VESALIUS. 69 



he was strengthened to carry on, even in a cruel and 

 superstitious age, and placed, as he was, on the very 

 threshold of the Inquisition, a work at all times repulsive 

 to flesh and blood. 



After serving for a short time as a surgeon in the army 

 of the Emperor Charles V., Vesalius went to Italy, 

 where he at once attracted the attention of the most 

 learned men, and became, at the age of twenty-two, 

 Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua. This 

 was the first purely anatomical professorship that had 

 been established out of the funds of any university. 

 For seven years he held the office, and he was at the 

 same time professor at Bologna and at Pisa. During 

 these years his lectures were always well attended, for 

 they were a striking innovation on the tameness of con- 

 ventional routine. In each university the services of 

 the professor were confined to a short course of demon- 

 strations, so that his duties were complete when he had 

 spent, during the winter, a few weeks at each of the three 

 towns in succession. He then returned to Venice, which 

 he appears to have made his head-quarters. At this 

 city, as well as at Pisa, special facilities were offered to 

 the professor for obtaining bodies either of condemned 

 criminals or others. At Padua and Bologna the enthu- 

 siasm of the students, who became resurrectionists on 

 their teacher's behalf, kept the lecture-table supplied 

 with specimens. They were in the habit of watching all 



