Andreas Vesalius, the Reformer of AnatomyBall, James Moores
History
Andreas Vesalius, the Reformer of Anatomy
Ball, James Moores
Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564
The manner in which Sylvius conducted his anatomical course is known to
us by his own writings, by the testimony of Moreau[16], and by that of
Vesalius[17]. Thus the course for the year 1535 began with the reading,
by Sylvius, of Galen’s treatise _De Usu Partium_. When the middle of the
first book was reached, Sylvius remarked that the subject was too
difficult for his students to understand and that he would not plague
his class with it. He then jumped to the fourth book, read all to the
tenth book, discussed a part of the tenth and omitting the eleventh,
twelfth and thirteenth, he took up the fourteenth and the remaining
three books. Thus he omitted all that Galen had said concerning the
extremities. A second Galenic work which Sylvius used was the
anatomico-physiologic treatise, _De Musculorum Motu_. Not infrequently
the professor was unable to demonstrate in dissection the parts on which
he had lectured. Thus, on one occasion, the students succeeded in
finding the pulmonary and aortic valves which Sylvius had failed to find
on the preceding day.
Joannes Guinterius of Andernach
Another famous member of the Paris Faculty of this period, and a man
whose life-story reads like a romance, was Joannes Guinterius, the
beggar of Deventer. Guinterius (Gonthier, Guinther, Guinter, Winter, or
Winther), who is often called John Winter of Andernach, from the name of
the town in which he was born, lived between the years 1487-1574, and
rose to eminence in both the literary and the medical worlds. Born of
humble parents, he was sent at an early age to the University of
Utrecht. Leaving this institution because of his poverty, he went to
Deventer where he was reduced to the necessity of begging in the
streets. He drifted to the University of Marburg, and here displayed
such brilliant talents that he soon obtained employment as a teacher in
the small town of Goslar, in Brunswick. His growing reputation for
learning led to his appointment to the chair of Greek in the noted
University of Louvain.
[Illustration: WINTER OF ANDERNACH]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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