How did Vesalius change the way
the human body was studied?
Specialism: Anatomy of the Human Body
Background?
Born in Brussels in 1514. Studied medicine in Paris and Italy
where he met artists who were studying skeletons
and dissecting bodies to make their paintings more realistic.
What did people believe before Vesalius?
Doctors believed that the books of Galen and other ancient doctors were completely
accurate and contained all the knowledge they needed. Therefore there was no need to
learn more about anatomy by dissecting human bodies.
What did he do at Padua?
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At Padua Vesalius taught anatomy, breaking with tradition by doing his own dissections
and then publishing accurate and detailed drawings.
Vesalius argued that the drawings of various parts of the body would help students
learn about the body before and after dissections.
In 1538 he published his ‘Tabulae Sex,’ six large sheets of anatomical drawings.
The Tabulae Sex showed that Vesalius was starting to see some of the problems with
Galen’s theory of anatomy – eg. Galen thought that the liver had 5 lobes, but Vesalius
found that although this was true in animals, humans actually had a 2 lobed liver.
However, he was not ready to publically criticise Galen.
Vesalius used a scientific approach to prove how veins were connected.
What was ‘The Fabric of the Human Body’?
This was a very important book, written by Vesalius. It contained detailed descriptions and
diagrams of human anatomy. It’s publication was one of the great moments in the history of
medicine.
Why was The Fabric of the Human Body important?
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It offered a complete and accurate version of human anatomy based on a detailed
programme of human dissection
It corrected some errors in Galen’s anatomy – eg. the human lower jaw has one bone,
whereas Galen said it was two bones because animals have two bones in their lower
jaws. Also, Galen said the blood moves from one side of the heart to the other
through holes in the middle, Vesalius realised this was wrong.
Vesalius realised that if Galen was wrong about these issues, he might be wrong about
others too.
Vesalius went to great lengths to oversee the preparation of wood-block engravings
that were used to publish his book. He checked that the details were correct and
very accurate so that other anatomists around Europe could use his book to further
understanding of anatomy.
Why was Vesalius’ contribution to medicine important?
1) Vesalius showed that Galen was wrong in some important details of anatomy.
2) Vesalius said it was vital that doctors dissect human bodies to find out about the
human structure and exactly how it works.
3) He said that doctors needed to test Galen’s ideas instead of accepting them
uncritically.
4) His book ‘The fabric of the Human Body’ was incredibly detailed and accurate and
other anatomists could learn from it and develop his ideas
Diagram showing Galen’s ideas about the
heart
Illustration from Vesalius’ book
Were the ideas of Vesalius accepted? Why?
What was William Harvey’s great discovery?
Specialism – The circulation of the blood
(anatomy
Background?
Born 1578 in Kent. Studied medicine at Cambridge and Padua.
Worked as a doctor and then as a lecturer in anatomy.
Experimented on animals to work out how the blood
circulated and applied this to humans.
What did people believe before Harvey?
Many doctors still believed in Galen’s idea that new blood was constantly being manufactured
in the liver to replace the blood that was burnt up in the body in the same way as wood is
burnt by fire. This idea had been challenged by a number of doctors, but no one had proved
exactly how the blood moved around the body.
How did Harvey prove he was right?
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He dissected live cold blooded animals whose hearts beat very slowly so he could see
the muscle movements in the heart.
He dissected human bodies to build up a detailed knowledge of the heart
He tried to pump liquids past the valves in the veins, but couldn’t. He also tried to
push rods down the veins. This proved that blood flowed in a one way system around
the body
He measured the amount of blood moved by each heartbeat and calculated how much
blood was in the body
He supported his ideas with scientific evidence. He carried out experiments –
dissecting, observing, experimenting and recording observations.
Harvey’s diagram showing
circulation of the blood
Why was Harvey’s contribution to medicine important?
Harvey showed that blood flows around the body, is carried away from the heart by the
arteries and returns to the heart in veins.
He showed that the heart acts as a pump, recirculating the blood and that blood does not
burn up so no other organ is needed to manufacture new blood.
What could Harvey not prove?
Between arteries and veins there are tiny blood vessels called capillaries which carry blood.
Harvey thought they must be there, but they are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
It was not until later in the 1600s when the microscope was invented that doctors could see
the capillaries, proving Harvey’s theory.
Why did Pare make new surgical discoveries?
Specialism: Surgery
Background:
Born in France in 1510. Son of a barber-surgeon. Became an army
surgeon and spent 20 years treating wounded soldiers, dealing
mostly with sword and gunshot wounds. Wrote the ‘Works on
Surgery’ in 1575.
What did people believe before Pare?
Wounds were treated by pouring boiling oil onto them. Doctors believed this would help
them heal. They stopped a wound bleeding by sealing it with a red hot iron. This was called
CAUTERISING.
How did Pare help surgery progress?
1) Helping a wound to heal –
 Pare treated gunshot wounds just like other surgeons of the time – he poured
boiling oil on the wound whilst the soldiers screamed in agony. They believed
this would save their lives by ‘stopping the poison spreading’.
 He did this until the oil ran out – he then had to find a different solution
 He quickly made an ointment of his own that he knew had been used since Roman
times – egg yolks, oil of roses and turpentine.
 He applied this ointment to the wounds instead of using boiling oil. In the
morning he discovered that the soldiers were still all alive, sitting up, and
looking as if they would make a full recovery.
 The soldiers who had been treated with boiling oil were still in agony, moaning
and rolling around. Some had already died, some were unconscious. There
wounds were angry and red.
 Pare decided he would never use boiling oil again, and instead would try to
improve his own mixture.
2) Stopping bleeding –
 The usual treatment to stop bleeding was to press a red hot iron called a
cautery against the stump of a limb. This sealed the blood vessels and stopped
the patient bleeding to death.
 The pain caused by doing this was excruciating. Pare was sure there must be a
better way to stop the blood flow.
 He started to experiment with tying silk thread around the blood vessels to tie
them up.
 These threads were called ligatures and were very effective.
 However, other surgeons were reluctant to try this as they thought it was too
much of a risk. In some ways there were right because the threads themselves
could carry infection to the wound, however Pare believed they had been sent
by God to save people from pain and continued to experiment.
Why was Pare important?
He discovered that wounds healed more quickly if boiling oil was not used.
Instead he put simple bandages onto wound and used old remedies which he tried to develop
and improve.
He found a way to stop cauterising wounds.
His book on surgery was written in French, not Latin and was translated into many other
languages, spreading his ideas throughout Europe.