William Harvey, 2. Harvey and the Royal College versus the "empirics".
Harvey, in solitary fashion, conducted the research that led to the publication in 1628 of his famous treatise De Motu Cordis. Later he joined other anatomists in scientific research and, after becoming a fellow and office holder, assumed a position of prominence in the Royal College of Physicians. There he was an active member, attending meetings, carrying out his duties as an Elect, as Lumleian Lecturer, as censor and frequently as a member of special committees. Harvey the scientist cannot be separated from Harvey the physician. His work in London both as Physician-in-Ordinary to King Charles I and as Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital is outlined. His fate however, was, irrevocably tied to the Royalist cause and the Parliamentary Party was instrumental in having him dismissed from the hospital in 1643. After 1650 his reputation was again on the rise. Apothecaries were practising medicine with increasing boldness, and Harvey devoted considerable effort to defending the monopoly of physicians through the offices of the Royal College of Physicians. He fought the "empirics" with every available weapon and in the process introduced a number of needed reforms. In his work as scientist and physician, Harvey epitomized the close links that bound together classically educated physicians, experimental inquiry and anatomical innovation. He made it understood that learned men, not "empirics" were responsible for the great improvements under way in what was to become modern medicine.
D004739:England; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000266:history