104 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



Jerusalem intent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, for what 

 reason, is not definitely known. The one often quoted is based on 

 a letter written by Herbert Languer to Dr. Casper Peucer on 

 January 1, 1563. It is as follows: believing a young Spanish noble- 

 man had succumbed while he was in attendance, Vesalius ob- 

 tained permission to perform a post-mortem examination. When 

 so doing, he observed the heart beating. This came to the atten- 

 tion of the youth's parents, and not satisfied with prosecuting 

 him for murder, they presented his case to the Inquisition; this 

 was done in hopes it would mete out greater punishment than 

 would likely occur through the channels of common law. The 

 story goes that the King of Spain interceded in his behalf on the 

 condition that he make penance by a pilgrimage to the Holy 

 Land (Ball, '10). 



One thing is really known for certain and that is that the 

 voyage was made, the Holy Sepulchre visited, both against the 

 wishes of Vesalius. He was returning to Italy with the under- 

 standing that he would take the chair of anatomy at Padua, va- 

 cated by the death of Fallopius. His ship was wrecked upon the 

 island of Zakynthos in attempting to ride through a violent storm 

 in the Ionian Sea. He died there of exhaustion at the age of fifty 

 years, on October 15, 1564. 



G. Vesalius and his Personality 



Vesalius was of short and stocky stature; he is described as 

 being burly in appearance, having shaggy hair and beard and a 

 tip-tilted nose. Although he might not have been very tall, he 

 looked every inch a man. 



In many ways, Vesalius was a gifted though possibly not 

 a clever individual. He was unquestionably devoted to intel- 

 lectual pursuits. Living in a period when medical thought was 

 slowly changing from mediaeval mysticism to the rational study 

 of man, he was a person who devoted himself largely to a single 

 purpose, that of studying the architecture, geography and struc- 

 ture of man. Against great odds, nothing deterred him in this 

 goal. Tradition, bigotry, prejudice and professional pressure were 

 all against him. In the face of this, it was necessary for him to 



