26 Harvey and the [lect. 



longings ; in these Falloppius says that if he had been able to 

 advance any new truth, that was largely due to Vesalius 

 " who so shewed me the true path of inquiry that I was able 

 "to walk along it still farther than had been done before." 



A very different man was Matheus Realdus Columbus. 

 Born at Cremona in 1516, and therefore only a year or so 

 younger than Vesalius, he came at the close of his ' teens ' to 

 Venice and Padua to study medicine. He says that he learnt 

 all he knew from one Lonigo; but there can be no doubt that he 

 also studied under and learnt much from Vesalius, who indeed 

 says that he was very intimate with him (mihi admodum 

 familiaris). Apparently at first Vesalius thought very highly 

 of his Cremonian friend ; but it was not long before the 

 two became estranged ; and with reason. Columbus was evi- 

 dently a sharp, clever, man ; but not only did he lack a good 

 general education, such as Vesalius, Falloppius and others en- 

 joyed in a high degree for they had studied Greek and 

 philosophy as well as Latin, whereas Columbus seems to have 

 been imperfectly acquainted even with Latin ; his professional 

 knowledge also was superficial. Vesalius spoke of him in later 

 years as an uncultivated smatterer. So far from appreciating 

 Vesalius' greatness, Columbus seemed to have thought that he 

 was as good as he and that he ought to receive the like high 

 reputation. When and wherever a Goliath appears we find 

 some young would-be David starting up to win fame by 

 throwing the stone at him ; and Columbus, while acting as 

 Vesalius' deputy, thought that Vesalius' absence was his 

 opportunity, and in the anatomical theatre he insisted often 

 and loudly on Vesalius' errors ; he did his best to make 

 Vesalius ridiculous, and to prove that the great anatomist of 

 the time was not he but Matheus Realdus Columbus. Vesalius 

 however on his return turned the tables on him, and thoroughly 

 exposed his pretentions. 



Again and again, in the story of the time we find indi- 

 cations of something unsatisfactory about Columbus. The 

 Venetian Archives contain two records for the year 1541, 

 one in August nominating for the chair of Surgery in Padua 

 in the first place Andreas Vesalius, and in the second place 



