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 his _Opuscula
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
anatomical illustrations 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 his _Tabulae
Anatomicae_ that 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.
[Illustration: BRAIN AND NERVES BY EUSTACHIUS
(Reduced one-half)]
[Illustration: 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 publicly demonstrated 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.