Andreas Vesalius O F Brussels Holds

A N D R E A S V ES AL I US TH REFO RMER O F ANATO M Y M S OO B LL . JA E M RES A , M D . SAINT LO UIS MEDICAL SCIENCE PRESS MDCCCCX TO THE MEM O RY OF THOSE I LLUSTRIOUS MEN WH O OFTEN U N DER A DVE RSE CIRCUMSTAN CES AND SOMETIMES I N DANG E R O F DEATH SUCC EEDED I N UNRAV EL L I NG THE MYSTERIES OF THE STRUCTURE O F THE HUM AN BODY TO THE FATHERS O F ANATO MY AND TO THE A RTIST - ANATOMISTS THIS BO OK IS DEDI CATED PREFAC E N T H E A N NA L S O F TH E medical profession the name of Andreas Vesalius o f Brussels holds a place second to none . Every him physician has heard of , yet few know the details of his life , the circumstances under which his labors were carried out , the o f extent those labors , or their far o f m reaching influence upon the progress anato y , physi m ology and surgery . Co paratively few physicians have m seen his works ; and fewer still have read the . The m m refor ation which he inaugurated in anato y , and inci o f m dentally in other branches edical science , has left im m m o f only a d i press upon the inds the busy , science loving physicians o f the nineteenth and twentieth centuries . That so little should be known about him is not surpris ing , since his writings were in Latin and were published m o f . prior to the iddle the sixteenth century His books , X PREFACE which at one time were in the hands of all the scientific physicians of Europe , are now rarely encountered beyond the walls of the great medical libraries o f the world . They are among the in cun abula of the medical literature . That English - speaking physicians know little of Vesalian liter ature is due to the fact that no extensive biography of the great anatomist has appeared in our language . Most of the Vesalian literature which has been written by English and American authors has been in the form of brief articles for the medical press; these oftentimes have been incorrect and unillustrated . Perhaps the best example of this class is the article by Mr . Henry Morley which appeared orig ’ in all F r aser s Ma azin e 1853 y in g , in , and later was pub n d 1 lished in his Clemen t Ma rat a Other S tud ies , in 187 . The chief data for Vesalius ’ s biography are to be found in his own writings , in the archives of the Universities in which he taught , and in the controversial literature of the period . Extensive as are these sources they leave much A to be desired . vast mass of Vesalian literature was printed , chiefly in the Latin language , during the seven een h t t and eighteenth centuries . Much of it is based on insufficient evidence or on national prejudice . The m Ger ans , the French , the Dutch and the Italians have all taken a turn at it . In modern times the monumental A n d re s work of Roth , a Vesa lius Br uxellen sis , Berlin , 1892 m , has served to epito ize this literature and to make m clear any points which formerly were not understood . ’ m I have taken Roth s book as a basis for this onograph , without using the voluminous references which are found f in the work o this thorough historian . PREFACE XI ‘ The man who overthrew the authority of Galen ; revo lution ized the teaching o f the structure of the human m i body ; started anato ical , physiological , and surgical n vestigation in the right channels ; first correctly illustrated i m m h s dissections ; destroyed ancient dog as , and ade many — man new discoveries this , Andreas Vesalius of Brussels , him “ deserves the name which Morley has given , the ” Luther of Anatomy . At long intervals a bright particular star appears in the o f intellectual horizon , endowed with genius such a super lative order as seemingly to comprise within itself the whole domain o f an entire science . These men do not belong to any particular epoch in the development of the m m . o f hu an mind They are the eternal sy bols progress , and their history is the history of the science which they men profess . Such were Bacon , Galileo , Descartes , N ew ton , Lavoisier , and Bichat ; and such also was Andreas m n Vesalius the anato ist . You g , enthusiastic , courageous e and diligent , Vesalius dar d to contradict the authority o f m m f Galen , corrected the anato ical istakes o thirteen c en tu t ies and before his thirtieth year published the most ac curate , complete , and best illustrated treatise o n anatomy that the world had ever seen . His industry , the success which crowned his efforts , the jealousies which his dis overies m c aroused in the breasts of his conte poraries , the honors which were conferred upon him by Charles the m Fifth and Philip the Second , his pilgri age to the Holy — Land , and his tragic death these are events which deserve to be chronicled by an abler pen than mine . The year 1543 marks the date o f a revolution which XII PREFACE m o f a was won , not by force of ar s but by the scalpel an o f m n atomist and the hand of an artist . The whole hu an m anato y , as a study involving correct descriptions of the component parts of the body and accurate delineations m thereof , ay be said to have been founded by Andreas Vesalius and Jan Stephan van Calcar . A s light pouring into a prism attracts little notice until it emerges in iri so i m h descent hues , t was with anato y : after passing throug the brain of Vesalius it bore rich fruit which has been m gathered by any hands . To turn from the writings of Pe li k Phr e en Galen , Mondino , Hundt , y g , y s , and Beren ’ gario da Carpi to the beauties of Vesalius s De Huma n i Corporis F a brica is like passing from darkness into su n m light . To both anato ists and artists this book was a revelation . For more than a century after its appearance the anatomists of Europe did little more than make addi m mm tions to , and co pose co entaries upon the conjoint triumph of Vesalius and van Calcar . For more than two centuries the O S t eo lo gic and myologic figures of the F a brica m o f - for ed the basis all treatises o n Art Anatomy . JAMES MOORES BALL . TAB LE OF CONTENTS PAGE I NTRODUCTION — The Study of M edical Hist ory T he Gen eral Ren aissan ce T he A n at o mical n Re aissan ce. ANATOMY IN ANCIENT TI MES — n atom in t an d in ree e H i o rat es an d t he A s e iadae— maeon A y Egyp G c pp c cl p Alc , — — Empedocles an d Ar ist ot le Ear ly Roman M edicin e T he Al exan drian Un iv ersit y — H erophilus an d Erasistratus Claudius Gal en u s The Schoo l of Salem um Fre ri k de c II . O D O T R STOR R O A O M N IN , HE E E F AN T MY — — Life of M on din o He restores th e Study of Practical An at omy His Boo k on m An ato y . MO ND INO ’ S SU CCESSO RS — — — — Gabriel d e Zerb i Jo hn Peyligk Magn us H un dt Lauren t ius Phry esen A lexan der — us eren ar io da ar i— o — r i n A chillin B g C p J hn D ryan d er Cha l es Est e n e . VESALIUS ’ S EARLY LIFE — — Origin of the Vesalius Family Ear ly Life of the An ato mist Vesalius en t ers t he n Un iversit y of Louvai . SO JO URN IN PARIS . — i i Vesal ius goes t o Paris t o st udy M edicin e Cel ebrated Paris an Physic an s of t he — — — — i oso Sixteen t h Cen t ury Jac ob us Syl vius Joan n es Guin t erius Jean Fen rol Ph l phy — r o of Pierre d e la Ramee State of An ato my at t his Pe i d . VESA LIUS RETURNS TO LO UVAIN — - m S e ur s a e et o n . Vesalius return s to Louvain He con d ucts a C ourse in An at o y c e Sk l XIV AN DREAS VESALIUS — Table of Contents Con tin ued PAGE P RO FESSO R O F ANATO MY I N PADUA esa i us oes to en i e t en e t o adua— e eives t he e ree of o tor of V l g V c , h c P R c D g D c — — M edicin e H e is appomt ed Professor of A n atomy His met ho d o f Teachin g n Lect ures al so in Bo log a.

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