Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Contributions of Ibn Alnafis to the correct understanding of the circulation

Journal of Perinatology volume 40, page 688 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

I read with great interest the elegant review of the history of ductus arteriosus presented by Raju [1]. However, some additional clarification may further our understanding of the progress towards a correct understanding of the circulation, from Claudius Galen (130—200 CE) to Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564). Many physicians and scientists—who were not facing allegations of heresy—made significant contributions to medicine, including challenging Galen’s doctrine of the circulation in the Middle Ages [2]. Ibn Alnafis (1210–1288 AD) stands out among those scholars as the first to describe the pulmonary circulation and introduce the concept of coronary circulation [3]. Ibn Alnafis wrote in his book: Sharah Al Tashreeh Al Qanon (Commentary on anatomy of the Canon of Avicenna): “The blood from the right chamber of the heart must arrive to the left chamber, however, there is no direct pathway between the two sides. The thick septum of the heart is not perforated and has no visible pores as some people thought (referring to Avicenna) or invisible pores (in reference to Galen). The blood from the right chamber must flow through the vena arteriosa (pulmonary artery) to the lungs, spread through its substance, be mingled with air while in the lungs, pass through the arteria venosa (pulmonary vein) to reach the left chamber of the heart to form the vital spirit…” [4].

Andrea Alpagus (1450–1522), a professor of medicine at Padua University who spent many years in Syria, translated Ibn Alnafis’s writings into Latin. This translation was printed in Italy in 1547. Michael Servetus (1511–1553) published his second revised issue of “Christianismi Restitutio” in 1553 where he included a description similar to that of Ibn Alnafis. Although he didn’t make reference to Ibn Alnafis, it is very likely he was influenced by him [5]. Two other University of Padua professors, Realdo Colombo (1516–1559) and Andrea Vesaluis (1514–1564), subsequently described the same pulmonary circulations in their respective books [5].

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Raju TN. From Galen to Gross and beyond: a brief history of the enigmatic patent ductus arteriosus. J Perinatol. 2019;39:1442–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ranhel AS, Mesquita ET. The middle ages contributions to cardiovascular medicine. Braz J cardiovascular Surg. 2016;31:163–70.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Aird WC. Discovery of the cardiovascular system: from Galen to William Harvey. J Thrombosis Haemost. 2011;9:118–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Numan MT. Ibn Al Nafis: his seminal contributions to Cardiology. Pediatr Cardiol 2014;35:1088–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Abdel-Halim RE. The missing link in the history of circulation. Neonatology 2011;99:311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Ahmed Osman

Authors
  1. Ahmed Osman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Osman.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Osman, A. Contributions of Ibn Alnafis to the correct understanding of the circulation. J Perinatol 40, 688 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-0610-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-0610-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links