THE GREAT ANATOMISTS

THE GREAT ANATOMISTS

About the beginning of the sixteenth century, while Paracelsus

was scoffing at the study of anatomy as useless, and using his

influence against it, there had already come upon the scene the

first of the great anatomists whose work was to make the century

conspicuous in that branch of medicine.

The young anatomist Charles etienne (1503-1564) made one of the

first noteworthy discoveries, pointing out for the first time

that the spinal cord contains a canal, continuous throughout its

length. He also made other minor discoveries of some importance,

but his researches were completely overshadowed and obscured by

the work of a young Fleming who came upon the scene a few years

later, and who shone with such brilliancy in the medical world

that he obscured completely the work of his contemporary until

many years later. This young physician, who was destined to lead

such an eventful career and meet such an untimely end as a martyr

to science, was Andrew Vesalius (1514-1564), who is called the

"greatest of anatomists." At the time he came into the field

medicine was struggling against the dominating Galenic teachings

and the theories of Paracelsus, but perhaps most of all against

the superstitions of the time. In France human dissections were

attended with such dangers that the young Vesalius transferred

his field of labors to Italy, where such investigations were

covertly permitted, if not openly countenanced.

From the very start the young Fleming looked askance at the

accepted teachings of the day, and began a series of independent

investigations based upon his own observations. The results of

these investigations he gave in a treatise on the subject which

is regarded as the first comprehensive and systematic work on

human anatomy. This remarkable work was published in the author's

twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth year. Soon after this Vesalius was

invited as imperial physician to the court of Emperor Charles V.

He continued to act in the same capacity at the court of Philip

II., after the abdication of his patron. But in spite of this

royal favor there was at work a factor more powerful than the

influence of the monarch himself--an instrument that did so much

to retard scientific progress, and by which so many lives were

brought to a premature close.

Vesalius had received permission from the kinsmen of a certain

grandee to perform an autopsy. While making his observations the

heart of the outraged body was seen to palpitate--so at least it

was reported. This was brought immediately to the attention of

the Inquisition, and it was only by the intervention of the king

himself that the anatomist escaped the usual fate of those

accused by that tribunal. As it was, he was obliged to perform a

pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While returning from this he was

shipwrecked, and perished from hunger and exposure on the island

of Zante.

At the very time when the anatomical writings of Vesalius were

startling the medical world, there was living and working

contemporaneously another great anatomist, Eustachius (died

1574), whose records of his anatomical investigations were ready

for publication only nine years after the publication of the work

of Vesalius. Owing to the unfortunate circumstances of the

anatomist, however, they were never published during his

lifetime--not, in fact, until 1714. When at last they were given

to the world as Anatomical Engravings, they showed conclusively

that Eustachius was equal, if not superior to Vesalius in his

knowledge of anatomy. It has been said of this remarkable

collection of engravings that if they had been published when

they were made in the sixteenth century, anatomy would have been

advanced by at least two centuries. But be this as it may, they

certainly show that their author was a most careful dissector and

observer.

Eustachius described accurately for the first time certain

structures of the middle ear, and rediscovered the tube leading

from the ear to the throat that bears his name. He also made

careful studies of the teeth and the phenomena of first and

second dentition. He was not baffled by the minuteness of

structures and where he was unable to study them with the naked

eye he used glasses for the purpose, and resorted to macerations

and injections for the study of certain complicated structures.

But while the fruit of his pen and pencil were lost for more than

a century after his death, the effects of his teachings were not;

and his two pupils, Fallopius and Columbus, are almost as well

known to-day as their illustrious teacher. Columbus (1490-1559)

did much in correcting the mistakes made in the anatomy of the

bones as described by Vesalius. He also added much to the science

by giving correct accounts of the shape and cavities of the

heart, and made many other discoveries of minor importance.

Fallopius (1523-1562) added considerably to the general knowledge

of anatomy, made several discoveries in the anatomy of the ear,

and also several organs in the abdominal cavity.

At this time a most vitally important controversy was in progress

as to whether or not the veins of the bodies were supplied with

valves, many anatomists being unable to find them. etienne had

first described these structures, and Vesalius had confirmed his

observations. It would seem as if there could be no difficulty in

settling the question as to the fact of such valves being present

in the vessels, for the demonstration is so simple that it is now

made daily by medical students in all physiological laboratories

and dissecting-rooms. But many of the great anatomists of the

sixteenth century were unable to make this demonstration, even

when it had been brought to their attention by such an authority

as Vesalius. Fallopius, writing to Vesalius on the subject in

1562, declared that he was unable to find such valves. Others,

however, such as Eustachius and Fabricius (1537-1619), were more

successful, and found and described these structures. But the

purpose served by these valves was entirely misinterpreted. That

they act in preventing the backward flow of the blood in the

veins on its way to the heart, just as the valves of the heart

itself prevent regurgitation, has been known since the time of

Harvey; but the best interpretation that could be given at that

time, even by such a man as Fabricius, was that they acted in

retarding the flow of the blood as it comes from the heart, and

thus prevent its too rapid distribution throughout the body. The

fact that the blood might have been going towards the heart,

instead of coming from it, seems never to have been considered

seriously until demonstrated so conclusively by Harvey.

Of this important and remarkable controversy over the valves in

veins, Withington has this to say: "This is truly a marvellous

story. A great Galenic anatomist is first to give a full and

correct description of the valves and their function, but fails

to see that any modification of the old view as to the motion of

the blood is required. Two able dissectors carefully test their

action by experiment, and come to a result. the exact reverse of

the truth. Urged by them, the two foremost anatomists of the age

make a special search for valves and fail to find them. Finally,

passing over lesser peculiarities, an aged and honorable

professor, who has lived through all this, calmly asserts that no

anatomist, ancient or modern, has ever mentioned valves in veins

till he discovered them in 1574!"[2]

Among the anatomists who probably discovered these valves was

Michael Servetus (1511-1553); but if this is somewhat in doubt,

it is certain that he discovered and described the pulmonary

circulation, and had a very clear idea of the process of

respiration as carried on in the lungs. The description was

contained in a famous document sent to Calvin in 1545--a document

which the reformer carefully kept for seven years in order that

he might make use of some of the heretical statements it

contained to accomplish his desire of bringing its writer to the

stake. The awful fate of Servetus, the interesting character of

the man, and the fact that he came so near to anticipating the

discoveries of Harvey make him one of the most interesting

figures in medical history.

In this document which was sent to Calvin, Servetus rejected the

doctrine of natural, vital, and animal spirits, as contained in

the veins, arteries, and nerves respectively, and made the

all-important statement that the fluids contained in veins and

arteries are the same. He showed also that the blood is "purged

from fume" and purified by respiration in the lungs, and declared

that there is a new vessel in the lungs, "formed out of vein and

artery." Even at the present day there is little to add to or

change in this description of Servetus's.

By keeping this document, pregnant with advanced scientific

views, from the world, and in the end only using it as a means of

destroying its author, the great reformer showed the same

jealousy in retarding scientific progress as had his arch-enemies

of the Inquisition, at whose dictates Vesalius became a martyr to

science, and in whose dungeons etienne perished.