[1]Maurice Davidson, _Medicine in Oxford_, Oxford, 1953, pp. 15 ff.
[2]H. D. Rolleston, _The Cambridge Medical School_, Cambridge, 1932, pp.
1 ff.
[3]J. F. South, _Memorials of the Craft of Surgery in England_, ed.
D’Arcy Power, London, 1886, pp. 14-15; Austin T. Young, _The Annals
of the Barber-Surgeons of London_, London, 1890, p. 24.
[4]South, op. cit., pp. 15-18.
[5]Ibid., pp. 20 ff; Young, op. cit., pp. 40 ff.
[6]South, op. cit., pp. 81 ff.
[7]Ernest Wickersheimer, ‘Les premières dissections à la Faculté de
Médecine de Paris’, _Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris
et de l’Ile-de-France_, 1910, xxxvii. 162-3.
[8]_Commentaires de la Faculté de Médecine de l’Université de Paris
(1395-1516)_, Paris, 1915, p. 286.
[9]_Cronica Fratris Salimbene_ (Monumenta Germaniae Historica:
Scriptores), Hanover, 1905-13, p. 613.
[10]Robert von Töply, in Puschmann, _Handbuch der Geschichte der
Medizin_, Jena, 1903, ii. 199.
[11]Ibid., p. 201.
[12]Ibid., p. 209.
[13]M. Roth, _Andreas Vesalius Bruxellensis_, Berlin, 1892, p. 13.
[14]Töply, loc. cit., p. 212.
[15]Ibid.
[16]Montagu Burrow’s, ‘Memoir of William Grocyn’, _Collectanea, Second
Series_ (Oxford Historical Society), Oxford, 1890, pp. 332 ff.
[17]J. N. Johnson, _The Life of Thomas Linacre_, London, 1835, pp. 1-12.
[18]G. B. Parks, _The English Traveller to Italy. The Middle Ages (to
1525)_, Stanford, Calif., 1955, pp. 457-60.
[19]R. J. Mitchell, ‘Thomas Linacre in Italy’, _English Historical
Review_, 1935, l. 696.
[20]This sequence was followed in Paris where in particular Guinther of
Andernach and Jacobus Sylvius were proceeding from their study of
Galen’s medical writings to those of an anatomical nature.
[21]Thomas Fowler, _The History of Corpus Christi College_, Oxford,
1893, p. 381; _Register of the University of Oxford_, ed. Boase,
Oxford, 1885, ii. 128, where he is mentioned as ‘David Edwardys,
disciple of the dyalectic art’.
[22]Ibid.
[23]Fowler, op. cit., pp. 58 and n., 85 n., 369 and n.
[24]_Register_, p. 128.
[25]Fowler, op. cit., p. 370 n.
[26]Ibid., p. 369.
[27]Ibid., p. 372.
[28]_Grace Book_ Β, ed. Mary Bateson, Cambridge, 1905, pt. ii, pp. 148,
150.
[29]_Grace Book_ Γ, ed. William George Searle, Cambridge, 1908, p. 242.
[30]_De Indiciis et Praecognitionibus_, London, 1532, Ei^r.
[31]_Grace Book_ Γ, p. 254.
[32]Ibid., p. 326.
[33]Ibid., p. 353.
[34]_De Indiciis et Praecognitionibus_, C₃^r.
[35]There is record of the probate of his will in that year in the
Vice-Chancellor’s Court in the University of Cambridge with mention
of his wife Alice. The actual will, however, appears to be no longer
in existence. Information kindly supplied by Miss H. E. Peek,
Archivist of the University of Cambridge.
[36]J. D. Comrie, _History of Scottish Medicine_, London, 1932.
[37]_The Paintings of Hans Holbein_, ed. Ganz, London, 1956, nos. 218,
219.
[38]Young, op. cit., p. 588.
[39]Guildhall, Repertory 10, f. 186, 14 Dec. 1540.
[40]_De Libris Propriis_, p. 90, in _The Works of John Caius_, M.D., ed.
Venn, Cambridge, 1912.
[41]William Munk, _The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of
London_, London, 1878, iii. 351. The statute is cited from Goodall’s
MS., _On College Affairs_, pp. 55-56: ‘Among our elders the
Anatomical Lecture was considered of such importance that according
to everyone’s recollection very few Fellows sought to be excused
from that duty except for very grave reasons. However, lest it
happen that frequent dispensations of that sort should become usual
and customary and thence, so it was feared, lest such a useful
institution should gradually perish, they decided to prevent it
through the statutes, by slight penalties in the beginning and
afterward increased and more severe according to the danger. We
desiring to follow their prudent regulation, lest hereafter we admit
Fellows into the Society influenced by a like hope of always
declining this duty and not giving their attention seriously to that
task: We establish and Order that for those refusing the duty of the
ordinary anatomical lecture and wishing to be released wholly from
that duty, the penalty of paying the College twenty pounds, unless
because of very serious obstacles approved by the President and a
majority of the Fellows in plenary session. In cases of lesser
importance in which there is not sought a continuing exemption but a
deferment from lecturing for a time, we leave to the judgment of the
President how far this ought to be granted to the applicants; but
the deferment granted may not exceed seven months. In which case
also we wish that deferment from the first lecture may not be
granted in favor of the succeeding lecturer, but that he be held to
observe the time ordered for him by the President, as if there were
no such deferment.’
[42]Charles Goodall, _The Royal College of Physicians of London_,
London, 1684, pp. 34-37: ‘Elizabeth by the grace of God, Queen of
England, France & Ireland, defender of the faith &c. Greetings to
all those reached by the present letter. Our father of noble memory
Henry VIII, formerly King of England, among certain other decrees
for the well-being and usefulness of his kingdom of England,
especially watching over the health of his subjects, through his
Letters Patent instituted in perpetuity a College of certain grave
men of medicine who practised medicine publicly in his City of
London and its suburbs within seven miles of that city. In the name
of the President of the College and the Fellowship of the faculty of
medicine of London, he incorporated them in the corporate and
political body, and he granted to the same President and College of
Fellowship aforesaid and to its successors diverse liberties and
privileges. Our same father not only confirmed those Letters Patent
and all things contained in them through his _Senatus Consultum_ or
Parliament held in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of his reign,
but also he increased and amplified the same statute in many ways.
Since our said father granted this pious design for the well-being
of the commonwealth, assuredly day by day there will be manifestly
great advancement if to the aforesaid President, College or
Fellowship and their successors forever we grant what is especially
necessary for those professing medicine, certain human bodies
annually for dissection. Know that we, not only deservedly renewing
the famous institution of our said father, but also considering the
responsibility of our royal office to provide as much as possible
for the assured health and security of our subjects, of our special
grace and from our certain knowledge and genuine affection for our
people, we grant presently and for our heirs and successors to the
aforesaid President of the College or Fellowship of the aforesaid
faculty of medicine of London, and their successors or assigns, that
they may have and receive annually and forever in future times, at
one time or at different times of the year, at the discretion,
desire and liberty of the aforesaid President during the time of his
existence and of his successors, one, two, three or four human
bodies for dissection and anatomization, which have been condemned
and executed according to the common law of this kingdom for theft,
homicide or whatever felony, or have been condemned and executed
according to the common law of this kingdom for theft, homicide or
whatever felony within the County of Middlesex or within the
aforesaid City of London or elsewhere within sixteen miles of the
aforesaid City in whatever County.... And that it be permitted to
the same President of the College and aforesaid Fellowship and their
successors and whatever others of their assigns, professors or
experts, to dissect and to divide the same bodies or otherwise
according to their will and judgment, with that reverence which
ought to be granted to human flesh, for the increment of knowledge
of medicine and experiment of the same, and for the health of our
liegemen without the contradiction of anyone. And this without
rendering or paying any one any sum of money or any sums of money
for the same. Provided always that when from time to time an anatomy
of this sort has been undertaken and completed that the aforesaid
bodies be given funeral and burial at the expense of the President
and his successors....
Westminster, 24 February, in the seventh year of our reign’
[43]Caius was not only a confirmed Galenist, but with the passing years
ever a more conservative and literal Galenist, and his anatomical
lectures to the surgeons were described by Bullein in his _Little
Dialogue_ of 1579 as ‘reveiling ... the hidden jewels and precious
treasures of Cl. Galenus’. It seems likely that, whatever anatomical
lectures were given in the College of Physicians, they must, at
least for a time, have been of like character. In the _Annals_ of
the college as written by Caius we find that as late as the year
1559 a certain Joannes Geynes was subject to disciplinary action
because of his assertion that Galen had been guilty of error. He was
required to state that ‘I Joannes Geynes confess that Galen did not
err in those things for which I criticized him’, _Annales a Collegio
Condito_, pp. 53-54, in _The Works of John Caius_, ed. Venn,
Cambridge, 1912. Such conservatism carried over to the study of
anatomy would certainly have been detrimental to any advancement of
knowledge.
[44]_Compendiosa totius Anatomie delineatio, aere exarata per Thomam
Geminum._
[45]_Selected Writings of Sir D’Arcy Power_, Oxford, 1931, p. 115.
[46]H. M. Sinclair and A. H. T. Robb-Smith, _A Short History of
Anatomical Teaching in Oxford_, Oxford, 1950, p. 10.
[47]Ibid., p. 11.
[48]Ibid.
[49]Caius, loc. cit., p. 104.
[50]This portrait shows Banister giving the Visceral lecture at
Barber-Surgeon’s Hall in 1581; of small size and painted by an
unknown artist on two pieces of paper joined down the middle, it is
nevertheless sufficiently detailed for us to discover that Banister
is using the octavo edition of Colombo’s work printed in Paris in
1572. The portrait is now laid down in an album of anatomical
drawings, also painted for Banister, which was formerly owned by
William Hunter and is now preserved in the Hunterian Museum,
Glasgow. The drawings consist of views of the skeleton, the
superficial muscles, nerves and veins drawn in colour on a dark
ground with some skill. Singer, in his _Evolution of Anatomy_,
London, 1925, p. 174, suggests that the skeletal figures are
probably the earliest prepared in England which were actually drawn
from the bones. This could well be true, but Banister based his
drawing of the nerves on a plate of Charles Estienne, 1545, and his
figures of the superficial muscles and veins are possibly based on
Valverde. Other relics of Banister can be seen at Cambridge. The
University Library has a book-like casket containing a small ivory
skeleton and the _écorché_ figure of a man given to the library by
Banister in 1591. King’s College Library has a copy of _The Historie
of Man_ presented by the author in 1596.
[51]Books printed on the Continent were freely available in England, and
it could be argued that this was one reason why so few anatomical
texts were published in the Tudor period. It has already been noted
that Colombo’s _De Re Anatomica_ in the octavo edition of Paris,
1572, was used by Banister in his visceral lecture. This could well
have been the text recommended to apprentices of Barber-Surgeon’s
Hall. Such imported books were, of course, published in Latin and
were therefore suitable to the students of the College of Physicians
and those of Oxford or of Cambridge. It seems likely that the
students at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall created a demand for more simple
texts in the vernacular and this is surely the reason for the
continued popularity of such books as Thomas Vicary’s archaic text.
[Illustration: page image]
DE IN-
DICIIS ET PRAE
cognitionibus, opus ap-
prime utile medicis,
Dauide Edguardo
Anglo authore.
EIVSDEM IN
Anatomicen introductio
luculenta et breuis.
_1532_
[Illustration: page image]
EXIMIO
AC ILLVSTRI D. HENRICO
Surrensi Comiti Da. Edguardus
medicus S. D.
QVOTIES MIHI
in memoriā uenit Hen-
rice nobilium Comitum
decus, et quanto in ho-
nore fuerit tuus auus a-
pud Anglos omneis, cū ob insignem illā
uirtutē suam et fortunatos in rebus bel-
licis succæssus, tum ob prudentiam suam
minime uulgarem in administranda re
publica, dum uiueret: et quam dextere eti-
am his diebus quotidie gerantur res om-
nes tuo patri præclarissimo, quæcunqꝫ ad
nos Anglos pertinent: non possum satis
admirari genus istud tuum, non horum
adeo caussa, ut quod et te in hac ætate cō-
stitutum, uideam, supra quam dici potest
[Illustration: page image]
in multis alijs adolescentibus, ad ea quæ
te meliorem reddant tam serio animum
appellere. Istud quidem ego haud scio,
naturę́ ne illius beneficio ascribere debeā
è qua nobis editus es, an superis, qui et tu-
is bene uertunt, et Anglis nostris fauent.
Vtcumqꝫ est, reipublicæ nostræ commo-
do fore speramus, quod factum est, atqꝫ
eo magis, quo tu diutius rebus bonis stu-
dueris. Ita namqꝫ sequentem ætatem in-
structior adibis, et cōsuetudo interim bo-
na tuum animum stabiliet, ne ad peiora
in posterum facile decidas. Quanto uero
magis et consilio ualebis, et prudentia,
tanto meliorem sui gubernatorem habe-
bit Norfolcia tuæ stirpi credita, ubi patri
succædes hæres prædiorum, tantoq́ꝫ inte-
rea utilior Comes eris Surrensi populo
tuo, ac tanto demum magis Anglis om-
nibus expetitus, ut reipublicæ negotia
suscipias, quæ omnia et honorum tibi in-
cremento futura sunt et tuorum omnium
[Illustration: page image]
honestamento quæ omnia et certum est
consequi posse te, si ut cœpisti iuuenileis
annos transiges. Vt magnam in te spem
reponimus, te et patris aui tui similem fu-
turum, quòd et ingeniū tuum et morum
grauitas talia nobis polliceātur. Ego tibi
et maximos succæssus precor et optima-
rum omnium rerum augmentum uber-
rimum. Atqꝫ ut hic annus totus ab inicio
fœlix tibi tuisq́ꝫ sit, iterum precor. Quo
omine et hanc nostram in Anatomicen
introductionem tibi dedico. Vt enim
hæc artis medicæ pars omnibus comper-
ta non est, sic et quod difficillima nonnul-
la complectatur, facilem exigit instituti-
onem, qua lectores quasi manu ducantur
ad id, cui innitūtur. Istud opus exiguum
quidem est, sed medicis et Chirurgis om-
nibus per quam utile, quod et plurima
paucis explicat. Nihilo obscuri, nihil af-
fectati continet, sed omnibus eorum in-
genijs expositissimum, qui nec tardi sunt,
[Illustration: page image]
nec ad scientias inutiles. In quo, si quæ
discrepent à communibus medicorū sen-
tencijs, nemo miretur: quòd neqꝫ doctis-
simi eadē his de rebus sentiant. Ego post
hac, si deus permittet, librum condam ab-
solutæ Anatomices, in quem doctissimo-
rum omnium opiniones colligam, qui-
bus et mea sententia interponetur. Potui
et id iam facere, sed nec eodem tamen la-
bore, neqꝫ seruato introductionis decoro.
Superest ut hic libellus tibi gratus sit
quem in reipublicæ commodum cōscrip-
simus. Reddet enim pauciores indoctos
medicos, quorum uicio plurimi intereunt
à quo et hic fructus percipietur,
ut nullæ corporis partes me
dicis non sint notis-
sime. Vale. Can-
tabrigiæ, Cal.
Ianua-
rij.
[Illustration: page image]
DAVIDIS
EDGVARDI ANGLI IN
Anatomicen introductio.
INFERIOR
uenter totus (hinc e-
nim humani corpo-
ris incipere dissecti-
onem oportet, quòd
is locus ocyssime pu-
trescat) à prima cute ad peritonæū Græ-
cis ἐπιγάστριον, Barbaris Mirach appella-
tur cuius quidem hæ partes sunto.
CVTIS IN superficie quæ totum oc-
cupat corpus, sensus omnis expers. Cu-
tis tenuissima superficiali cuti subiecta et
subtensa, sensilis. Græci eam ὑποδερµα
dicunt. Pinguetudo quædam totum uen-
trem occupans, cuti sensili citra medium
substrata.