Theaters of Anatomy Klestinec, Cynthia Published by Johns Hopkins University Press Klestinec, Cynthia. Theaters of Anatomy: Students, Teachers, and Traditions of Dissection in Renaissance Venice. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. Project MUSE. doi:10.1353/book.60337. https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/60337 [ Access provided at 24 Sep 2021 18:18 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Theaters of Anatomy This page intentionally left blank Theaters of Anatomy Students, Teachers, and Traditions of Dissection in Re nais sance Venice R cynthia klestinec The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore © 2011 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2011 Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Mary land 21218- 4363 www .press .jhu .edu Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Klestinec, Cynthia, author. Theaters of anatomy : students, teachers, and traditions of dissection in Re nais sance Venice / Cynthia Klestinec. p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN- 13: 978- 1- 4214- 0142- 3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN- 10: 1- 4214- 0142- 8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Human dissection— Italy—History—17th century. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Anatomy— history—Italy. 2. Anatomy— education— Italy. 3. Dissection— education—Italy. 4. Dissection— history— Italy. 5. History, 16th Century— Italy. 6. History, 17th Century— Italy. QS 11 GI8] QM33.4.K64 2011 611—dc22 2010049755 A cata log record for this book is available from the British Library. Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information, please contact Special Sales at 410- 516- 6936 or [email protected]. The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post- consumer waste, whenever possible. For Andrew and Stella This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures ix Preface xi Introduction: Redefi ning the Post- Vesalian Era 1 1 Spectacular Anatomies: Demonstrations, Lectures, and Lessons 16 2 Fabrici’s Dominion: The First Anatomical Theater 55 3 Civic and Civil Anatomies: The Second Anatomical Theater 90 4 Medical Students and Their Corpses 124 5 Private Anatomies and the Delights of Technical Expertise 142 Epilogue 167 A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s 1 7 1 Notes 175 Bibliography 233 Index 249 This page intentionally left blank Figures 1. Leonardo Legio (Leggi), Fabrica regiminis sanitatis 25 2. Sebastian Münster, Cosmographey; das ist beschreibung aller länder 26 3. Johann de Ketham, Fasciculus medicinae 27 4. Andreas Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica, title page 33 5. Jacopo Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, rector and syndic 92 6. Jacopo Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, anatomical theater 96 7. Jacopo Tomasini, Gymnasium patavinum, atrium, anatomical theater, list of lectures 97 8. Photo of the interior of the anatomical theater, Padua 98 9. Pietro Tosoni, Della anatomia degli antichi e della scuola anatomica padovana 99 10. Annibale Caracci, A Hanging 131 11. Giulio Casseri, De vocis auditusque organis historia anatomica, author portrait 156 12. Andreas Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica, author portrait 157 13. Giulio Casseri, De vocis auditus organis historia anatomica, table 1 161 This page intentionally left blank Preface This book tells a new story about the history of anatomy, one concerned with the role of the anatomical theater, with the relationship between teachers and students, and with the diff erences between public and pri- vate anatomical instruction. These features reveal the confl icted and con- tested importance of seeing anatomy, compelling us to examine and revise our assumptions about the relationships between anatomy, observation, and early science. They also explain how Padua established itself as a center for anatomical research in the period between Andreas Vesalius and William Harvey. Drawing from traditional sources, such as anatomy texts and institu- tional documents, and new sources, such as the letters and rec ords of students, Theaters of Anatomy invites the reader to reconsider the post- Vesalian era of anatomical inquiry. The post- Vesalian era covers the de- velopment of anatomical inquiry in the wake of Vesalius’s departure from the university of Padua in 1542.1 In this era, the Venetian- controlled city of Padua is particularly remarkable because it hosted a succession of famous anatomists— Realdo Columbo (1516– 1559) and Gabriele Fallop- pio (1523– 1562), as well as Girolamo Fabrici (1533– 1619), Giulio Casseri (1552– 1616), Adriano Spigelio (1578– 1625), Johann Veslingus (1598– 1649), and, as a student, William Harvey (1578– 1657). Among these fi gures, Fa- brici deserves special attention because he instituted a natural philo- sophical program of anatomical inquiry and held the chair in anatomy and surgery from 1565 to 1609, a long period in which he became a pow- erful fi gure at the university.2 Rather than substitute Fabrici for Vesalius in a familiar story of progress, however, I use Fabrici (and his successors) and his students to bring into focus the several forces that interacted and came to constitute the public and private worlds of university anatomy between the 1550s and the 1620s. xii p r e f a c e Fabrici’s program was intimately linked to the construction of two permanent and increasingly public anatomical theaters, built consecu- tively in the central building of the university in 1584– 1585 and 1594– 1595. Both theaters were a sign of the strong, supportive relationship between the university and the Republic of Venice and a portent of anatomy’s grow- ing academic and cultural signifi cance. In these new places, a highly dramatic tradition of public anatomy demonstrations emerged; with mu- sic in the background, anatomists engaged in the study of anatomy and promoted it for a varied audience of professors and students, as well as shoemakers, fi shmongers, and basket weavers. The demonstra- tion evolved from a purely academic event into a spectacle rich with sym- bolic and civic signifi cance. It publicized the study of anatomy and quickly transformed the demonstration into an event with wider cultural signifi - cance. Anatomists enjoyed frequent pay raises and, for a time, increas- ing numbers of students. Finally, while it and other centers of medical education were well known for their anatomical publications, Padua was additionally known for its anatomical theaters and its anatomical per for mances.3 In tandem with this public tradition, a private tradition of anatomi- cal lessons and dissections survived and, in the fi nal de cades of the century, fl ourished. The private tradition acquired greater signifi cance in the post- Vesalian period because the public tradition of anatomy consoli- dated itself so fully around the philosophical tenets of Fabrici’s program. The private venues of anatomy came to be seen, by students especially, as contrasts to the public arena. If the public arena elaborated the philo- sophical dimensions of anatomy and more contemplative inquiries about nature, the private arenas brought students face to face with cadavers, with the procedures of dissection and vivisection, and with expressions of technical, manual skill. In private, students witnessed a form of ex- pertise, embodied in the anatomist, that depended on manipulating the cadaver, carefully distinguishing its parts, and expanding the study of anatomy with inquiries into morphology (the relationship between struc- ture and function) and physiology (the study of coordinated pro cesses). In one instance, an anatomist set up an elaborate surgical device to dem- onstrate the movement of the muscles, shuttling his small audience from corpse to instrument in an analogical tour- de- force. These novelties emerged in the private realm because of the ways in which the public p r e f a c e xiii and private traditions of anatomy had evolved to host pre sen ta tions that contrasted in style as well as in content. Despite such intriguing changes, the post- Vesalian period has not been fully characterized. Its developments have been kept distant from the main lines of thought regarding the history of anatomy. The period has been treated as a kind of distraction from Vesalius or a dilution of his message— to look and see for yourself— on the one hand, and an unnec- essary delay before the appearance of Harvey and his discovery of blood circulation (1628), on the other. In other words, this period has been seen as provisional because Vesalius’s approach to the study of anatomy is taken as the nearly direct line of inspiration for Harvey’s experimental proclivities.4 While new studies on Vesalius have emphasized his human- ist aspirations and his commitment to Galen and the textual traditions of anatomy, the assumption that Re nais sance anatomy merely introduced a new kind of visuality or a new visual economy for the study of nature remains and, with it, a diminished signifi cance for this period.5 Cer- tainly new ideas about seeing, observation, and visually derived evidence emerged in the early modern traditions of anatomy, but it is only by in- vestigating this provisional period that we can understand what they were and how and why they came about in the shapes that they did. This book thus draws attention to various features of anatomical inquiry, not just those that depend on sight. It looks at the cultivation of anatomical learning among students, both in decorated anatomical theaters and in private lessons, emphasizing the pedagogical, institutional, and rhetori- cal contexts of anatomical inquiry alongside the experiences of medical students. Each chapter examines the relationship between the public and pri- vate traditions of anatomy and the activities, concerns, and experiences of medical students.