VI 

 THE SUCCESSORS OF VESALIUS 



WHEN Servetus died, his work, as we have seen, was also 

 burned, and it could not therefore exert a wide influence. 

 A very few copies, however, survived, and it is probable 

 that these were not without their effect. Moreover, he 

 had been discussing the subject for years, and his opinions 

 were, as we have seen, an open secret. Thus it has been 

 thought that Servetus may have actually communicated 

 his opinions to a certain colleague and successor of 

 Vesalius at Padua, one Realdus Columbus. It is also 

 possible that Columbus may have secured one of the 

 few surviving copies of the Restitution of Christianity. 



This Columbus was not a very original man, and 

 published nothing on physiology during his lifetime. 

 He had, however, written a text-book of anatomy, and 

 this was printed by his children in 1559 after his death. 

 The book is mainly based on Vesalius, whom he does not 

 always understand, for he denies, for instance, that the 

 heart is a muscle. The work of Columbus contains, 

 however, an important contribution to our subject 

 indeed, it is the only important thing in it. The passage 

 bears a close resemblance to that which we have quoted 

 from Servetus, and runs as follows : 



' Between the ventricles is the septum, through which 

 almost all think there is a way from the right ventricle 

 to the left, so that the blood in transit may be rendered 

 subtle by the generation of the vital spirits in order that 



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