Andreas Vesalius, The Reformer of Anatomy — Vesalius Returns To Louvain

[Illustration: Illuminated capital] In the latter part of the year 1536, owing to the outbreak of the third Franco-German war, Vesalius returned to the University of Louvain.

During this period he secured a human skeleton by secret means.

Accompanied by his faithful friend, Regnier Gemma, known as a mathematician as well as a physician, Vesalius visited the gallows outside the walls of Louvain in order to search for bones.

Here he found a skeleton which was held together simply by the ligaments and still possessed the origins and insertions of the muscles.

Morley states that the body was that of “a noted robber, who, since he deserved more than ordinary hanging, had been chained to the top of a high stake and roasted alive.

He had been roasted by a slow fire made of straw, that was kept burning at some distance below his feet.

In that way there had been a dish cooked for the fowls of heaven, which was regarded by them as a special dainty.

The sweet flesh of the delicately roasted thief they had preferred to any other; his bones, therefore, had been elaborately picked and there was left suspended on the stake a skeleton dissected out and cleaned by many beaks with rare precision.

The dazzling skeleton, complete and clean, was lifted up on high before the eyes of the anatomist, who had been striving hitherto to piece together such a thing out of the bones of many people, gathered as occasion offered”.

Such a prize could not be lost.

With Gemma’s assistance Vesalius climbed the gallows and secured the skeleton which he secretly conveyed to his home.

The treasure, however, was not complete; one finger, a patella and a foot were missing.

To this extent was Vesalius the owner of a human skeleton.

In supplying the missing parts Vesalius was obliged to incur new dangers.

He stole out of the city in the nighttime, climbed the gallows unaided, searched through the mass of decaying bodies, and, having found the coveted bones, he stole into the city by another gate.

These secret expeditions, however, soon became unnecessary, for the Burgomaster of Louvain generously furnished an abundance of material for Vesalius’s students.

It was at this period—late in the year 1536 or early in 1537—that Vesalius conducted the first public anatomy that had been held in Louvain in eighteen years.

He performed the dissection and lectured at the same time, which was an innovation.

Some remarks he made concerning the seat of the soul caused him to be critised by the theologians.

A

further cause for suspicion was his association with such firm Protestants as Guinterius and Sturm of Paris; and his friendly relations with the publisher Rescius, and the physician Velsius.

Fortunately the suspicion of heresy did not lead to any formal charges, but the affair seems to have rankled in his memory and some years later, in his _Fabrica_, he sought to clear his name of even the appearance of heresy.

Vesalius began his career as an author by issuing a paraphrase, or free translation, of the ninth book of the _Almansor_ of the celebrated Rhazes[20].

This book, _liber ad Almansorem_, or work dedicated to the Caliph Al-Mansûr, was written by a learned Arab physician who lived between the years 860-932. The _Almansor_ consists of ten books and was designed by the author for a complete body or compendium of Physic.

The first book treats of anatomy and physiology; the second, of temperaments; the third, of food and simple medicines; the fourth, of means for preserving health; the fifth, of skin diseases and cosmetics;

the sixth, of diet; the seventh, of surgery; the eighth, of poisons; the ninth, of treatment of all parts of the body; the tenth, or last book, deals with the treatment of fevers.

The ninth book, which Vesalius translated from the barbarous version into a readable form, was so highly prized in mediaeval times that it was read publicly in the schools and was commentated by learned professors for more than a hundred years.

By this publication Vesalius furnished a valuable contribution to medical literature.

The numerous marginal and interlinear notes, which he supplied, show his intimate acquaintance with classical literature as well as with materia medica.

Vesalius emphasizes the fact that the book of Rhazes contains many remedies which were unknown to the Greeks.

The value of his edition was increased by the presence of original drawings of the plants mentioned in the text.

CHAPTER SEVENTH

Professor of Anatomy in Padua