title: [Who really first described lesser blood circulation?].
abstract: Today, at least 740 years since professor and director of the Al Mansouri Hospital in Cairo Ibn al-Nafis (1210-1288), in his paper about pulse described small (pulmonary) blood circulatory system. At the most popular web search engines very often we can find its name, especially in English language. Majority of quotes about Ibn Nefis are on Arabic or Turkish language, although Ibn Nefis discovery is of world wide importance. Author Masić I. (1993) is among rare ones who in some of the indexed journals emphasized of that event, and on that debated also some authors from Great Britain and USA in the respectable magazine Annals of Internal Medicine. Citations in majority mentioning other two "describers" or "discoverers" of pulmonary blood circulation, Michael Servetus (1511-1553), physician and theologist, and William Harvey (1578-1657), which in his paper "Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus" published in 1628 described blood circulatory system. Ibn Nefis is due to its scientific work called "Second Avicenna". Some of his papers, during centuries were translated into Latin, and some published as a reprint in Arabic language. Professor Fuat Sezgin from Frankfurt published a compendium of Ibn Nefis papers in 1997. Also, Masić I. (1997) has published one monography about Ibn Nefis. Importance of Ibn Nefis epochal discovery is the fact that it is solely based on deductive impressions, because his description of the small circulation is not occurred by observation on corps during section. It is known that he did not pay attention to the Galen's theories about blood circulation. His prophecy sentence say: "If I don't know that my work will not last up to ten thousand years after me, I would not write them". Sapient sat.
authors.affiliation: Katedra za Porodicnu medicinu, Medicinski fakultet Univerziteta u Sarajevu1 Institut za vaskularne bolesti, Klinicki centar Univerziteta u Sarajevu. imasic@lol.ba
authors.forename: Izet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Masić
authors.forename: Mirza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dilić
mesh_terms: D004534:Egypt; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D010827:Physiology / Q000266:history*; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States