CHAPTER TENTHPublication of the Epitome

MARK OF OPORINUS

Who was the unnamed artist? It is noteworthy that Vesalius does not state who drew the illustrations, or whocut them in wood, for hisFabrica. He only states that this book has cost him a monstrous amount of labor in the preparation of the dissections, and in the directing of the eye, the hand, and the intelligence of the artist. He complains bitterly of the obstinacy of the artist, who, at times so tormented him that he—Vesalius—considered himself more unfortunate than the criminal whose body had been dissected[21]. It was probably owing to this unpleasant experience that Vesalius omitted the artist’s name. The great anatomist speaks regretfully of the large sums which he was obliged to pay, in order to induce skilled artists to undertake this class of work. He states that they were much more interested in painting Venus and The Graces than in drawing pictures of skinned and foul smelling bodies. Moehsen[22]assumes that Vesalius had Titian in mind when he penned these thoughts, but this is questionable. It is not surprising that eminent artists should have disliked anatomical drawing, at a time when antiseptic injections and preserving fluids were not known. Foul odors had no terrors for the great Belgian, who haunted cemeteries for anatomical material and often kept parts of cadavers in his bedchamber for weeks at a time.

For a period of two centuries the Vesalian pictures were ascribed to Titian, but on insufficient grounds. The famous Venetian painter was over sixty years of age at the time of the publication of theFabrica; his services were much in demand, and he was signally honored by the Spanish emperor, Charles the Fifth. His powersremained undiminished until shortly before his death, which occurred in 1576. He had the ability to make the Vesalian illustrations, but it is doubtful if he had the time. Although Titian may have taken an interest in these anatomical plates, it is not now believed that he drew them.

JAN STEPHAN VAN CALCAR

The Vesalian pictures have been attributed to Christoforo Coriolano; but he could not have been the artist, since his earliest work dates from 1568. He is known to have furnished the drawings for Jerome Mercurialis’sDe Arte Gymnastica, and for Vasari’sLives of the Painters. Roth is of the opinion that Vesalius himself made most of the illustrations; but such a view would credit thecomparatively short and busy life of the great anatomist with too much accomplishment.

I conclude that the illustrations for theFabrica, like the osseous figures in theTabulae Anatomicae, which Vesalius issued in 1538, were made by Jan Stephan van Calcar (+1546), the favorite pupil of Titian. Sandrart[23]states that van Calcar made the drawings for theFabrica; that he went to Venice in 1536 or 1537; that he studied under Titian; and that his paintings were of such merit that they were often mistaken for those of Titian, Raphael, and Rubens.

Van Calcar was a Fleming, a native of Kalcker in the Duchy of Cleves. The date of his birth is not known. His death occurred at Naples in 1546. He was highly esteemed by Vesalius who speaks of him as ranking “with the divine and happy wits of Italy”. The anatomical plates which Vesalius issued in 1538 were made, he states, by van Calcar:—sumptibus Joannis Stephani Calcarensis. These plates, which appeared in the form of pictorial broad sheets, orFliegende Blätter, may be likened to the Herald who goes in advance to announce the coming of the King. They were engraved on wood, and, like their companion pictures in theFabrica, they were unprecedented in magnitude and in minuteness.

SECOND VESALIAN PLATE OF THE MUSCLES(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)

The Vesalian plates vary greatly in merit. The most satisfactory ones are those depicting the undissected body and the bones and muscles. The artist was not at his best in drawing the nervous system, although it is claimed that Vesalius had prepared his neurologic specimens with great care. For the use of artists, the best plates are the three skeletons and the four entire myologic figures in theFabrica. The first myologic figure, showing a man who has been divested of all skin, fat, and superficial fascia, presents the muscles of the anterior portion of the body beautifully delineated. Vesalius took much pride in this plate, and directed the attention of artists to it. The second plate, which is constructed along similar lines, shows the body in its lateral aspect. The head is thrown slightly backward, the right hand pointing to the earth and the left raised towards the horizon, and the whole attitude of the subject calls to mind the position which an orator would assume when addressing an audience. The third myologic plate is similar to the first one, but the muscles of the face are exhibited to better advantage and the aponeuroses, absent in the first plate, are here present. The fourth plate, which is the ninth in Vesalius’s work (nona musculorum tabula), presents the muscles of the posterior part of the body. The other myologic figures show the deeper muscles, layer by layer, and are of value to an artist who wishes to study the effect of their action upon the superficial parts of the body. Hence many of these figures have been reproduced in works on art-anatomy. The artist who studies these plates should remember that the figures in question are divested of skin, fat, and superficial veins—all of which must be supplied, in order to avoid giving too great prominence to the muscles. The two naked figures contained in theEpitomeare properly clothed in skin and are of great artistic merit. They also are to be seen in numerous works on art-anatomy. Thus, in one of the earliest books on anatomy for the use of artists (Abrégé d’anatomie accommodé aux arts de peinture et de sculpture.Paris, 1667, 1668), Rogers de Piles and François Tortebat have used the three skeletons and seven myologic figures taken from theFabricaand theEpitome. In the preface of his book, de Piles says that he does not think it is possible to produce better figures than those found in the works of Vesalius. That he was not alone in this opinion is shown by the fact that many other artists, who have composed treatises on art-anatomy, have drawn freely from the Vesalian storehouse. An Italian, Giacomo Moro, in his anatomy for the use of artists, (Anatomia ridotta ad uso de’ pittori e scultore.Venice 1679), reproduced nineteen of Vesalius’s figures in copperplate.

NINTH VESALIAN PLATE, OF THE MUSCLES(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)

The popularity of Vesalius’s anatomical figures among painters was due, not only to the intrinsic worth of these illustrations, but also to the erroneous belief that the original drawings were the work of Titian. This opinion found expression on the title-pages of several works on art-anatomy. For example, in 1706, Moschenbauer, of Augsburg, issued a folio volume illustrated with Vesalian figures cut in wood, with this title:—Andreae Vesalii, Bruxellensis, des ersten besten Anatomici, Zergliederung des menschlichen Körpers auf Mahlerey, and Bildhauer-Kunst gerichtet, die Figuren von Titian gezeichnet. An anonymous book,Notomia di Titanio, appeared in Italy about the year 1670.

The Vesalian figures of the skeleton were also issued in single sheets with moralistic verses appended. Moehsencites one of these with the inscription printed in French:

“De cet objet affreux tu parois rebutté,Est c’est ce que dans peu cependant tu dois étre:Apprens, mortel, a te connoîtreCe miroir est le seul, ou tu n’est point flatté”.

“De cet objet affreux tu parois rebutté,

Est c’est ce que dans peu cependant tu dois étre:

Apprens, mortel, a te connoître

Ce miroir est le seul, ou tu n’est point flatté”.

Another legend reminds the reader that he is only dust, and to dust he must return:—“Vous estes poudre, & vous retournéres en poudre”.

A HUMAN SKULL RESTING ON THE SKULL OF A DOG(From the “Fabrica”, 1543)

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Upon the thirteenth day of August, 1542, Vesalius finished theEpitomeof his great book. The text and illustrations for it were forwarded to Basel by the same merchant who conveyed the manuscript and drawings of theFabrica. The title of the lesser work is as follows:—

Andreae Vesalii Bruxellensis, Scholae medicorumPatavinae professoris, suorum de Humani corporisfabrica librorum Epitome. Basil., et officinaJoannis Oporini, Anno, 1543, mense Junio.

This work is extremely rare. It belonged to the class ofFliegende Blätterand was issued unbound. Perfect copies of it are rarely found. The first twelve sheets are printed on both sides; the two last leaves are printed on one side only, in order that they might be cut out and pasted together to show two complete figures. Hence these sheets are often lacking. TheEpitomeappeared in the same year and in the same month as theFabrica, but the latter work was printed first.

TheEpitomeis dedicated to Philip, the son of Charles the Fifth, who, after his father’s abdication, was known as Philip the Second of Spain. The title-page is printed from the same plate as the larger work; and Vesalius’s portrait also is present. From the fact that the dedication bears the inscription:Patavii, idibus Augusti 1542, the erroneous opinion arose that this work preceded theFabrica.

TITLE-PAGE OF VESALIUS’S “EPITOME”, 1543

Among the illustrations found in theEpitomeare seven that are not in the large book; namely, five myologic plates, and the figure of a naked man and one of a woman. The myologic figures in theEpitomediffer from those in theFabricain this respect: the muscles are drawn in their natural position, group, and order, so that the surgeon, in treating wounds and in performing operations, may have the correct relations of the parts in mind. Also, the one side of the figure differs from the other: the one showing the superficial muscles, while the other exhibits the deeper musculature. The muscles in theFabrica, with the exception of four complete myologic figures, are represented as they appear in anatomical demonstrations, particular attention being given to their origins and insertions. For the purpose of the artist, the best figures are the three skeletons and the four complete myologic figures which are found in theFabrica.

Two beautiful copies of theEpitome, printed on vellum, are in existence. One is in the British Museum and is thought to be the copy which was owned by the celebrated Dr. Richard Mead; the other one is in the possession of the University of Louvain.

Vesalius speaks modestly of theEpitome, which he regards as an index or appendix of theFabrica, and is for the use of beginners in anatomy.

SKELETON BY VESALIUS(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)

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The reputation of Vesalius rests securely upon theFabrica. This grand book, which is dedicated to Charles the Fifth, consists of six hundred and fifty-nine folio pages of text; thirty-four pages of index, disposed in three columns to the page; six pages of preface; and two pages of a letter which is addressed to “Joannes Oporinus, the renowned professor of Greek letters in Basel”. The work is printed in excellent style. The printed page measures 8 by 12½ inches, including the marginal notes. There are fifty-seven lines to a page, averaging twelve words to a line, or approximately seven hundred words to a page. This was written, amid many duties and distractions, in the short period of three years. It is truly a monument of diligence.

The text of theFabricais clear and concise; it describes what has to be described and does it well. The errors which Vesalius rectified, and the improvements which he made in anatomy, are so numerous that references can be made to only a few of them. His anatomical writings are of such bulk that they cannot be reviewed adequately within the limits of the present chapter. As regards theFabrica, we may say, with Richardson, that “The dissections and the plates are the book”.

FIFTH VESALIAN PLATE OF THE MUSCLES(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)

TheFabricacontains the rudiments of anthropology as well as the first illustrations of comparative anatomy. Vesalius portrays a human skull resting upon the skull of a dog. He also shows a simian and a canine sacrum and coccyx, to prove his contention that Galen’s anatomy was derived from dissection of the lower animals. TheFabricais more than an anatomy. Throughout the work physiology goes hand in hand with the anatomical description. The use and function of each part of the body is given in short, clear sentences.

TheFabricais built upon a practical plan. It treats of anatomy in a logical manner and is composed of seven books, which deal with the following subjects: (1)—Bones and Cartilages; (2)—Ligaments and Muscles; (3)—Veins and Arteries; (4)—Nerves; (5)—Organs of Nutrition and Generation; (6)—Heart and Lungs; and (7)—Brain and Organs of Sense.

Vesalius devotes one hundred and sixty-eight pages to the bones and cartilages, treating these structures with a thoroughness that amazed his contemporaries. He was the first author who correctly described the osseous system as a whole. In numerous instances Vesalius places himself in direct opposition to the opinions of Galen. He denied the existence of the intermaxillary bone in adults, and showed that the inferior maxilla does not consist of two pieces, as has been asserted by Galen. The seven bones of the sternum were reduced to three by Vesalius. He denied Galen’s statement that the bones of the symphysis pubis separate during parturition. He was the first anatomist to give an accurate description of the sphenoid bone. A small aperture at the root of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone is calledforamen Vesalii. Vesalius proved the existence of marrow in the bones of the hand, which had been denied by Galen. In all respects, he wrote more intelligently of the bones than any anatomist who had preceded him.

DEEP MUSCLES OF THE BACK BY VESALIUS(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)

PART OF THE FIRST TEXT-PAGE OF THE “FABRICA”

Vesalius devotes one hundred and eighty-eight pages to a description of the ligaments and the muscles. This part of his treatise, while it contains a few errors and does not reach the high plane of the first book, is superior to any work of its kind that had preceded it. Vesalius was the first writer to describe the internal pterygoid muscle. He denied the existence of a general muscle of the skin, and stated that the intercostal muscles merely separate the ribs without expanding or contracting the thorax. He held the view that nerves and muscles do not stand in any relation of proportionate strength to one another, large nerves often being distributed to small muscles. He also held that the tendons are similar in structure to the ligaments.

PLATE OF THE ARTERIAL TREE BY VESALIUS(From the “Fabrica”, 1543. Reduced one-half)

Vesalius’s plates of the superficial muscles are among the most beautiful that have ever appeared. They have been copied in practically all later treatises on anatomy, and have been used extensively by art-anatomists. His plates of the deeper muscles, while naturally not so pleasing to the eye, are wonderfully near accuracy. The different muscles are drawn to show function as well as structure.

The third part of theFabrica, comprising sixty pages, is devoted to the veins and arteries. Vesalius begins with the definition of a vein, and describes the structure of these vessels in general. The term “artery” is treated in like manner. He introduces several small illustrations which serve to elucidate this part of the text. His first large plate in this section is devoted to the venae portae. This is followed by a full-page picture of the entire venous system. The arterial system is fully described and elaborately illustrated. To these is added another plate, in which both arteries and veins are represented in their natural order. In other plates he shows the special circulations—cerebral, portal, and pulmonary.

DISSECTION OF THE ABDOMEN BY VESALIUS(From the “Fabrica”, 1543)

Vesalius described the valve which guards the foramen ovale in the foetus, and also noticed the valve-like fold which guards the entrance of each hepatic vein into the inferior vena cava. He also gave an admirable description of the vena azygos. Blinded by the ancient theory of the movement of the blood—a sort of flux and reflux in the veins, he overlooked the function of the venous valves. He described them as eminences, or projections, or accidental rugosities, which in no way interfere with the flux and reflux of the blood.

DISSECTION OF THE HEART BY VESALIUS(From the “Fabrica”, 1543)

Vesalius devotes forty pages to the cerebral and spinal nerves. The anatomy of the brain is treated in the seventh book. His representations of the nerves are very creditable. He mentions eleven pairs of cranial nerves: the olfactory, the optic, the motores oculorum, the trifacial, the abducens, the portio dura, the portio mollis, the glosso-pharyngeal, the pneumogastric, and the spinal accessory.

His account of the brain—contained in the seventh book—is elaborately minute considering the time when it was written. His illustrations and description of this organ surpass those of scores of later authors. Vesalius fully describes the position of the brain; the membranes which cover it; the cavities, or ventricles, within it; the divisions of cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla; the anatomy of the base, and the origins of the cerebral nerves. These structures are illustrated from different points of view.

The fifth book, comprising more than one hundred pages, is devoted to the organs of nutrition. Here we find an admirable account of the peritoneum, the mesentery, the omentum, the stomach and intestines, the liver, the spleen, and the genito-urinary tract—all of which structures are described and fully illustrated. In this book Vesalius also describes the foetus in utero.

In less than fifty pages Vesalius describes the contents of the thorax. He writes intelligently of the membrane lining the thorax, and then gives an account of the arteria aspera, as the trachea was formerly named. Passing on to the lungs, he next takes up the anatomy of the heart. He describes its position, form, and structure in better terms than had been done by preceding anatomists. The auricles, ventricles, and valves are carefully examined. His illustrations of both lungs and heart are excellent.

In the 1543 edition of theFabrica, Vesalius adoptsthe erroneous view of Galen that openings exist in the septum of the heart. In the second edition of his book, published in 1555, he says that influenced by the views of Galen, he believed that the blood passes from the right to the left ventricle of the heart, through the septum, by means of the pores. Vesalius immediately adds that the septum of the heart is as dense and compact as the rest of this organ, and that not the smallest quantity of blood passes through the septum.

His account of this subject is best given in his own words:—“In recounting as above the structure of the heart, and the use of its different parts, I have followed in the main the doctrines of Galen; not that I regard them in all particulars as consonant with the truth, but because, in attributing new functions and uses to a number of parts, I am still distrustful of myself, and not long ago should hardly have ventured to differ from that Prince of Physicians by so much as a finger’s breadth. As for the dividing wall, or septum, between the ventricles forming the right side of the left cavity, the student of anatomy should consider carefully that it is equally thick, compact, and dense, with all the rest of the cardiac substance enclosing the left ventricle. And accordingly, notwithstanding what I have said about the pits in this situation, and at the same time not forgetting the absorption by the portal vein from the stomach and intestines, I still do not see how even the smallest quantity of blood can be transfused, through the substance of the septum, from the right ventricle to the left”.

Vesalius and other anatomists knew of the hepaticcirculation, or at least believed in some communication between the portal and hepatic veins:—“The branches of this vein”—vena cava—“distributed through the body of the liver, come in contact with those of the portal vein; and the extreme ramifications of these veins inosculate with each other, and in many places appear to unite and be continuous”.

Vesalius knew that in several particulars the accepted physiology of the vascular system was wrong. If he could have lived a few years longer, it is possible that he might have solved the great problem which was made clear by William Harvey. In the light of our present knowledge some of Vesalius’s words are suggestive:

“When these matters are taken into account, many things at once present themselves in regard to the arterial system, which deserve careful consideration; especially the fact that there is hardly a single vein going to the stomach, the intestines, or even the spleen, without its accompanying artery, and that nearly every member of the portal system has a companion artery associated with it in its course. Again, the arteries going to the kidneys are of such size that they can by no means be affirmed to serve merely for regulating the heat of these organs; and still less can we assert that so many arteries are distributed to the stomach, intestines and spleen for that purpose alone. And there is, furthermore, the fact, which we must for many reasons admit, that there is through the arteries and veins a mutual flux and reflux of materials, and that within these vessels the weight and gravitation of their contents has no effect”.

In the seventh book, consisting of less than sixty pages, Vesalius fully describes the anatomy of the brain, of the cranial nerves, and of the organs of sense. His description of the eye is not as near accuracy as might be expected. He places the crystalline lens in the centre of the globe. His description of the organ of vision was only slightly better than that which was given by Galen. Vesalius showed, however, that the optic nerve is not a hollow tube, and that it does not enter the eyeball exactly in the antero-posterior axis.

Considering the time in which he lived, Vesalius was remarkably free from errors. Although to him the arteries were carriers of vital spirits, the veins were the true blood vessels, and, according to the first edition of his great book, the septum of the heart was filled with foramina; yet, we must say with Baas, “these are all mere shadows necessary to the brilliancy of the picture”.

Vesalius was more than an anatomist. As a practical physician he had the highest reputation among his contemporaries. He was an accomplished scholar and was thoroughly conversant with the weaknesses of human nature, as is evident from many satirical touches in his writings. Although his great work contains many errors that a tyro of the present day would laugh at, it laid the foundations of our knowledge. Vesalius overthrew the idol of authority in anatomy and taught us to look at Nature with our own eyes.

Portal[24]has paid a splendid tribute to Vesalius. “Vesalius”, he says, “appears to me one of the greatest men who ever existed. Let the astronomers vaunt their Copernicus, the natural philosophers their Galileo and Torricelli, the mathematicians their Pascal, the geographers their Columbus, I shall always place Vesalius above all their heroes. The first study of man is man. Vesalius has this noble object in view, and has admirably attained it; he has made on himself and his fellows such discoveries as Columbus could make only by travelling to the extremity of the world. The discoveries of Vesalius are of direct importance to man; by acquiring fresh knowledge of his own structure, man seems to enlarge his existence; while discoveries in geography or astronomy affect him but in a very indirect manner”.

Like Harvey, Vesalius was obliged to defend his writings from fierce attacks. The most desperate of his opponents was his old master, Jacobus Sylvius, who was so wedded to the Galenic teachings that he asserted that since Galen’s time the thigh bones had changed their shape. He spoke of Vesalius as a “madman, Vesanus, whose pestilential breath poisons Europe”. Ponderous discussions were carried on between the friends and opponents of the great anatomist. The complete overthrow of the Galenists resulted.

If Vesalius had remained professor of anatomy in Padua, instead of being appointed physician to Charles the Fifth, at Madrid, in 1544, it is probable that the circulation of the blood would have been discovered by him.

In recent years attempts have been made to show that it was not Vesalius, but Leonardo da Vinci, who was the founder of modern anatomy. A considerable amount of controversial literature has accumulated on this subject. For our purpose it may suffice to quote the conclusions of McMurrich[25]:—“Leonardo was the first to create a new anatomy, but he created it for himself alone; Vesalius demonstrated a new anatomy to the world. It was the publication of Vesalius’sFabricathat revolutionized anatomy, while Leonardo’s drawings were lying unpublished, at first the cherished possessions of his favorite pupil Melzi, later in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, and still later forgotten in the Royal Library at Windsor. We must credit Leonardo as being the forerunner of the new anatomy, but Vesalius must be recognized as its founder”.

INITIAL LETTER BY VESALIUS(From the “Fabrica”, 1543)

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Shortly after the publication of theFabrica, great activity was manifested in anatomic research, and numerous opponents and critics of Vesalius appeared in the arena of science. The criticism of such men as Jacobus Sylvius and John Dryander, while it was of a violent type, was of much less importance than was that of Eustachius, Columbus and Fallopius. Vesalius was not without his partisans, of whom Ingrassias and Cannanus are worthy of mention.

Eustachius was born at San Severino, a small city near Salernum, about the year 1520. He studied anatomy in Rome and made remarkable progress in this science. In the year 1562, as he informs us in hisOpuscula Anatomica, he was professor of medicine in the Collegio della Sapienza at Rome. Like many other men of genius, Eustachius died in poverty. In August, 1574, having been called by the illness of Cardinal Rovere to Fossombrone, Eustachius died upon the journey.

To Eustachius posterity is indebted for a series of splendid copperplate engravings which were designed to illustrate the anatomy of the human body. These plates, the handiwork of Eustachius, and the first anatomicalillustrations wrought in copper, were completed in 1552, only nine years after the first impression of the book of Vesalius. Unfortunately for himself, and worse for medical science, Eustachius was unable to publish them. If this magnificent atlas of anatomy could have been published when completed, the anatomical discoveries of the eighteenth century would have come two hundred years earlier. Unfortunately the entire text of the work is lost. For one hundred and thirty-eight years the Eustachian plates remained either in the family of Pinus, an intimate friend of the anatomist, or were buried in the Papal Library at Rome. When discovered they were presented by Pope Clement XI. to his physician, Lancisi, who published them with notes of his own, at Rome, in 1714. In 1740 they were issued under the direction of Cajetan Petrioli. Four years later the edition by Albinus appeared, which was republished in 1761. The anatomical writings of Eustachius were published during his lifetime, in 1564. It is upon hisTabulae Anatomicaethat the fame of this wonderful man is founded. If this work had been published in 1552, Eustachius would have divided with Vesalius the honor of founding human anatomy. The victim of circumstances, his name has been overshadowed by that of Vesalius, to whom in some respects he was superior. Deprived during life of his merited honors, Eustachius has been awarded a goodly share of posthumous fame.

BRAIN AND NERVES BY EUSTACHIUS(Reduced one-half)

MUSCLES BY EUSTACHIUS(Reduced one-half)

Eustachius was the first anatomist to describe, with any degree of accuracy, the tube which bears his name. We can truly say he discovered it, since Alcmaeon dissected only the lower animals, and was not an accurate observer, as his view that goats breathe through the ears, amply testifies. Eustachius discovered the tensor tympani and stapedius muscles, the modiolus and membranous cochlea, and the stapes. The honor of the discovery of the stapes is claimed for no less than five renowned anatomists, namely, Fallopius, Ingrassias, Columbus, Colladus, and Eustachius. It is unnecessary to discuss this disputed claim to priority. The truth seems to be that the stapes was discovered by both Ingrassias and Eustachius, each independently of the other. In 1546 Ingrassias publiclydemonstrated the little bone of the ear in his lectures at Naples. Fallopius, after learning from an eyewitness that Ingrassias had actually discovered and named the ossicle, relinquished his claim to the discovery. Columbus and Colladus filed their information at too late a date. Eustachius, as previously stated, finished his anatomical plates in 1552. His seventh plate shows, among other subjects, the auditory ossicles—malleus, incus and stapes—and tensor tympani muscle. These objects are delineated as taken from a human subject, and also from a dog.

Eustachius discovered the origin of the optic nerves, and the sixth cerebral nerves. He gives excellent pictures of the corpora olivaria and corpora pyramidalia; of the stylo-hyoid muscle; of the deep muscles of the neck and throat; of the suprarenal capsules, and of the thoracic duct. He also described the ciliary muscle. Eustachius was the first anatomist who accurately studied the teeth and the phenomena of the first and second dentition. In his researches he employed magnifying glasses, maceration, exsiccation, and various methods of injection.

The first anatomical treatise containing an account of the lesser, or pulmonary circulation, was the monumental work,De Re Anatomica, libri xv., written by Realdus Columbus and sumptuously published at Venice in the year 1559. This, however, was not the first printed account of the lesser circulation. Six years prior to the publication of the book of Columbus, the unfortunate Servetus, in a theological treatise, described correctly thecourse of the blood in its transit through the lungs. Tried for heresy, Servetus was burned, together with all obtainable copies of his book. Although it had been printed, the work was suppressed; hence it follows that Columbus was the first to publish the great discovery. Of the life of this anatomist we know but little. Born at Cremona, a small Milanese village, the year of his birth is unknown. He died in 1559, while his book was being printed. A few copies were finished before his demise, since a copy belonging to the late Dr. George Jackson Fisher, of Sing Sing, N.Y., contains the author’s own dedication to Pope Paul IV., while in other exemplars, the dedication has been written by the two sons of Columbus, and is addressed to “Pio IIII., Pont. Max”. This prelate, on the death of Paul IV., on August 18, 1559, became the head of the Church.

Some writers have held that the discovery of the lesser circulation was not made by Columbus independently of Servetus, but that a copy of the book of Servetus had drifted into Italy and had been read by Columbus. There is no direct evidence to support this view. When Vesalius was called to Madrid as physician to Charles the Fifth, Columbus, in 1544, succeeded him in the University of Padua; two years later he filled the anatomical chair at Pisa, and in 1546, Pope Paul IV. called him to Rome. Here he spent the later years of his life, engaged in teaching anatomy and in writing his book. For forty years Columbus pursued his anatomical studies, and in that period he dissected an unusually large number of bodies. Fourteen subjects passed under his scalpel in a single year.

TITLE-PAGE OF COLUMBUS’S ANATOMY(Reduced one-half)

Columbus frequently made experiments upon living animals. He was the first to use dogs for such purposes, preferring them to swine. Book XIIII. of the work of Columbus is upon the subject of vivisection,De viva sectione. In this he tells us how to employ living dogsin demonstrating the movements of the heart and brain, the action of the lungs, etc. Columbus was the first anatomist who demonstrated experimentally that the blood passes from the lungs into the pulmonary veins. “When the heart dilates”, says Columbus, “it draws natural blood from the vena cava into the right ventricle, and prepared blood from the pulmonary vein into the left; the valves being so disposed that they collapse and permit its ingress; but when the heart contracts, they become tense, and close the apertures, so that nothing can return by the way it came. The valves of the aorta and pulmonary artery opening, on the contrary, at the same moment, give passage to the spirituous blood for distribution to the body at large, and to the natural blood for transference to the lungs”.

Like Servetus, Columbus held to the idea of “spiritus”. Harvey was the first physiologist who recognized the circulation as purely a movement of blood. All before him assumed the existence of a mixture of air and blood. Columbus, pupil and prosector of Vesalius, like his great master, denied the existence of foramina in the cardiac septum.

GABRIEL FALLOPIUS

Gabriel Fallopius (1523-1562), of Modena, was a noted Italian anatomist. In his twenty-fifth year he was made professor of anatomy at Pisa. Although the span of his life was short, he will be remembered always as the discoverer of the tubes which bear his name. According to Fisher, Fallopius “described the ear more minutely than had ever before been done. He discovered the little canal along which the facial nerve passes after leaving the auditory; it is still called theaquaeductus Fallopii. He demonstrated the fact of the communication of the mastoid cells with the cavity of the tympanum; and also described the fenestrae rotunda and ovalis. In the treatment of diseases of the ear, he used an aural speculum, and employed sulphuric acid for the removal of polypi from the meatus. In some of his supposed discoveries he had long been anticipated; for example, the tubes which bear his name were known and accurately described by Herophilus, over three hundred years before the Christian era, and also by Rufus of Ephesus, of whomGalen speaks as the best anatomist of the second century. Rufus refers to two varicose and tortuous vessels passing from the testes (as the ovaries were called) to the cavity of the uterus. Fallopius, however, gave a full account of their course, position, size and structure. He cut into them and found them hollow, gave them the name of tubae seminales, and posterity attached his name to them, and in time came to a better comprehension of their true function. This is not the only instance in the history of anatomical discovery where the name of a person, not its discoverer, has been given to an organ. Allusion has been made to Fallopius as a botanist; a genus of plants,Fallopia, has been named in honor of him”.

Fallopius was appointed professor of anatomy at Pisa, in the year 1548; and later, at the instance of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I., he received a professorship at Padua, as successor to Vesalius. Besides the chair of anatomy and surgery and of botany, he also held the office of superintendent of the new botanic garden in that city. Fallopius remained in Padua to the day of his death, which occurred in 1562. He was very properly succeeded by his favorite pupil, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, who had been for some time previously his anatomical demonstrator. His collected works, as published in Venice, 1606, embrace twenty-four treatises distributed in three folio volumes. Only one of his works was published during his lifetime, namely, hisObservationes Anatomicae, Venice, 1561, which is considered one of his most valuable books, containing, as it does, most of his discoveries and his animadversions on the works of other anatomists.

This was written as a supplement to the anatomy of Vesalius, for it follows the same order, passes upon the same subjects, corrects the inaccuracies of the Vesalian treatise, and supplies what is wanting. Throughout the work Fallopius treats Vesalius with great respect, and never mentions him without an honorable title. Vesalius wrote an answer to this work, entitled,Observationum Fallopii examen, in which he acknowledges the courtesy of Fallopius, but, as argument progresses, appears to be out of temper.

After the death of Fallopius it was thought that no successor except Vesalius could be found competent to fill his place. Accordingly Vesalius was chosen. The news of his appointment reached him while he was returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Unfortunately he was shipwrecked and perished, otherwise history would have afforded an example of the master filling the chair of the pupil.

Ingrassias, who lived between the years 1510-1580, was a graduate of the celebrated Paduan School. He described minutely the anatomy of the ear, including the tympanum, fenestrae rotunda and ovalis, the cochlea, the semi-circular canals, and the tensor tympani muscle. His admiring pupils caused his portrait to be painted and placed in the Neapolitan School, with this inscription:—“To Philip Ingrassias, of Sicily, who, by his lectures, restored the science of true Medicine and Anatomy in Naples, his pupils have suspended this portrait as a mark of grateful remembrance”. Ingrassias was a voluminouswriter, his chief work being a treatise on osteology, which was published twenty-three years after his death. When the plague depopulated Palermo, in 1575, his devotion was such as to earn for him the title of the Sicilian Hippocrates. Few men have been more earnest workers in medical science. If his fame as an anatomist has not equalled that of others, the cause is to be sought in the multiplicity of competitors, not in lack of zeal and ability.

INGRASSIAS

Illuminated capital

Medical history furnishes numerous examples of literary theft. In many instances an entire set of anatomical plates has been pirated by unscrupulous publishers. In a few cases both text and plates have been appropriated by medical authors. The most notorious example of this form of theft was furnished by William Cowper (1666-1709), an English surgeon and anatomist, who, having secured three hundred copies of Bidloo’s set of one hundred and five anatomical plates, in 1697 issued the work[26]as his own. Cowper added a few original illustrations to the book.

Vesalius suffered severely at the hands of the plagiarists. Pirated editions of theTabulae Anatomicaewere printed in several cities, chiefly in Germany. As regards theFabrica, we may say that it has been the fountain from which many anatomical writers have derived practically all of their illustrations and much of their text.

The fame of theFabricasoon spread throughout Europe. It was published in Germany, in Holland and in England. An epitome of its contents was issued in Latin, in 1545, by Thomas Geminus, or Gemini, under the title:—Compendiosa totius Anatomiae delineatio, aere exaratum per Thomam. Geminum.It contained forty of the Vesalianplates, cut in copper, and was the first book issued in England in which the roller printing process was employed. It was dedicated to Henry the Eighth, and was embellished with “one of the earliest and most curious of all extant engraved title-pages”.

In 1553, Geminus issued a second edition, in which the text was translated into English. This edition was dedicated to Edward the Sixth, with a commendatory note, “To the gentill readers and Surgeons of Englande”. Six years later the third English edition appeared, which was inscribed to Queen Elizabeth. It contains the first published portrait of the Queen. She is shown upon the engraved title-page, and, strange to say, above her is another queenly figure, with a pen in her right hand, a wreath on her left, her foot resting on the globe, and styledVictoria.

Another English work on anatomy, which is filled with poor imitations of Vesalius’s illustrations, is theMicrocosmographiaof Helkiah Crooke, or Crocus, who was “Professor in Anatomy and Chirurgery”. Its chief value rests in an elaborately engraved title-page, a part of which shows Crooke giving a demonstration in anatomy in the presence of the “Worshipfull Company of Barber-Chirurgeons”, in London, early in the seventeenth century.

John Banister of Nottingham, in 1578, borrowed a few Vesalian woodcuts for use inThe Historie of Man, sucked from the sappe of the most approved Anatomists and published for the Utilitie of all Godly Chirurgians within this Realme.

Most of the host of translators, epitomizers, commentators and imitators of Vesalius have passed into oblivion.A few of these persons have possessed enough of individuality to deserve recognition.

Juan Valverde di Hamusco, a Spaniard who was born about the year 1500, studied anatomy at Padua and later at Rome. His book,Historia de la Composicion del Cuerpo Humano, was published at Rome in 1556. It contains forty-two copperplates and an engraved title-page. Although the author says he has used only the Vesalian plates, his work contains several plates which are not to be found in Vesalius’s writings. For example, Valverde shows amuskelmannwith his skin held in his right hand, the left grasping a dagger which may have been used in the skinning process. Other original drawings show the abdomen and intestines, a pregnant woman with the abdomen opened, and illustrations of the superficial veins.

Valverde was physician to Cardinal Juan de Toledo, Archbishop of Santiago, to whom the work is dedicated. The illustrations were drawn by Gaspar Becerra and were engraved by Nicholas Beatrizet. Valverde’s book went through several editions. It forms a landmark in the medical history of Spain—a country which, for many years, was behind other states of Europe in matters of science.

To name the list of anatomical writers who have derived their artistic inspiration from theFabricawould require much more space than is at our disposal. It must suffice to say, that, for a period of two centuries, nearly all treatises on anatomy contained illustrations which were taken from the writings of Vesalius. With few exceptions, these reproductions were little better than caricatures of the original figures.

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