Bologna. 9 



of Galen, which was being applied at that period to the human 

 subject, was not the anatomy of man but the anatomy of the monkey. 

 For this audacious assault upon authority he was attacked in the 

 most virulent manner, and the foremost and most bitter of his ad- 

 versaries was his old master, Sylvius. In this encounter Sylvius, not- 

 withstanding the abuse and calumnies he heaped upon Vesalius, got 

 much the worst of it. And when at last he was forced to admit that 

 some of the statements of Galen did not correspond with what was 

 found in the human subject, he covered his retreat by insisting that 

 the structure of the human body had changed, and not for the better. 

 It was deterioration he saw, not improvement, although the standard 

 of excellence chosen by Sylvius was Galen's description of the ape. 



Vesalius was evidently a passionate, sensitive, and masterful man. 

 In pique at the bitter attacks to which he had been subjected, he 

 retired to the Court of Madrid and burnt his remaining papers. His 

 career as an anatomist virtually ended at the early age of thirty ^). 



Bologna has also the credit of being the school in which Guilio 

 Cesare Aranzio, and Costanzo Varolio taught and worked. For more 

 than thirty years Aranzio, who had the advantage of studying under 

 the great master, Vesalius, held the Chair of Anatomy in the Institute. 

 Varolius is a name we are acquainted with, from the pons Varolii of 

 the brain. 



During the sixteenth century Bologna no longer stood alone as 

 the one centre in Europe where anatomical investigation was con- 

 ducted. Her example was followed by the other cities of Italy, and 

 thus we find Eustachius, the contemporary of Vesalius, at Rome; 

 Fallopius, the pupil of Vesalius, at Padua ; and Fabricius, the teacher 

 of our own Harvey, in the same University. By degrees also the other 

 countries in Europe lost their veneration for the writings of Galen, 

 and the pursuit of anatomy in a proper spirit became general. 



Bologna had fulfilled her mission, and although, during the last 

 three centuries, she no longer stands out as a star of the first magni- 



*) Vesalius met with a sad end. Ou his return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem 

 he was wrecked on the Island of Zante, where it is said he perished of hunger. It is 

 not very clear what led him to undertake this pilgrimage. Different reasons are 

 ascribed by different authors. 



