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This Day in History: English physician William Harvey was born on this day in 1578. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and the rest of the body by the heart, though earlier doctors such as Michael Servetus held similar theories. His discovery made him one of the most important people in history.
Harvey also opposed the witchcraft trials and he is one of the earliest critics of blood-letting. Blood-letting was a standard medical procedure for about 2,300 years. It was thought at the time that disease was caused by an excess of blood, so blood was removed by either slitting open the skin (venesection) or by applying leeches. In 1833, 41 million leeches were imported into France for that very purpose. Blood-letting stopped being used as medicine about 170 years ago, but not before killing countless thousands through the years, including George Washington.
The look of the barber pole is linked to bloodletting, with red representing blood and white representing the bandages used to stem the bleeding.
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