On the Structure of the Human Body, 1543 – Anatomy perfected with Vesalius

Medical historians J. B. de C. M. Saunders and Charles O’Malley describe "Andreas Vesalius’s publication of De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body) in 1543 as the beginning of modern science" in their writing. "It is undoubtedly the greatest contribution to medical science, but much more than that, a superb work of creative art through its perfect blend of format, typography and illustration."

Physician and anatomist Andreas Vesalius of Brussels used dissections (examinations of cadavers) as his primary teaching tool and showed that many earlier ideas about the human body held by great thinkers such as Galen and Aristotle were obviously wrong. For example, contradicting Galen, Vesalius showed that blood did not pass from one side of the heart to the other through invisible pores. He also showed that the liver has two main lobes. His challenges to Galen made him many enemies, and one critic even claimed that the human body must have changed since Galen’s studies to explain Vesalius’s observations! In reality, Galen had based almost all his observations on animal dissections, which had led to major errors about humans.

As a medical student, Vesalius braved wild dogs and dreadful smells in his efforts to obtain decaying bodies from graveyards or the remains of executed criminals hanging from beams until they fell apart. He even kept specimens in his bedroom for weeks while dissecting them.

Vesalius’s groundbreaking anatomy book, Fabrica, was probably illustrated by Jan Stephan van Calcar or other pupils of the famous Italian painter Titian. The book revealed the internal structures of the brain as never before. Science writer Robert Adler writes: "With Fabrica, Vesalius effectively ended the slavish scholarly deification of the ancient world’s knowledge and showed that a new generation of scientists could move forward and make discoveries the ancients could not have imagined. Along with a few other Renaissance giants, such as Copernicus and Galileo, Vesalius created the progressive, science-based world in which we live."

Description of the article image: A depiction of spinal nerves from Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica.

Historical figures mentioned in the article: Jan Stephan van Calcar (1499–1546), Andreas Vesalius (1514– 1564)

• Previous topic: Paracelsus Burned Medical Books, 1527
• Next topic: Paré’s Rational Surgery, 1545 – The path toward modern surgery in wound care