The
discovery of the pulmonary circulation is an interesting and much
debated topic. It is commonly believed that this discovery had its
inception in Europe in the sixteenth century by Servetus, Vesalius,
Colombo, and finally Harvey. However, in view of the discovery of
ancient manuscripts, it is proposed that the real credit for the
discovery of the pulmonary circulation belongs to an eminent physician
of the thirteenth century: Ibn Al-Nafis.
In 1924 an Egyptian physician,
Dr. Muhyo Al-Deen Altawi, discovered a script titled, "Commentary on the
Anatomy of Canon of Avicenna" in the Prussian state library in Berlin
while studying the history of Arab Medicine at the medical faculty of
Albert Ludwig’s University in Germany 2. This script is considered one
of the best scientific books in which Ibn Al-Nafis covers in detail the
topics of anatomy, pathology and physiology. This discovery revealed an
important scientific fact, which up to then had been ignored: the first
description of the pulmonary circulation.
The theory that was accepted
prior to Ibn Al-Nafis was placed by Galen in the second century, who had
theorized that the blood reaching the right side of the heart went
through invisible pores in the cardiac septum to the left side of the
heart where it mixed with air to create spirit and was then consequently
distributed to the body. According to Galen's views, the venous system
was quite separate from the arterial system, except when they came in
contact through the unseen pores 3.
However, Ibn Al-Nafis, based on his knowledge in anatomy and scientific thinking stated that,
"...The blood from the right
chamber of the heart must arrive at the left chamber but there is no
direct pathway between them. The thick septum of the heart is not
perforated and does not have visible pores as some people thought or
invisible pores as Galen thought. The blood from the right chamber must
flow through the vena arteriosa (pulmonary artery) to the lungs, spread
through its substances, be mingled there with air, pass through the
arteria venosa (pulmonary vein) to reach the left chamber of the heart
and there form the vital spirit...”
sumber dari: khilafatworld.com
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