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ANDREAS
VESALIUS
THE
Reformer of Anatomy
BY
JAMES MOORES BALL, M. D.
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SAINT LOUIS
MEDICAL SCIENCE PRESS
MDCCCCX
Copyrighted, 1910
By James Moores Ball
_All rights reserved_
TO THE MEMORY
OF THOSE ILLUSTRIOUS MEN
WHO
OFTEN UNDER ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES
AND
SOMETIMES IN DANGER OF DEATH
SUCCEEDED IN UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES
OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY,
TO THE FATHERS OF ANATOMY
AND
TO THE ARTIST-ANATOMISTS
THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED
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PREFACE
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In the annals of the medical profession the name of Andreas Vesalius of
Brussels holds a place second to none. Every physician has heard of him,
yet few know the details of his life, the circumstances under which his
labors were carried out, the extent of those labors, or their
far-reaching influence upon the progress of anatomy, physiology and
surgery. Comparatively few physicians have seen his works; and fewer
still have read them. The reformation which he inaugurated in anatomy,
and incidentally in other branches of medical science, has left only a
dim impress upon the minds of the busy, science-loving physicians of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. That so little should be known about
him is not surprising, since his writings were in Latin and were
published prior to the middle of the sixteenth century. His books, 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 of the world. They are among the _incunabula_ of the medical
literature. That English-speaking physicians know little of Vesalian
literature 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 originally in _Fraser’s
Magazine_, in 1853, and later was published in his _Clement Marot and
Other Studies_, in 1871. 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 to be desired. A vast
mass of Vesalian literature was printed, chiefly in the Latin language,
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Much of it is based on
insufficient evidence or on national prejudice. The Germans, the French,
the Dutch and the Italians have all taken a turn at it. In modern times
the monumental work of Roth, _Andreas Vesalius Bruxellensis_, Berlin,
1892, has served to epitomize this literature and to make clear many
points which formerly were not understood. I have taken Roth’s book as a
basis for this monograph, without using the voluminous references which
are found in the work of this thorough historian.
The man who overthrew the authority of Galen; revolutionized the
teaching of the structure of the human body; started anatomical,
physiological, and surgical investigation in the right channels; first
correctly illustrated his dissections; destroyed ancient dogmas, and
made many new discoveries—this man, Andreas Vesalius of Brussels,
deserves the name which Morley has given him, “the Luther of Anatomy.”
At long intervals a bright particular star appears in the intellectual
horizon, endowed with genius of such a superlative order as seemingly to
comprise within itself the whole domain of an entire science. These men
do not belong to any particular epoch in the development of the human
mind. They are the eternal symbols of progress, and their history is the
history of the science which they profess. Such men were Bacon, Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Lavoisier, and Bichat; and such also was Andreas
Vesalius the anatomist. Young, enthusiastic, courageous and diligent,
Vesalius dared to contradict the authority of Galen, corrected the
anatomical mistakes of thirteen centuries and before his thirtieth year
published the most accurate, complete, and best illustrated treatise on
anatomy that the world had ever seen. His industry, the success which
crowned his efforts, the jealousies which his discoveries aroused in the
breasts of his contemporaries, the honors which were conferred upon him
by Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second, his pilgrimage 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 of a revolution which was won, not by force
of arms but by the scalpel of an anatomist and the hand of an artist.
The whole of human anatomy, as a study involving correct descriptions of
the component parts of the body and accurate delineations thereof, may
be said to have been founded by Andreas Vesalius and Jan Stephan van
Calcar. As light pouring into a prism attracts little notice until it
emerges in iridescent hues, so it was with anatomy: after passing
through the brain of Vesalius it bore rich fruit which has been gathered
by many hands. To turn from the writings of Galen, Mondino, Hundt,
Peyligk, Phryesen, and Berengario da Carpi to the beauties of Vesalius’s
_De Humani Corporis Fabrica_ is like passing from darkness into
sunlight. To both anatomists and artists this book was a revelation. For
more than a century after its appearance the anatomists of Europe did
little more than make additions to, and compose commentaries upon the
conjoint triumph of Vesalius and van Calcar. For more than two centuries
the osteologic and myologic figures of the _Fabrica_ formed the basis of
all treatises on Art-Anatomy.