A SCIENTIFIC REFORMER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 49

A SCIENTIFIC REFORMER.

. Translated from the French of Benjamin GAStiLeau by the late William Macoalij. What Copernicus is for astronomy, Galileo for physics, Christopher Columbus for - geography, and Van Dyck for painting, Andrew Yesale* is for - anatomy. He discovered man and the laws and conditions of man's being. In the sixteenth century he bestowed on anatomioal .science its legitimate supremacy over medicine, surgery, and physiology, to which it serves at present as a basis, after having been proscribed in antiquity and disdained in the Middle Ages. He had the glory of laying the foundations of that magnificent edifice which occupied the life of Fallopio, Morgegtii, Ambrose Pare", Picquet, Harvay, Hallcr, Soarpa, Daubonton, Bichat, Caviar, Geoff t-oy S&int-Hilaire. Andrew Vesale (in Latin, Vec-alius) belonged to Belgium by his orfgin, to France by ( his professionaredocation. Ho was born at JJju-si'ls lv 1514. His father, pharmucian of the Emperor Maximilian, made the sacrifices in money neceetary to assure for his son a lot woit.hj of bi« ancestors, who had almost all distinguished themselves in the practice of % medicine. When Vesale had terminated bis classical studies his father sent him from the Uni verity of Lovaine to the Academy of Sfon> pettier, where the young man distinguished himeelf in such a fashion that the Masters of the University of P*rb>, informed of hie brilliant abilities and achievements, invited him to come and study in the French capital. To Paris Vesale went. He followed RBfciduonsly the courses of Fernel, of G mthier d'Andernacb, and in the laH pkee of Dubcrfa. It waa then that his vocation for anatomy was revealed with an irrepressible enthueiafiia ; it was then that he devoted himself body and soul to that science. He wished to find the secret of the organisation of man, and he succeeded in finding it. No effort seemed to him too costly to patisfy this noble ambition ; he allowed nothing to stand in his way — neither dangers nor fatigues nor difgnsts. He passed whole days in the midst of bodies in a state of putrefaction — sometimes at the gibbets of Montfaucon, and 60" e times in the charnel house of the Innocents. When tight came on, at the risk of being suddenly seized and massacred — for ptfrjudicos are implacable, — he rushed like a bird of pi ey, upon a corpse and carried it home to dissect it. Andrew Yesale was not long in gathering the fruit of his devotedness and of his arduous studies. Gontbier dAnder,- , each, fervently recognisirg the rare merit of his pupil, collided to him . v the editing of his books. Admirably Vesalo performed the task. Already the schools of Paris began to be much impressed by the rapid progress^of the youDg anatomise, who eclipsed his illustrious masters themselves, 'when war burst forth anew between Franois I an' 5 Charles V. A subject of the Low Oonntries (then under tho dominion of Spain), Vesale was obliged to leave France. He went to Lovaine, •where for some time he held a professorship. But desirous of augmenting, by the practice ot surgical operations, the sum of his knowledge, Ve?ale volunt&ily renounced his fciiuation in 1335 to follow the of Charles V as surgeon. He distinguished himself in thia post, and his reputation increased. Tha Republic of Venice offered him a professorship, which he accepted, and in which he taught in a brilliant manner medicine, and especially anatomy — first at Pavia, then at Bologna, finally at Pisa. It was in Italy that Veeale prepared his great anatomical work, "De Oorporis Hamani Fabrica," the firat edition of which, adorned with admirable plates, attributed to Titian, was published at B&lo in 1543. This book, which completely demolished the erroneous notions consecrated for 11 centuries by the method of Galen, ; exposed its ' author to universal recriminations. A league was formed against Vesale; the body of physicians and surgeons excommunicated the audacious innovator, who had dared to •hake on his pedestal the god of the schools. He was put under the ban of learned Europe Jay Eaatacbi at Borne, by Driander at Morpurg, and in France by' his former master, Jacques Dabois. Dabois, who had. not beheld without umbrage Vesale's brilliant . labours at Parie, went beyond all bounds in his attacks. He accused Vesale of Ignorance, of arrogance, of impiety; and he so far forgot himself as to make a wretched plaj upon words with, tha name, ot Vejale,

calling him perfidiously "Veaanus" (madman), A jnst tribute of praise came to mingle with this tempest of insults. The admiration was as vivacious, as vigorous, as the oriticlsm. Pupils rushed from all parts of Europe, and crowded with enthusiasm to the lecture room of the professor at Pavia.

The state of anatomical science in the sixteenth century explains the emotion, the sympathy, the wrath which Vesale'e book excited. Before him there were no well ascertained facts respecting the structure of man, because from a remote period superstitions had prevented the study of anatomy. The excessive respeot for the mortal remains of man was in antiquity an inscumonntable obstacle to the progress of this science. Not daring to dissect the' human body, the ancient anatomists dissected the so-called lower animals; those who were a little bolder ventured to make use of some human bones found on the mountains, or in the depths of caverns. The father of medicioe, Hippocrates, never, speaks of openirg hitman bodies ; neither does Aristotle, whoso admirable " History of Animals " contains, neverr thele'se, comparative studies and representations on our organisation and that of the lower animals.

Anatomy marched with pain and with difficulty till the time of the first Ptolemies ia Egypt. These enlightened princes established' a school of medicine at Alexandria, and authorised the dissection. of the corpses of criminals. But it does not appear that physicians profited much from thia exalted protection. Galon mentions a skeleton p*eseived with care at Alexandria, and to which crowded the physicians of all nations as to a place of pilgrimage. This fact by itaelf convincingly proves the difficulty and the rareness of dissections. Galen himself has in his works left no anatomioal descriptions but those taken on monkeys and other animvh, and not on man.

At Galen anatomy stopped for a pwiod of 11 centuries. The Arabs, who, during the night of the Middle Ages, had impressed a grand impulsion on the exact sciences, respected the prohibition of their prophet, who branded with the name of impious anyone who approached a corpse. Italy had the glory of arousing anatomy, which had slumbered since the time of Galen. Mondini, a physician of Milan, dissected publicly in 1315 the corpses of two women; then he published a new treatise on anatomy, in accordance with the ideas of Galen. Following the example of the University of Padua, the other universities disseoted twice a year human remains.

Dubois, one of Vesale's masters, substituted in France, in anatomical demonstrations, human bodies for the bodies of p ; gs. But, by a strange obstinacy of the human mind to remain attached to error, all the anatomists of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries — Mondini, Carpi, Massa, Daboia— forced to confess to themselves that their .experiments did not agree with the deecriptions of the human body given by GaleH, accused Nature of irregularity and caprice rather than condemned their master. Andrew Veaale alone had the courage to appealjfrom ancient errors to experience and the ovidecce. of faciu His book was the veritable creation — the fiat lux (let thtre be light) of anatomy. He destroyed the system. of Galen by describing, with a perfect exactitude and a rare talent of oxposition, the -organs of man, and, by comparing -them - with those of the monkey, he proved that G^len and his school had never known the'stmcture of the human body.

The" European renown of Vesale procured for him the eminent post of firat physician to Charles V. He left Italy, and stopped at Bale to enrich the medical school of that city with a skeleton prepared by his own hands. Then he went to Madrid.- This epoch of the life of Andrew Vesale was a magnificeut tiiumph. Charles V lavished on him honours and riches. As a recompense he restored the health of the powerful Emperor by means •of a new remedy, the Peruvian bark,' the virtues of which he vaunted in a letter published in 1546 at Ratisbonne. Charles V treated his first physician as his friend, and made him his travelling companion. Veaale nobly used his influence to encourage and facilitate the study, of anatomy in Spain. It was probably &t his instigation that .Charles V asked the theologians of Salamanca whether it was right for Catholics to. open human bodies. The Spanish theologians, perceiving that this demand was equivalent to an order, answered affirmatively.

Forced to waste a part of his existence in tha f ettivitleg of this brilliant court of Spain, to which the treasures of the New World flowed, the great anatomist did not, however, remain idle. He devoted as much of his time to duty as to pleasure. In 1551 he published a memoir in reply to the remarkable work of one of his former pupil?, the learned Fallopio who had criticised with dtference and moderation certain ideas of Vusale, while at the 1 same time warmly applauding the important truths contained in Vesale's noble book. Vesale replied in the same tone of amer-ity ; he threw aside all personal questions, and occupied himself only with controverted points. The opinion of contemporaries wan that in this debate Fallopio had the advantage of his adversary.

In Spain Vesale showed himself worthy of the fervour and favour with which the great ones of the earth sought after him. Joining practice to theory, hs successfully treated wounds and maladies, and performed brilliantly, and with the bast results, numerous surgical operations. J. A. de Thou relates a curious prediction of Vesale, which, though it has a legendary tinge, may serve to give an idea of the extent of his reputation.

This is the story. Vesale having warned Maximilian d'Egmont, Count of Bores in G elder, of the day and hour of his death, this nobleman ordered a splendid banquet to be prepared and the table to be loaded with all his plate, invited his friends, sat down in the midst of them, presided over the repast, generously distributed to them his treasures, bade them farewell without any apparent emotion, went to bed, and died at the hour indicated by the prophetical physician. By his courageous frankness and his saccess, Andrew Vesale had made for himself many enemies. They were kept in chsck nnder Charles V, bat on the advent of Philip II their hatred burst forth. They accused Vesalo of dissecting a gentleman while the' gentleman, was still alive. ▲ witneia bad

seen, or thought that he had seen,, the heart palpitating uudar the scalpel—an utter impossibility, forasmuch as the surgical operations indispensable for lay i eg bare the heart inevitably cause death. Nevertheless the relatives of the dead man accused Vesale before the Inquisition of impiety, and prosecuted him as a murderer. The life of Vesala was in danger. Philip II could not save the life of his physician otherwise than by condemning him to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Andrew Vesala went to Cyprus with Glacoma Malatesta, general of the Venetians, and thenca to Palestine. Meanwhile, the excellent Fallopio died. The Senate of Venice invited Vesale to occupy Fallopio's post. Vesale set sail in order to travel to Padua, when his vessel, assailed by a furloui tempest, went to pieces on the recks of the Isle of Zante, where the great anatomist, tortured by banger, died on Ootober 15, 1564, aged 50 years. It is said that an Italian goldsmith, landing on the island some time alter, found the body and buried it. Thus, in a tragical manner, died the illustrious anatomist; Andrew Vesale, at the moment when about to be tha successor of his former pupil. All his life be manifested a heroic courage in the service of science. He was the chief of that celebrated Italian school which in the sixteenth century commenced the revolution of anatomy, and whose brilliant labours were renewed and completed by the French school of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — byDaubeuton, Bichat, Cavier, and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.