Andreas Vesalius, the Reformer of AnatomyBall, James Moores
History
Andreas Vesalius, the Reformer of Anatomy
Ball, James Moores
Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564
This is not the only instance in the history of
anatomical discovery where the name of a person, not its discoverer, has
been given to an organ. Allusion has been made to Fallopius as a
botanist; a genus of plants, _Fallopia_, has been named in honor of
him”.
Fallopius was appointed professor of anatomy at Pisa, in the year 1548;
and later, at the instance of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I., he
received a professorship at Padua, as successor to Vesalius. Besides the
chair of anatomy and surgery and of botany, he also held the office of
superintendent of the new botanic garden in that city. Fallopius
remained in Padua to the day of his death, which occurred in 1562. He
was very properly succeeded by his favorite pupil, Fabricius ab
Aquapendente, who had been for some time previously his anatomical
demonstrator. His collected works, as published in Venice, 1606, embrace
twenty-four treatises distributed in three folio volumes. Only one of
his works was published during his lifetime, namely, his _Observationes
Anatomicae_, Venice, 1561, which is considered one of his most valuable
books, containing, as it does, most of his discoveries and his
animadversions on the works of other anatomists.
This was written as a supplement to the anatomy of Vesalius, for it
follows the same order, passes upon the same subjects, corrects the
inaccuracies of the Vesalian treatise, and supplies what is wanting.
Throughout the work Fallopius treats Vesalius with great respect, and
never mentions him without an honorable title. Vesalius wrote an answer
to this work, entitled, _Observationum Fallopii examen_, in which he
acknowledges the courtesy of Fallopius, but, as argument progresses,
appears to be out of temper.
After the death of Fallopius it was thought that no successor except
Vesalius could be found competent to fill his place. Accordingly
Vesalius was chosen. The news of his appointment reached him while he
was returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Unfortunately he was
shipwrecked and perished, otherwise history would have afforded an
example of the master filling the chair of the pupil.
John Philip Ingrassias
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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