Introduction to Anatomy, 1532: With English translation and an introductory essay on anatomical studies in Tudor England by C.D. O'Malley and K.F. Russell.Edguard, David
History
Introduction to Anatomy, 1532: With English translation and an introductory essay on anatomical studies in Tudor England by C.D. O'Malley and K.F. Russell.
Edguard, David
Anatomy -- Study and teaching -- England -- History -- 16th century; Human anatomy -- Early works to 1800
[50]This portrait shows Banister giving the Visceral lecture at
Barber-Surgeon’s Hall in 1581; of small size and painted by an
unknown artist on two pieces of paper joined down the middle, it is
nevertheless sufficiently detailed for us to discover that Banister
is using the octavo edition of Colombo’s work printed in Paris in
1572. The portrait is now laid down in an album of anatomical
drawings, also painted for Banister, which was formerly owned by
William Hunter and is now preserved in the Hunterian Museum,
Glasgow. The drawings consist of views of the skeleton, the
superficial muscles, nerves and veins drawn in colour on a dark
ground with some skill. Singer, in his _Evolution of Anatomy_,
London, 1925, p. 174, suggests that the skeletal figures are
probably the earliest prepared in England which were actually drawn
from the bones. This could well be true, but Banister based his
drawing of the nerves on a plate of Charles Estienne, 1545, and his
figures of the superficial muscles and veins are possibly based on
Valverde. Other relics of Banister can be seen at Cambridge. The
University Library has a book-like casket containing a small ivory
skeleton and the _écorché_ figure of a man given to the library by
Banister in 1591. King’s College Library has a copy of _The Historie
of Man_ presented by the author in 1596.
[51]Books printed on the Continent were freely available in England, and
it could be argued that this was one reason why so few anatomical
texts were published in the Tudor period. It has already been noted
that Colombo’s _De Re Anatomica_ in the octavo edition of Paris,
1572, was used by Banister in his visceral lecture. This could well
have been the text recommended to apprentices of Barber-Surgeon’s
Hall. Such imported books were, of course, published in Latin and
were therefore suitable to the students of the College of Physicians
and those of Oxford or of Cambridge. It seems likely that the
students at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall created a demand for more simple
texts in the vernacular and this is surely the reason for the
continued popularity of such books as Thomas Vicary’s archaic text.
[Illustration: page image]
DE IN-
DICIIS ET PRAE
cognitionibus, opus ap-
prime utile medicis,
Dauide Edguardo
Anglo authore.
EIVSDEM IN
Anatomicen introductio
luculenta et breuis.
_1532_
[Illustration: page image]
EXIMIO
AC ILLVSTRI D. HENRICO
Surrensi Comiti Da. Edguardus
medicus S. D.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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