<Dl> <Dt> Medical discoveries </Dt> </Dl> <P> The writings of Greek physician Galen had dominated European medical thinking for over a millennium . The Flemish scholar Vesalius demonstrated mistakes in the Gaelic's ideas . Vesalius dissected human corpses, whereas Galen dissected animal corpses . Published in 1543, Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica was a groundbreaking work of human anatomy . It emphasized the priority of dissection and what has come to be called the "anatomical" view of the body, seeing human internal functioning as an essentially corporeal structure filled with organs arranged in three - dimensional space . This was in stark contrast to many of the anatomical models used previously, which had strong Galenic / Aristotelean elements, as well as elements of astrology . </P> <P> Besides the first good description of the sphenoid bone, he showed that the sternum consists of three portions and the sacrum of five or six; and described accurately the vestibule in the interior of the temporal bone . He not only verified the observation of Etienne on the valves of the hepatic veins, but he described the vena azygos, and discovered the canal which passes in the fetus between the umbilical vein and the vena cava, since named ductus venosus . He described the omentum, and its connections with the stomach, the spleen and the colon; gave the first correct views of the structure of the pylorus; observed the small size of the caecal appendix in man; gave the first good account of the mediastinum and pleura and the fullest description of the anatomy of the brain yet advanced . He did not understand the inferior recesses; and his account of the nerves is confused by regarding the optic as the first pair, the third as the fifth and the fifth as the seventh . </P> <P> Further groundbreaking work was carried out by William Harvey, who published De Motu Cordis in 1628 . Harvey made a detailed analysis of the overall structure of the heart, going on to an analysis of the arteries, showing how their pulsation depends upon the contraction of the left ventricle, while the contraction of the right ventricle propels its charge of blood into the pulmonary artery . He noticed that the two ventricles move together almost simultaneously and not independently like had been thought previously by his predecessors . </P>

The scientific revolution produced a new cosmology and a new methodology