Sidney Sussex College, Sidney St, Cambridge CB2 3HU, England
Ent studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, from 1624 to 1631, obtaining his Master of Arts degree in 1631.
Career
Achievements
Membership
Royal Society
1663
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AG, England
The Royal Society provided an outlet for Ent's wider scientific interests; he was a founder fellow and member of its council, although playing a relatively small part in its scientific affairs.
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AG, England
The Royal Society provided an outlet for Ent's wider scientific interests; he was a founder fellow and member of its council, although playing a relatively small part in its scientific affairs.
George Ent was an English scientist. He focused on the study of anatomy, and became a successful and moderate medical practitioner. He is best known for his Apologia pro circulatione sanguinis, a defense of William Harvey's work.
Background
George Ent was born on November 6, 1604, in Sandwich, Kent, England. He was the son of Josias Ent, a merchant from the Low Countries, and of his wife Judith. The Ent family of Sandwich came from Newchurch, in the county of Flanders, to avoid religious persecution. Ent's father died in July 1629, his mother died in 1650.
Education
Ent's early education was at Rotterdam; he then studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, from 1624 to 1631, obtaining his Master of Arts degree in 1631. Shortly afterward he probably settled in Padua as a student of medicine. He obtained the Doctor of Medicine degree there in 1636, the event being celebrated by a volume of poems, Laureae Apollinari (1636), contributed by his friends - including P. M. Siegel, J. Rhode, and J. Greaves, all of whom became friends and defenders of William Harvey.
The rest of Ent’s life was spent in London as a successful and moderate medical practitioner. He rapidly reached a position of esteem among his professional and scientific colleagues. Although he probably had royalist sympathies he was not subject to recriminations during the Cromwellian period. During these years he came into prominence at the College of Physicians, in which he was elected to the most important executive positions, serving as president for seven years between 1670 and 1684.
Ent owed much of his scientific reputation to his friendship with William Harvey, which dated from their chance meeting in Rome in 1636. In reaction to the mounting published criticism of De motu cordis, Ent became one of the first writers to compose a detailed defense of Harvey, Apologia pro circulations sanguinis (1641). This counteracted the criticisms of Emilius Parisianus; Ent quoted primarily from Harvey but also displayed a wide familiarity with ancient and modern authorities. In a series of digressions he showed a distinctive approach, being more receptive to hermetic authors than Harvey. This is particularly obvious in the sections on innate heat and respiration, which point toward the theories of John Mayow and suggest that nitrous particles from the air are absorbed by the lungs or gills, to support the physiological flame burning in the heart - the source of innate heat. Ent further proposed a less fortunate, but popular, theory whereby a highly nutritive fluid is dispensed through the nerves. Accordingly, the nervous role is reduced; Ent emphasized the role of tissue irritability and natural movement. His ideas on irritability are particularly prominent in his unpublished anatomy lecture notes.
Ent’s association with Harvey continued. In about 1648 he persuaded the elderly Harvey to release the manuscript of Degenerations, which Ent edited and published with a commendatory preface in 1651. His transcript of Harvey’s correspondence was used in the College of Physicians edition of Harvey’s works in 1766. Harvey’s gratitude was indicated in the terms of his will, in which Ent was charged with dispersing his library, that is, selling worthless books and buying better ones to be deposited, with the rest of the library, in the College of Physicians. Ent was also given five pounds to purchase a ring in remembrance of Harvey. Ent is also known for his correspondence with Cassiano dal Pozzo, who sent Ent fossilized wood specimens, including a tabletop made of petrified wood. Ent showed them to the Royal Society, where they led to increased interest in the origin of fossils.
Ent’s other writings are less important. His proficient studies of the anatomy of Lophius, Galeus, and Rana, entitled “Mantissa anatomica,” were published in one of Charleton’s lesser works. This appears to have been the meager outcome of an elaborate mutual comparative anatomy project, conceived in the 1650s. Finally, Ent published a critique of Malachi Thruston’s ideas on respiration, which showed little advance on the Apologia and lacked the empirical foundation of Mayow’s writings on the same theme.
The Royal Society provided an outlet for Ent's wider scientific interests; he became a founder fellow and member of its council on April 22, 1663, although playing a relatively small part in its scientific affairs.
Royal Society
,
United Kingdom
1663
Connections
Ent was married to Sarah Meverall, the daughter of the treasurer of the College of Physicians.
The Knights of the Royal Oak was an intended order of knighthood. It was proposed in 1660 at the time of the restoration of Charles II of England, known as the English Restoration. It was to be a reward to those Englishmen who faithfully and actively supported him during his exile in France.
The Knights of the Royal Oak was an intended order of knighthood. It was proposed in 1660 at the time of the restoration of Charles II of England, known as the English Restoration. It was to be a reward to those Englishmen who faithfully and actively supported him during his exile in France.