ANDREAS VESALIUS-A.D. 1514 to 1564 93 



his prolcssors. Electing to remain in Paris, he taught anatomy 

 and practiced medicine, both with considerable success and re- 

 nown. Adept in Latin, he translated the writings of numerous 

 (;rcck medical authors of antiquity. So well did he project him- 

 self by both the written and spoken word, that his fame spread 

 beyond the boundaries of France. The enlightened King Chris- 

 tian III, of Denmark, tried to entice him into his court, without 

 success. Because of his religious views, having been converted 

 to Lutheranism, his life was threatened, so he departed from Paris 

 enroute to Germany. Residing a short time in Metz, he moved to 

 Strassburg, on being appointed professor at the imiversity; there 

 he was received with honors and ceremony. His tenure at Strass- 

 burg was temporary due to the insecurity of his position, en- 

 gendered by some of his enemies; this caused him to resign his 

 (hair. Following this, he spent considerable time traveling 

 throughout Germany and Italy. In 1562, at the age of seventy-five, 

 he was made a nobleman by Ferdinand I in appreciation of his 

 merits and contributions. 



\V' hile teaching anatomy in Paris, it was the fate of Guinterius 

 that some of the enrolled students who sat upon the benches in 

 his department, eventually outshone him: these were particularly 

 \'esalius, Servetus and Rondelet. Like his predecessors and all of 

 his contemporaries, with the exception of Vesalius, he was a dis- 

 ciple of Galen. His lack of long-lasting medical stature is due to 

 the fact that he failed to grasp the truth that anatomical science 

 is based on the results obtained from studies of human dissection. 



The other luminary at the University of Paris was Jean 

 Fernel (1485-1558). Although he was regarded as the ablest physi- 

 ologist of his time, he was also a skilled anatomist and surgeon. 

 He sought the best from the various medical systems then ex- 

 tant and had a greater breadth of view than either Sylvius or 

 Guinterius. A reformer at heart, he stood for freedom of thought 

 and was in opposition to ancient dogmas. By means of his dar- 

 ing, he helped to point out the road to progress in anatomy. 



How did Vesalius react to his environment at the University 

 of Paris? Apparently, he did not like what he saw and later was 

 not backward in his criticisms. He resented the lecturing and 

 theorizing from Galen's texts and thought there was far too little 



