Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/394

 (human) upon which he happened then to be lecturing, but also the corresponding organ in one or several of the animals; thus enabling them to learn what were the features possessed in common by all the species, and what were those in respect of which the species differed. As time went on, the number of those who came to witness his anatomical demonstrations increased so greatly that he felt impelled to build, at his own expense, a new and larger amphitheatre. But even this, in a short time, proved to be too small, and then the Senate at Venice, which exercised a governing control over the University of Padua, erected (in 1593) a much larger and more complete amphitheatre, upon the walls of which there was placed an inscription stating that it had been built in honor of Fabricius. Among the other distinctions which were conferred upon him at this time he was raised to the rank of Knight of the Order of Saint Mark and made an honorary citizen of Padua.

Fabricius ab Acquapendente added to our stock of anatomical knowledge by his researches on the structure of the oesophagus, stomach and intestines, the eye, ear, larynx and foetus. One of his chief claims to distinction, however, rests upon the fact that he wrote an elaborate monograph on the valves of the veins. Although these structures had been seen and described at an earlier date by Charles Estienne, Berengarius, Vesalius, Cannani and others (Fra Paolo Sarpi, for example), nobody had yet offered a satisfactory explanation of their probable use or had traced them through the venous system at large. In 1574 Fabricius demonstrated their presence in all the veins of the extremities.

But Fabricius ab Acquapendente was not merely a good anatomist and physiologist; he was also a most distinguished surgeon and general practitioner. From far and from near patients came to consult him about their ailments, and he appears to have been immensely popular among all classes of the community. His home, situated on the River Brenta, just outside the city of Padua, was most attractive, and it was there that he dispensed hospitality in a princely fashion. One of his peculiarities was that in many cases