Social Studies Connection

There are many historical ties that allow for scholars to fully understand the beauty of this important organ. The Greek scholar, Aristotle, first discovered the vast importance of the heart in the 4th century B.C. When Aristotle was examining chicken embryos, he came across a warm organ. He described it to have three-chambers and it was seemingly a vital part of the embryo.

By the end of the seventeenth century, the accuracy of the human anatomy helped to make precise observations about the heart. The heart was accepted by many to be like a combustion engine.

The valves of the heart were discovered near the 4th century BC. However, their purpose was not completely understood. Ancient researchers believed that they were filled with air. Philosophers knew the difference between veins and arteries, however they had always believed that the pulse came from the arteries rather than the heart itself. Erasistratus, a Greek anatomist, observed that blood ran out of live arteries once he cut them. He then concluded that air in the arteries was replaced with blood cut and exposed. Erasistratus believed that blood moved into the arteries through small vessels between veins and arteries, which he later called capillaries.In around the 2nd century AD, a Greek physician by the name of Galen began to believe that blood in the arteries was created by blood in the veins when they passed through pores from the left ventricle to the right ventricle.He knew that blood vessels carried blood, and he classified venous blood as being dark red and arterial blood as being brighter and thinner.

Leonardo Da Vinci also played a large role in the expansion of knowledge about the human heart. Within the course of 30 years, Da Vinci dissected 30 male and female corpses. He would observe and take note on the characteristics of each body's heart, and he used the information he gathered in order to draw diagrams that would be heavily used in the subject of sciences in the future.

Da Vinci Heart Diagram

New information is continuously discovered about the human body, and scientists have not ended their vast research concerning the human heart.

Erisistratus

Galen