John B. cleC. M. Saunders 533 



quam purgante medicamento utendum erit, et propter Hippocratis scnten- 

 tiam, Galenum in secundo libro de victus ratione in morbis acutis obscure de 

 hac vena locutum opinior . . ." 



In the following year, 1539, he had developed this theme in the letter^" on 

 blood-letting in the treatment ot pleurisy. Here he is ready to challenge 

 Galen's infallibility. How important a role the subject of blood-letting played 

 in the emancipation of Vesalius can still further be judged by the attention 

 he devotes to the subject in the Fabrica^^ and again in the China Root.^ As has 

 so often happened in the history of science, the doctrine which incited the ap- 

 peal to the facts had paradoxically, in its sterility brought forth a bountiful 

 harvest. 



Of Vesalius' life at court so little is known that, as Singer^^ has remarked, 

 "without the book [the Fabrica] he would be but a ghost." Roth," in his ad- 

 mirable biography of Vesalius, has discussed his merits and progressive de- 

 velopment in the practice of medicine although not always without bias, for 

 like so many biographers of the last century, he can hear no ill of his hero. 

 There is available, however, the detailed records of the most famous clinical 

 case with which Vesalius was associated. This case, although it puts Vesalius 

 in a somewhat unfavorable light, is nonetheless of great interest in revealing 

 a vivid picture of the manner and conduct of an important consultation and 

 the difficulties which had to be contended with and overcome by a coint 

 physician. 



The drama, romance and legend have told in many tongtxes the story ot 

 that tragic and pitiful figure, the Infante Don Carlos (1554-1568). Beginning 

 with Saint-ReaP" (1639-1692) and Thomas Otway^'' (1652-1685), historians"'^ 

 and the literati alike (Schiller, Alfieri, de Gampriston, Russell) have woven 

 and embroidered the fable of the unlawful attachment of the slighted youth 

 to his promised bride, Elizabeth of Valois, who soon became his stepmother, 

 and of how, inflamed by the machinations of Ruy Gomez and his wife, the 

 Duchess of Eboli, the boy's jealous father, Philip II, exacted his terrible 

 vengeance. Although no decisive verdict can be given, modern historical 

 opinion is kinder to Philip II and ascribes the boy's death to natural causes. 

 In 1562 Don Garlos met with an accident followed by a severe illness, and 

 after his recovery he showed more obvious signs of progressive mental deteri- 

 oration. His conduct both in public and in private became extremely vicious 

 and disorderly. He developed an intense dislike to the Duke of Alva and a 

 morbid hatred of his father whose life he contemplated. At length, in 1568, 

 following an attempted flight from Spain, he was seized and confined by 

 order of his father. Gommissioners were appointed to try the Prince and he 

 may have been put to death for treason in accordance with their verdict. How- 

 ever, always of wretched physique and health, his outrageous behavior may 

 well have undermined his feeble constitution. 



The story of the accident and illness which marked the beginning of the 

 end for Don Garlos and with which the name of Vesalius has been associated 



