L.O: * Provide a little information upon Vesalius’ background – the factors that influenced his development as a doctor and anatomist * Introduce his major works, but especially The Fabric of the Human Body, 1543 * Provide an opportunity for students to discuss some of Vesalius’ main ideas and debate their significance in relation to the study of anatomy and development of surgery.

Click here to explore the title page of Vesalius’ Fabric of the Human Body, first published in Click here to find out more about The Tabulae Sex (1538) and Fabric of the Human Body..

Worksheet Questions You could use the Whiteboard Pen and Highlighter here Image courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

Questions: 1)Where is Vesalius? 2) Why do you think that a skeleton has been added to the illustration? 3) There is a monkey in the left hand corner. Why do you think it has been added? 4) Where is the dissection taking place? 5) Who do you think the people in the audience are? Extension: Describe and explain the scene in your own words. Worksheet Image courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

Explore the illustration by clicking on areas that you want to explore.

See if you can work out what this says before clicking for a ‘rough’ translation

Andreas Vesalius, learned discussion by a teacher of medicine, The Fabric of The Human Body, book seven See if you can work out what this says before clicking for a ‘rough’ translation

Many surgical instruments during the Renaissance were similar to those used during The Middle Ages. For example, the simple knife to cut the flesh and forceps to pull it apart. Saws were used to cut through bone and hooks and hammers helped the surgeon prise apart otherwise inaccessible areas. As the Renaissance progressed more instruments were developed. They became more sophisticated as surgeons performed more complicated dissections and operations. Unfortunately, the instruments were not designed to be easily cleaned, often having elaborately carved handles and fittings. This meant that flesh and blood remained on the instruments, thus increasing the risk of infection spreading from patient to patient. Instruments used in a dissection (like those opposite) may later have been used to operate on a patient in a hospital. If only doctors in the Renaissance had been aware of germs!

Is this student referring to The Fabric of the Human Body, or Galen? Vesalius encouraged doctors and students to compare what Galen had said with what they were seeing with their own eyes during dissections. Many anatomists did not agree with Vesalius’ observations and theories. This is understandable to a degree as he was often challenging their own work and ideas. Vesalius was also correcting errors made by greatly respected anatomists and doctors such as Galen and Avicenna. Some of these ideas had been accepted and followed for thousands of years. Anatomists and doctors would have to change the way that looked at the human body and hence their methods of treating patients. By advocating public dissection, Vesalius hoped to prove to onlookers (anatomists and students included) that his theories were correct. This would be reinforced through publications such as The Fabric of the Human Body.

Doctors in Greek and Roman times had known of the importance of viewing a complete human skeleton when studying anatomy. Unfortunately, religious beliefs and laws made it extremely difficult to view a skeleton, let alone possess one for study. Some doctors even risked arrest and possibly execution by breaking into tombs in an attempt to view or secure one. Galen (2 nd century A.D.), whose ideas influenced medical thought for over 1400 years after his death, maintained that students of medicine should always be on the look out for human bones – even the remains of executed robbers on the roadside. Vesalius went to an awful lot of trouble himself to get hold of a complete skeleton. In 1536 he travelled to where an executed criminal had been hung just outside Louvain. He took the legs and arms home and then returned over a number of days in order to smuggle the rest of the cadaver (corpse) into the city. Having a skeleton such as this, seeing how the joints moved and how they were joined together would prove invaluable when putting together The Fabric of the Human Body.

Published with Royal Approval Vesalius dedicated the Fabric of the Human Body to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He hoped that this would help him to receive the support of the King, which he got in the form of a job at Charles’ court. Vesalius worked as a doctor at the Court and not an anatomist, but he had enough backing to produce a second edition of The Fabric of the Human Body which was published in This included a number of new observations. Vesalius left the Emperor’s Court in Are these characters fighting over the surgical instruments, or is the figure who is seated preparing the instruments for Vesalius? Why might these figures be having a disagreement, or discussion? Can you imagine what they may be discussing, or what may be being said upon such an occasion as this?

The heavenly cherubs have probably only been added for decoration, although they could emphasise the importance of the work as they hold up the crest. As much, if not more attention, was paid to the artistic composition of a work or text as to the written content. The Renaissance was a time of re-birth in many areas of science and culture and art took on the classical nature of the Greeks and Romans. The whole composition of the front page of The Fabric of The Human Body illustrates the skill and accuracy that artists could now employ when illustrating texts. It could be argued that this level of artist license (placing figures in poses with often over-the-top detailing) takes away from the medical message of such works. Yet compared with Medieval Illustrations, Renaissance works of art are by far superior in terms of their accuracy in depicting the human form.

Monkey’s and other animals had been dissected since Ancient times in an attempt to understand how the human body worked. Animal anatomy is different to human anatomy though and many mistakes were made. Many Ancient doctors had dissected apes in the belief that their anatomies would be the same as a humans. Apes provided them with an opportunity to study the working parts of a body as it was undesirable to dissect a human corpse for religious reasons – Church Law often forbade it. There were few instances when human dissection was permitted. One place did openly allow dissection for a time – Alexandria,in Egypt, which was founded in 332 B.C.. Even the dissection of live criminals was permitted. This relaxed attitude became increasingly rare by the time of The Roman Empire. By the time of Vesalius though, Church Laws had been relaxed and limited dissections were permitted. This allowed for a much more comprehensive and accurate picture to be formed of human anatomy and physiology (how the body works).

Image courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine Looking at: The Tabulae Sex and The Fabric of the Human Body In a little more detail. From The Fabric of the Human Body Renaissance Anatomy and Surgery Timeline Andreas Vesalius Fact File

Why would illustrations such as these be considered so valuable by students of medicine during and after The Renaissance? Images courtesy of The University of Glasgow (Special Collection) Image courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

Image courtesy of The University of Glasgow (Special Collection) This page of The Tabulae Sex shows one of Galen’s ideas. The liver is shown as a five lobed organ, which is how Galen had described it. In animals this would have been true, but a human liver has only two lobes. By displaying Galen’s ideas next to his own observations within The Tabulae Sex, Vesalius was able to draw attention to some of Galen’s mistakes. He did not at this stage openly reject Galen’s ideas, but he was able to present alternative theories for anatomists and doctors to ponder over. Image courtesy of Glasgow University Library, Dept. of Special Collections

Image courtesy of The University of Glasgow (Special Collection) In this image taken from the Tabulae Sex you can clearly see the labelling techniques used by Vesalius. Each part of the skeleton has been given a letter which corresponds with the description of that part of the body in the column to the left of the diagram. This helped anatomists, doctors and students to visualise and understand how each part of the body linked and worked together.

Image courtesy of Glasgow University Library, Dept. of Special Collections Thanks to Vesalius and publications such as The Fabric of the Human Body and The Epitome (a summary of The Fabric of the Human Body), it became much easier for students of anatomy to gain an in-depth view of how the human body works. Students of anatomy could reinforce what they saw during dissections with accurate illustrations within the books that were held within college libraries. They could study the insides of the body even when not present at dissections – although Vesalius himself would have maintained that there is no substitute for hands on experience.

The Fabric of the Human Body offered a complete human anatomy and in so doing challenged some long established views regarding the structure of the body and the function of some of its main parts. The publication allowed for further exploration of the body and therefore a means by which the study of anatomy could progress. Previous theories had rarely been challenged, or adapted. The Renaissance encouraged exploration, discovery and the challenging of older ideas. Vesalius also encouraged debate amongst anatomists, doctors and students. He maintained that students of medicine should explore the body and use their own eyes to describe what they see. They should not rely entirely upon what they had learnt and been told. This was the only way that medicine could progress. Image courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

Works other than The F of the HB: Main ideas: So, what have you learnt? The Fabric of the Human Body facts Click here to print out a revision map

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Extension Work and Revision: For more information upon Vesalius and his work visit The University of Glasgow web site. Here you will find a special exhibition of his work. Alternatively visit The United States National Library of Medicine. This is an extensive site which also provides a lot of information upon Vesalius and his work. Although institutions and organisations have kindly agreed that we can provide links and use some of the images found on their sites, they are not responsible for the way in which those images have been used. Nor are they responsible for any of the written content found within this presentation.