642 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



guage, and he enumerates the works of Hippocrates and Galen 

 which should be read and explained during the lectures. Then 

 comes an innovation in the study plan of universities: During the 

 summer mpnths the students of medicine should often go to the coun- 

 ty and to the mountains, and with intelligence collect and study 

 the plants ; * this study should become a part of the curriculum in 

 medical schools. As Fuchs, himself, paid special attention to the 

 study of anatomy, he took the reform of this important branch of 

 medicine very much to heart. While the old statutes of the medical 

 faculty, issued in 1497, ordered a dissection only every three or four 

 years, he dissected twice a year whenever possible. He also discon- 

 tinued the use of Mundinus's anatomjr in his lectures on anatomy, 

 and himself subsequently wrote the handbook Libri quatuor de 

 fabrica corporis humani, which was used a great deal in German uni- 

 versities during the sixteenth century. While he still had great ad- 

 miration for Galen as an anatomist, Fuchs also extolled the great 

 work of Vesalius, for whom he entertained the friendliest feelings, 

 calling him " Summus noster amicus," a friendship that Vesalius 

 reciprocated. The two had met when Vesalius came with the impe- 

 rial troops to Tubingen. An interesting account of their first meeting 

 is given by Crusius in his Annals. 2 



Vesalius visited incognito the anatomical lectures given by Fuchs. 

 One day Fuchs made some derogatory remarks concerning Vesalius' 

 anatomy. At the close of the lecture, Vesalius approached Fuchs: 

 "Wiry," he courteously inquired, "do you find fault with me? In 

 what way did I do you any harm?" "Are you Vesalius?" asked 

 Fuchs. " You see Vesalius himself," replied the latter. Then fol- 

 lowed the expression of mutual pleasure, a friendly meeting and an 

 invitation to Vesalius to be Fuchs' guest. That his reputation as 

 anatomist, physician, and medical teacher was recognized, not only 

 in Germany but in foreign countries as well, is evident from the fact 

 that Duke Cosmo de Medici of Tuscany asked Fuchs to become 

 Vesalius' successor at the University of Pisa. Hitherto Germany 

 had called to its universities scientists from Italy, but this offer 

 to Fuchs was the first instance that a German scholar was called 



1 "Aetatis denique tempore cum medicinae studiosis rura montesque salpius petat ac 

 plantarum unltum diligeuter obseiuet illisque uiuas eorundem imagines demonstret, 

 neque ut hactenus consueuere multi, simplicium notitiam soplasiariis illis hominibus 

 rudibus et stultis mulierculis committat. Ilacc itaque docendi ratio posthac in scholis 

 medicis ooseruator." L'rkunden z. Geschicnte d. Universitat Tubingen, S. 312. 



2 Crusius, Martinus. Annales Suevici. 4 pts. Francoforti, 1595-96. — Pt. Ill, 728 : 

 " Inviserunt Ilispanorum docti, quando in praesidiis hujus Ducatus erant, lectiones 

 quoque frequentarunt ejus et curationc ejusdem usi sunt fldeli. Quedam die carpsit, 

 noscio quid, in Anatomicis Vesalii auscultante peregrino viro. Lectione finita, is ad 

 Fuchsium accedens cur me, coniiter inquit, reprebendisti? Qua in re te laesi? — Esne tu 

 Vesalius, inquit Fucbsius. Vides ipsum Vesalium, refert bic. — Turn inter eos gratulatio, 

 arnica collatio et ad convivium invitatio." 



