298 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Andreas Vesalius, of Brussels. The next great actor on the 

 stage, comes the renowned Vesalius, the Lnther of anatomy, the bold 

 and defiant reformei", who, by persevering diligence and pains-tak- 

 ing observation, corrected the numerous errors of all his predecess- 

 ors, and notably those of Galen. This wonderful young man, before 

 he attained the age of thirty, published the most extensive, accurate, 

 and in every sense the most magnificent work on human anatomy the 

 -world ever saw ; wealth was lavished on its illustration and sumjitu- 

 ous publication. Jan Stephan van Calcar, the favorite pupil and 

 -wonderful imitator of the world-renowned Titian (not Titian himself, 

 as some have declared), was employed to design anatomical figures, 

 and the best engravers cut them in wood to adorn that massive and 

 splendid old folio that opus magnum, which was published in Basel, 

 in the year 1543, three and a third centuries ago. 



It is the delight of the medical bibliomaniac to procure a good copy 

 of this rare book. The writer of this essay sought vigilantly for a 

 score of years, failing to secure it until quite recently, and then from 

 the library of a deceased friend, who was an ardent lover of the 

 medical classics. He too had sought in vain for this book, and at last, 

 after long rummaging the dusty and mouldy antiquarian book-stalls' 

 of many an ancient city in Europe, laid his hands upon a fine copy of 

 the "Corporis Humani Fabrica," which he ever after regarded as the 

 gem of his collection, as it certainly now is (almost sacred by melan- 

 choly association) the greatest treasure of my own. I wish we had 

 time to stop just here, that I might give you a sketch of the life of 

 Vesalius. Henry Morley, Professor of English Literature in the Uni- 

 versity of London, has written a lively and lovely little biography 

 of this great anatomist, Avhich is far more fascinating than any ro- 

 mance. 



The great Vesalius, justly styled "the father of modern anatomy," 

 subjected the septum, between the right and left cavities of the heart, 

 to a thorough scrutiny, and found tliat no holes existed in it, and then 

 had the boldness to declare the truth in spite of the previously un- 

 questioned authority of Galen, whose writings were sacred in the esti- 

 mation of all physicians. Thenceforth anatomists ceased to believe 

 and teach this great error which Vesalius dispelled and sw^ept away, 

 and thus it came to pass that the second great step was taken toward 

 the discovery of the circulation of the blood. 



On the 27th day of October, in the year 1553, on a hill not 

 far from the old SavIss city of Geneva, could be seen a motley 

 gathering of anxious and excited men, women, and children, and 

 among them a goodly number of learned doctors of divinity, chiefly 

 Protestants, conspicuous among whom was John Calvin, all assem- 

 bled to witness a scene of extrem.e horror. There stood, lashed to 

 a post, a scholar past forty years of age, who in his time had im- 

 bued himself in the learning of three professions law^, divinity. 



