Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.

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A Moment in History

Andreas Vesalius Bruxellensis (1514- 1564)

A Flemish anatomist and surgeon, Andreas Vesalius was born on December 31, 1514 in Brussels, Belgium. He is considered to be the father of the science of Anatomy. Up until his studies and publications human anatomy studies consisted only on the confirmation of the old doctrines of Galen of Pergamon (129AD - 200AD). Anatomy professors would read to the students from Galen's work and a demonstrator would point in a body to the area being described, if a body was used at all. The reasoning was that there was no need to dissect since all that was needed to know was already written in Galen's books. Vesalius, Fallopius, and others started the change by describing what they actually saw in a dissection as opposed to what was supposed to be there. 

Vesalius had a notorious career, both as an anatomist and as a surgeon. His revolutionary book "De Humani Corporis Fabrica: Libri Septem" was published in May 26, 1543. One of the most famous anatomical images is his plate 22 of the book, called sometimes "The Hamlet". You can see this image if you hover over Vesalius' only known portrait which accompanies this article. Sir William Osler said of this book "... it is the greatest book ever printed, from which modern medicine dates" 

After the original 1543 printing, the Fabrica was reprinted in 1555. It was re-reprinted and translated in many languages, although many of these printings were low-quality copies with no respect for copyright or authorship.

The story of the wood blocks with the carved images used for the original printing extends into the 20th century. In 1934 these original wood blocks were used to print 617 copies of the book "Iconaes Anatomica". This book is rare and no more can be printed because, sadly, during a 1943 WWII bombing raid over Munich all the wood blocks were burnt.

One interesting aspect of the book was the landscape panorama in some of his most famous woodcuts which was only "discovered" until 1903.

Vesalius was controversial in life and he still is in death. We know that he died on his way back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but how he died, and exactly where he died is lost in controversy. We do know he was alive when he set foot on the port of Zakynthos in the island of the same name in Greece. He is said to have suddenly collapsed and die at the gates of the city, presumably as a consequence of scurvy. Records show that he was interred in the cemetery of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, but the city and the church were destroyed by an earthquake and Vesalius' grave lost to history. Modern researchers are looking into finding the lost grave and have identified the location of the cemetery. This story has not ended yet.

For a detailed biography of Andreas Vesalius CLICK HERE.

Personal note: To commemorate Andrea Vesalius' 500th birthday in 2014, there were many scientific meetings throughout the world, one of them was the "Vesalius Continuum" anatomical meeting on the island of Zakynthos, Greece on September 4-8, 2014. This is the island where Vesalius died in 1564. I had the opportunity to attend and there are several articles in this website on the presence of Andreas Vesalius on Zakynthos island. During 2015 I also attended a symposium on "Vesalius and the Invention of the Modern Body" at the St. Louis University. At this symposium I had the honor of meeting of Drs. Garrison and Hast, authors of the "New Fabrica". Dr. Miranda

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Update to the website and library catalog

Published: Sunday, February 13, 2022 07:00 | Hits: 2799

Dr. Miranda's Ex-Libris  bookplate

UPDATED: After a long hiatus, I am happy to report that this website has been updated to a newer version of Joomla!, and still hosted by GoDaddy. The "look" of the website has not changed, but the software is faster and with a higher level of security. This work was done by my good friend from Greece, Christopher Mavros, who is an expert at designing web templates, web sites, and Joomla! extensions.  This also meant that my library catalog was left unfinished for a long time and this required lots of additional work.

First, the library needed new and updated bookplates, which were printed by BookplateInk, a USA based company that I strongly recommend. In case anyone wonders, the famous anatomists that are depicted in the bookplate are Harvey, Vesalius, Spigelius, and Albinus. Second, I needed software that could create the code to publish the titles of the library online. This work was done by my daughter Evelyn, to whom I am deeply grateful.

Recataloging the library is an ongoing effort. This will also require repairing and rebinding some of the older and damaged books. Due to this, during the next weeks and months this listing will change, but for a bibliophile this is not work, but pleasure.

As many of you know I am a collector of old and antique medical and anatomy books and I also have several copies of some of these books in different languages.

The oldest book in the library dates from 1696 and is "Opera Chirurgica Anotomica Conformata al Moto Circolare Del Sangue, & Altre Inuenziono De'piu Moderni. Aggivuntovi Un Trattato Della Peste" by Paolo Barbette. I recently acquired the 1713 book by Aulus Cornelius Celsus "De Medicina, Libri Octo".

Another book I am very proud of is not old, but still a rare book. It is "The Fabric of the Human Body, An Annotated Translation of the 1543 and 1555 Editions of “De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem", by Drs. Garrison and Hast This monumental translation work took twenty years and only 948 copies of this book were published in 2014. Completely sold out, it is today a rare book!

There are many other books that are important to me, either by its rarity (for those who know.... "The Green Book") or its controversy, as are the books by Pernkopf and Stefano Mancini.

You are welcome to peruse my library catalog, but be forewarned; I am not selling any of my books. Should you want to find a copy, you can use Abebooks.com as a great source for old and new books.

Dr. Miranda