Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/312

298 —The next great actor on the stage, comes the renowned Vesalius, the Luther of anatomy, the bold and defiant reformer, who, by persevering diligence and pains-taking observation, corrected the numerous errors of all his predecessors, and notably those of Galen. This wonderful young man, before he attained the age of thirty, published the most extensive, accurate, and in every sense the most magnificent work on human anatomy the-world ever saw; wealth was lavished on its illustration and sumptuous publication. Jan Stephan van Calcar, the favorite pupil and-wonderful imitator of the world-renowned Titian (not Titian himself, as some have declared), was employed to design anatomical figures, and the best engravers cut them in wood to adorn that massive and splendid old folio—that opus magnum, which was published in Basel, in the year 1543, three and a third centuries ago.

It is the delight of the medical bibliomaniac to procure a good copy of this rare book. The writer of this essay sought vigilantly for a score of years, failing to secure it until quite recently, and then from the library of a deceased friend, who was an ardent lover of the medical classics. He too had sought in vain for this book, and at last, after long rummaging the dusty and mouldy antiquarian book-stalls of many an ancient city in Europe, laid his hands upon a fine copy of the "Corporis Humani Fabrica," which he ever after regarded as the gem of his collection, as it certainly now is (almost sacred by melancholy association) the greatest treasure of my own. I wish we had time to stop just here, that I might give you a sketch of the life of Vesalius. Henry Morley, Professor of English Literature in the University of London, has written a lively and lovely little biography of this great anatomist, which is far more fascinating than any romance.

The great Vesalius, justly styled "the father of modern anatomy," subjected the septum, between the right and left cavities of the heart, to a thorough scrutiny, and found that no holes existed in it, and then had the boldness to declare the truth in spite of the previously unquestioned authority of Galen, whose writings were sacred in the estimation of all physicians. Thenceforth anatomists ceased to believe and teach this great error which Vesalius dispelled and swept away, and thus it came to pass that the second great step was taken toward the discovery of the circulation of the blood.

On the 27th day of October, in the year 1553, on a hill not far from the old Swiss city of Geneva, could be seen a motley gathering of anxious and excited men, women, and children, and among them a goodly number of learned doctors of divinity, chiefly Protestants, conspicuous among whom was John Calvin, all assembled to witness a scene of extreme horror. There stood, lashed to a post, a scholar past forty years of age, who in his time had imbued himself in the learning of three professions—law, divinity,