26 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



to parrot -like repetition of ancient formulas are so obvious 

 that they need not be especially dwelt upon. 



Predecessors of Vesalius. — Italy gave birth to the first 

 anatomists who led a revolt against this slavery to authority 

 in scientific matters. Of the eminent anatomists who pre- 

 ceded Vesalius it will be necessary to mention only three. 

 Mundinus, or Mondino, professor at the University of 

 Bologna, who, in the early part of the fourteenth century, 

 dissected three bodies, published in 131 5 a work founded 

 upon human dissection. He was a man of originality whose 

 work created a sensation in the medical world, but did not 

 supersede Galen's. His influence, although exerted in the 

 right direction, was not successful in establishing observation 

 as the method of teaching anatomy. His book, however, 

 was sometimes used as an introduction to Galen's writings 

 or in conjunction with them. 



The next man who requires notice is Berengarius of Carpi, 

 who was a professor in the University of Bologna in the early 

 part of the sixteenth century. He is said to have dissected 

 not less than one hundred hum.an bodies; and although his 

 opportunities for practical study Vv^ere greater than those of 

 Mondino, his attempts to place the science of anatomy upon 

 a higher level were also unsuccessful. 



We pass now from Italy to France where Jacobus Sylvius 

 (1478-1555), one of the teachers of Vesalius, became distin- 

 guished as a teacher of anatomy. The work of this man has 

 been confused with that of Franciscus Sylvius (1614-1672), 

 who lived about a century later in Holland. The recent 

 analysis of the original sources by Dr. Frank Baker has 

 served to clear away many misconceptions regarding the 

 two Sylviuses. Jacobus Sylvius did not investigate the 

 brain nor were the fissure and artery of Sylvius named in his 

 honor. On the contrary, Franciscus Sylvius described these 

 parts for the first time, about 1641, and they bear his name. 



