Andreas Vesalius, the Reformer of AnatomyBall, James Moores
History
Andreas Vesalius, the Reformer of Anatomy
Ball, James Moores
Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564
Zerbi’s reputation, which extended to all parts of Europe, was the cause
of his death. The Venetians received from Constantinople the request for
a skillful physician who should treat one of the principal Seigniors of
Turkey. The Republic turned its eyes to Zerbi who went to
Constantinople, apparently cured the Seignior, and, loaded with
presents, started on the return voyage for Venice, Unfortunately the
patient suddenly died after a debauch. The infuriated Turks overtook the
ship on which Zerbi and his son were passengers and carried them back to
Constantinople, where both the anatomist and his son were quartered
alive.
[Illustration: PEYLIGK’S DIAGRAM OF THE HEART, 1499]
John Peyligk
Among the German anatomists of this period was John Peyligk, a Leipsic
jurist, whose _Philosophiae Naturalis Compendium_, printed at Leipsic in
1499, contains crude anatomical illustrations.
Magnus Hundt
Far more important was the _Antropologium_ of Magnus Hundt (1449-1519),
of Magdeburg, which appeared at Leipsic in 1501. It contains four large
and several small woodcuts which are among the earliest of anatomical
illustrations. One of these shows the trachea on the right side of the
neck, passing downward to the lungs; on the left side the oesophagus is
represented. In the thorax are seen the lungs and the heart, the latter
resembling the figure of this organ as presented on old playing cards.
The pericardium has been opened, and the stomach and intestines are
crudely figured. The diaphragm is absent.
[Illustration: ANATOMICAL FIGURE FROM MAGNUS HUNDT, 1501]
Laurentius Phryesen
Early in the sixteenth century a Holland physician, Laurentius Phryesen
(_Phries_, _Friesen_), residing in the German city of Colmar and later
at Metz, wrote a popular book on medicine, _Spiegel der Artzny_, which
was published at Strassburg in 1518. It contains two anatomical
illustrations cut in wood, dated 1517, and supposedly made after the
drawings of Waechtlin, a pupil of the Elder Holbein. These pictures tell
their own story; they show a marked improvement over the figures which
Hundt published in 1501. The other anatomical plate in Phryesen’s book
is devoted to the skeleton.
[Illustration: ANATOMICAL FIGURE FROM LAURENTIUS PHRYESEN, 1518]
Alexander Achillinus
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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