Prepared by: Asares, Cecile B. BSE-2B Dec.

12, 2018

ANDREAS VESALIUS

Surgery and anatomy were then considered of little importance in comparison to the other branches of
medicine. However, Vesalius believed that surgery had to be grounded in anatomy. Unusually, he always
performed dissections himself and produced anatomical charts of the blood and nervous systems as a reference
aid for his students, which were widely copied.

In the same year Vesalius wrote a pamphlet on bloodletting, a popular treatment for a variety of illnesses.
There was debate about where in the body the blood should be taken from. Vesalius' pamphlet was supported
by his knowledge of the blood system and he showed clearly how anatomical dissection could be used to test
speculation, and underlined the importance of understanding the structure of the body in medicine.

In 1539, when a Paduan judge became interested in his work and made bodies of executed criminals available
to him, Vesalius’ supply of human dissection material significantly increased. This enabled him to make
important scientific discoveries. For instance, he was able to demonstrate that men and women have an
equal number of ribs. Until then, it had been common belief that men had one less rib than women.

Vesalius also disproved the assumption of Galen (who he discovered had only carried out dissections of
animals) that humans and apes share the same anatomy. Contrary to Galen’s observation that the sternum
of the ape consisted of seven parts, Vesalius discovered that the human sternum had only three parts.

Vesalius went on to make significant discoveries relating to practically all of the body’s systems, including the
cardiovascular and nervous systems. His studies of the vascular and circulatory systems made an important
contribution to the understanding that the heart acts as a pump to move blood around the body.

He also publish ‘De Humani Corporis Fabrica’ (“On the fabric of the human body in seven books”)

In applying a methodical scientific approach to the study of anatomy, Vesalius was clearly way ahead of
his time. But the story of his life also reminds us that, in reaching for and discovering new paths,
innovators in the fields of science and medicine are invariably attacked and discredited by the
authorities of their time – a tactic that continues to be used against scientific visionaries to this very day.