ANDREAS VESALIUS-A.D. 1514 to 1564 103 



tific career. In a fit of passion, he threw into the fire a manu- 

 script he had written on the practice of medicine, based on patho- 

 logical considerations. He had tired of the useless efforts necessary 

 to convince men of the truth, of the disputes, arguments and per- 

 secutions. In this frame of mind, he accepted the appointment 

 of military surgeon to Charles V of Spain which necessitated 

 a shift in residence to Madrid; he was now only thirty years 

 of age. After serving with the Emperor in the fourth French 

 War, he returned to his native country, January 1545. He con- 

 tinued to serve in the employ of Philip, who succeeded his father. 

 The latter had surrendered his territories to his son so that he 

 could enter a cloister. From both royalists, Vesalius received 

 many honors over a period of two decades, although he found 

 Philip narrow and bigoted. 



In 1564, for no understandable reason, at the height of 

 success, Vesalius left Madrid. At that time, he was a favorite in 

 the Spanish Court and had amassed a good sized fortune. Jeal- 

 ousies, no doubt, existed between him and members of the Span- 

 ish profession, who regarded him as a foreigner. The controversy 

 concerning the fallibility or infallibility of Galen had continued 

 unabated; although Sylvius, the most outspoken had passed away, 

 others continued to oppose him. There were those, however, who 

 had chosen Vesalius' way of teaching anatomy: Fallopius at Padua, 

 Rondelet at Montpellier, Massa at Venice, and Fuchs at Tu- 

 bingen; all were challenging Galen at every opportunity. 



The atmosphere at the Spanish court was not conducive to 

 any sort of scientific study. The Church had remained powerful 

 and the Inquisition succeeded in neutralizing all intellectual 

 life; the city of Madrid was priest-ridden and the populace was 

 ignorant and superstitious. Anyone who pursued the study of 

 natural knowledge, was frowned upon. 



After reading a copy of Ohservationes Anatomicae, written 

 by his former pupil Fallopius, who had died in 1562, Vesalius 

 decided to make a reply in the form of a book. He returned to 

 Italy, conversed with a printer in Venice, about the possibility of 

 I publishing it. Then, he disappeared from Italy, shipping out for 

 Cyprus, in company with Jacob Malatesta, the commander of the 

 Venetian forces in that island. From here, he continued on to 



