

i] His Forerunners and Followers. 19 



words the nature of man, ' man himself,' to the words ■ the 

 body of man,' he was looking forward to doing in his riper 

 years for physiology what in his youth he had done for 

 anatomy. 



But it was not to be. In 1563 he suddenly determined to 

 make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There are various legends 

 as to the reasons which led him to this step. It is said that in 

 making what was supposed to be a post-mortem examination 

 on a noble man, or according to others a woman suffering from 

 some obscure disease, it turned out that the body was still 

 living, and that the Church insisted upon the pilgrimage as an 

 expiation for an act deemed to be a sacrilege. The truer account 

 is probably that told by the botanist Clusius, that Vesalius, ill 

 in body, and we may add even more sick at heart, wearied of 

 the Court, and harassed by the Church, seized an opportunity, 

 and made the proposed pilgrimage an excuse for bringing to an 

 end his then mode of life. 



On his way to Jerusalem he stopped at Venice and renewed 

 his intercourse with scientific friends. He there learnt that 

 the manuscript on Fallopius had never reached that anatomist, 

 who had somewhat suddenly died in 1562, but was still in 

 Tiepolo's hands. His friends at once obtained it from Tiepolo, 

 and it saw the light in the following May. 



The Senate at Venice were just then at a loss for a fit 

 successor to Falloppius, and it is possible that Vesalius during 

 his stay in the city made known his willingness to desert the 

 Court and to return to academic life ; for it is said, though 

 documentary evidence is lacking, that during his eastern 

 journey he received an invitation to occupy his old chair. 

 Alas, on his way back in 1564 he was taken ill, or possibly 

 a latent malady openly developed itself, he was put ashore on 

 the island of Zante, and there he passed away. 



The influence of Vesalius on the history of science may be 

 regarded on the one hand in its general, on the other in its 

 more special aspect. 



Taking the general aspect first we may say that he founded 

 modern anatomy. He insisted upon, and through his early 

 unwearied labours by his conspicuous example he ensured the 



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