The year 1543 marks the date of a revolution which was won, not by force of arms but by the scalpel of an anatomist and the hand of an artist. The whole of human anatomy, as a study involving correct descriptions of the component parts of the body and accurate delineations thereof, may be said to have been founded by Andreas Vesalius and Jan Stephan van Calcar. As light pouring into a prism attracts little notice until it emerges in iridescent hues, so it was with anatomy: after passing through the brain of Vesalius it bore rich fruit which has been gathered by many hands. To turn from the writings of Galen, Mondino, Hundt, Peyligk, Phryesen, and Berengario da Carpi to the beauties of Vesalius’s _De Humani Corporis Fabrica_ is like passing from darkness into sunlight. To both anatomists and artists this book was a revelation. For more than a century after its appearance the anatomists of Europe did little more than make additions to, and compose commentaries upon the conjoint triumph of Vesalius and van Calcar. For more than two centuries the osteologic and myologic figures of the _Fabrica_ formed the basis of all treatises on Art-Anatomy. JAMES MOORES BALL. Saint Louis, MDCCCCX. [Illustration: Ornamental block] [Illustration: Ornamental block] TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1-16 The Study of Medical History—The General Renaissance—The Anatomical Renaissance. ANATOMY IN ANCIENT TIMES 17-28 Anatomy in Egypt and in Greece—Hippocrates and the Asclepiadae—Alcmaeon, Empedocles and Aristotle—Early Roman Medicine—The Alexandrian University—Herophilus and Erasistratus—Claudius Galenus—The School of Salernum—Frederick II. MONDINO, THE RESTORER OF ANATOMY 29-36 Life of Mondino—He restores the Study of Practical Anatomy—His Book on Anatomy. MONDINO’S SUCCESSORS 37-51 Gabriel de Zerbi—John Peyligk—Magnus Hundt—Laurentius Phryesen—Alexander Achillinus—Berengario da Carpi—John Dryander—Charles Estienne. VESALIUS’S EARLY LIFE 52-55 Origin of the Vesalius Family—Early Life of the Anatomist—Vesalius enters the University of Louvain. SOJOURN IN PARIS 56-69 Vesalius goes to Paris to study Medicine—Celebrated Parisian Physicians of the Sixteenth Century—Jacobus Sylvius—Joannes Guinterius—Jean Fernel—Philosophy of Pierre de la Rameé—State of Anatomy at this Period. VESALIUS RETURNS TO LOUVAIN 70-72