendix IV.................................................................................................................................152 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: “From Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica” ................................................................v Figure 2: “Sixteenth Century anatomical instruments” .................................................................10 Figure 3: “A pig prepared for vivisection, from Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica”.............14 Figure 4: da Vinci, written and sketched sometime between 1504 and 1506. ...............................22 Figure 5: “Descartes’ refraction fountain in the Météores” ...........................................................46 Figure 6: (From Harvey 1628) .......................................................................................................51 Figure 7: “Sachs a Loewnheimb, Frontispiece to Oceanus macro-microcosmicus, Breslau 1664”...............................................................................................................55 Figure 8: Published in Plempius’ Fundamenta medicinae ............................................................59 Figure 9: “The Universe of Robert Fludd” ....................................................................................63 Figure 10: “Man besieged in his castle of health. From Robert Fludd, Integrum morborum mysterium… 1631”.....................................................................64 Figure 11: “Harvey’s letter to Beverwijck, from In Hippocratis aphorismum de calculo” “Beverwijck, Leyden 1641”.........................................................................................65 Figure 12: “Chaos-manuscript…upper half of first folio page” ..................................................114 Figure 13: “Leiden’s anatomical theatre, drawing by J.C. Woudanus, W. Swanenburgh (etching), A. Cloucq (publ.) 1610” ............................................................................117 Figures 14: Steno’s Drawing of the Cartesian Brain ...................................................................121 Figure 15: Steno’s Drawing of a New Model ..............................................................................121 Figure 16: Shark Head .................................................................................................................131 Figure 17: From Johann Daniel Mylius’ Opus Medico-Chymicum, 1618. ..................................135 iii ABSTRACT This dissertation addresses the heartbeat and the systems of natural philosophy that were used to explain it in the 17th century. Thus, I work in two domains of explanation. The first
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