96 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



was a faithful friend, a mathematician by name of Regnier 

 Gemma. There, he found, what he had been searching for: a skele- 

 ton which from his view from the ground, looked complete with 

 the bones held together by the ligaments of the joints. It was the 

 remains of a noted robber, who had been treated according to 

 his deeds; he had been chained high up on the gallows, and then 

 slowly roasted alive. The flesh had been picked clean by birds, 

 which had probably found it a rare delicacy. Vesalius climbed 

 up and secured the skeleton from its lofty perch and conveyed 

 it to his home. On examination, he found several parts missing: 

 one finger, a patella and a foot. He was able to supply the missing 

 parts on a second expedition to the same spot. 



During his stay at Louvain, Vesalius conducted the first 

 public anatomy that had been held in that city for eighteen years. 

 He also issued a free translation of one of the A Imanser books writ- 

 ten by the celebrated Rhazes, an Arabian physician (A.D. 

 850-923); this particular volume was not anatomical but rather 

 was concerned with the therapeutics of all parts of the body. It 

 was judged to be a valuable addition to the literature of the time. 



The next highlight in the life of Vesalius took place in 

 Padua, Italy. He migrated to that country in 1537, his first stop 

 being the enlightened and prosperous city of Venice. There prob- 

 ably was not another site, in the then existing world, where 

 the academic climate was more favorable for the pursuit of 

 anatomical studies. Here, there were no taboos working against 

 the study of anatomy: rather, it was actually encouraged, par- 

 ticularly by a group of Theatin monks, established in Italy in 

 1524. Their aims were to preach the gospel, combat Lutheranism 

 and elevate clerical and lay morality. They were forbidden both 

 to beg and hold property. The group trusted solely to the unso- 

 licited contributions of the faithful. In Venice, they devoted 

 themselves to the care of the sick which accounts for their interest 

 in anatomy. One of the co-leaders of the organization was the 

 famous Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, whose chief pur- 

 pose in life was to work toward a world-wide acceptance of the 

 doctrines of Catholicism. 



In Venice, Vesalius searched for suitable anatomical mate- 

 rial. It is not certain whether he was successful, but he may have 



