[Illustration: 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 the _aquaeductus
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 whom Galen 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, his _Observationes
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.