336 Comparative Anatomy — Its History, Aim, and Method 



from Arabia where, during the Dark Ages of science in Europe, the 

 knowledge and philosophies of the early Greeks and of Aristotle and 

 Galen were not only preserved but extended. Arabic versions of the 

 works of these authors were brought to Europe and translated into 

 Latin. In the twelfth and several succeeding centuries, many new uni- 

 versities were established and most of them acquired medical faculties. 

 These new intellectual centers were at first more numerous in Italy 

 than in any other country. 



Fig. 273. Portrait of Galen (ca. 130- 

 200 A.D.). No bust of Galen has survived 

 from antiquity. The only ancient repre- 

 sentation of him is to be found in the so- 

 called Juliana Anicia Manuscript. (Draw- 

 ing by Poulton. Courtesy, Singer: "The 

 Evolution of Anatomy," New York, 

 \ If red A. Knopf, Inc.) 



During this period, anatomic and medical science, at first some- 

 what bound by traditional respect for Aristotle and Galen, soon began 

 to free itself and to become progressive. The necessity, for medical 

 purposes, of dissecting the human body was appreciated, and it was 

 at the University of Bologna that such dissection was first done on an 

 important scale. Teaching at Paris, Jacobus Sylvius (1478-1555) 

 emphasized the essential need of dissection in teaching anatomy to 

 medical students and made important contributions to anatomic 

 knowledge. (The "fissure of Sylvius," a conspicuous feature of the 

 mammalian brain, was named after Franciscus Sylvius, a Hollander 



