536 Vesalius and Don Carlos 



"Vesalius had plenty of good reasons to support his view. . . ." Finally a 

 compromise was reached, says Olivares, and it was decided to ruginate and, 

 as the bone bled under the raspatory, the more serious procedure was avoided, 

 although Vesalius persisted in his view. 



Things were going so badly that the attendants were induced to try the 

 nostrum of a quack, one Pinterete, a Moor from the Kingdom of Valencia. 

 "Most of us were opposed," says Da^a, "being ignorant of its composition and 

 not judging it reasonable that an individual remedy could be fitted 'for all 

 seasons, ages and complexions.' " "However," he continues, "public opinion 

 was against us for not using them." The nostrum burnt the wound and it was 

 getting worse and worse so that the Moor was discharged and "went to Madrid 

 to take care of Hernando de Vega whom he sent to Heaven with the help of 

 his ointment." 



By May gth, three weeks after the accident, little hope was left. In the after- 

 noon, a procession of townsfolk came to the palace bearing the corpse of San 

 Diego,* a friar celebrated for his life and miracles. The body was brought 

 into the chamber of the Prince and placed as close to his person as possible. 

 But His Highness was "so beside himself" that he could scarcely be conscious 

 of the saintly form of intercession so characteristic of the credulity and super- 

 stition of the times. The Prince was now moribund, and that evening Dr. 

 Mena informed the King that the worst was to be expected. "We had confi- 

 dence only in God's mercy and in His Highness' age, which was only seven- 

 teen." The frantic Philip seized his horse and set off in the darkness of the 

 night, during a terrible storm, for the sanctuary of San Jerome in Madrid and 

 left the distressed physicians who were in "great danger" because of the senti- 

 ments of the public against them. 



Vesalius, Da^a, and their colleagues remained steadfast to their duty and 

 responsibilities. They cupped, fomented and applied restoratives, and on 

 the next day there was a marked improvement. The Duke of Alva dispatched 

 the alguazil Malaguilla, with the good tidings to Madrid. They were received 

 as Philip, his Queen and the Princess Dona Juana were taking part in a pro- 

 cession to Our Lady of Atocha. 



The improvement continued although it was found necessary to incise and 

 drain both of the Prince's orbits. This was done by Pedro de Torres, surgeon 

 to His Majesty, on the advice of Vesalius. j- Thereafter his convalescence was 

 slow and, after discharging a sequestrum from the skull, by July 5th he was 

 sufficiently well to pay his respects to the corpse of the Blessed Diego and 

 attend a bullfight all in the same day. At the end of his illness, Don Carlos 

 weighed, fully clothed, seventy-six pounds. 



* St. Diego d'Alcala was canonized in 1588, inider the pontificate of Sixtiis \'. t\\enty-six 

 years after this incident. 



f Gachard," p. 89, quotes a letter from Charles de Tisnacq to the Duchess of Parma, in 

 which ^ve are informed that drainage of the eyelids \vas carried out on the advice of Vesalius 

 but much against the opinion of several of the attendants. 



