24 Vesalius. [lect. i 



But beyond the above contribution to knowledge, there is 

 nothing in his works which can be considered as in any way 

 marking an advance in anatomy or in physiology. Nor is 

 there any solid reason for thinking that his writings to any 

 extent influenced the anatomists of the time. Servetus' book, 

 as we have seen, perished with him, only a few secret copies 

 surviving, and there is no evidence that these survivors found 

 their way generally into anatomists' hands ; they were doubtless 

 treasured by the theologians for whom they were written. 



One point however deserves a little notice. The Restitutio 

 though not published until 1553 was ready in manuscript so 

 early at least as 1546; and there is evidence that Servetus 

 sent manuscript copies of it in that year not only to Calvin at 

 Geneva, but also to one Curio, a learned doctor at Padua. It 

 has been suggested that Curio might have shewn the work, and 

 more particularly the passage on which we have dwelt, to 

 Vesalius, and that this is the reason why Vesalius in his edition 

 of 1555 was more emphatic in his doubts about the passage 

 through the septum than he had been in the first edition of 

 1543, before he had had the opportunity of learning Servetus' 

 views. But this is a mere guess. Moreover even in 1543 

 Vesalius, as we have seen, already had his doubts, and in 1555 

 had he really known and accepted Servetus' statements would, 

 we may well imagine, have spoken out with a much less uncertain 

 sound. 



I shall have something to say as to the influence Servetus' 

 words might have had on another man, Realdo Colombo, of whom 

 we shall have next to speak. But though it cannot be denied that 

 Servetus was ahead of all his contemporaries in his insight into 

 the errors of the Galenic doctrine of the heart, it is impossible 

 to look upon him as one who exerted any marked influence on 

 anatomical thought. He cannot be regarded as a real link in 

 the chain which leads from Galen to Harvey and so to the 

 present day. His utterances are of the same metal, and have 

 the same ring as those which do form the chain, but they stand 

 apart from these. His sayings are isolated bits of truths 

 floating along the stream of human thought by the side of 

 other truths, the outcome of the labours of other men. 



