Twelve Catholic men of science / edited by Sir Bertram Windle.

  • Bertram Coghill Alan Windle
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Twelve Catholic men of science / edited by Sir Bertram Windle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for dissecting purposes were obtained by “ resurrections.” As late as twenty-five years ago that practice still obtained in some States. Almost needless to say, there were no religious elements in the opposition to pro- viding anatomical material in the modern time, nor, as we have pointed out, were there in Vesalius's time. At both periods educated clergymen and the ecclesiastical authorities were ranged on the side of enlightened privilege in this matter. After clearing away some of the false notions with regard to his times, which have been widely prevalent and marvellously persistent in spite of the absolute lack of truth in them—anti-religious prejudice is always particularly hard to overcome or reason with,—it will be easier to understand the career of the man who so deservedly has been called the Father of Modern Anatomy. Andreas Vesalius, or Wesele, as his name ran in his native Low Dutch, was born in Brussels, the capital of what was then called the Duchy of Brabant, in the year 1514 or 1515. The doubt with regard to the date is due to the fact that his birth took place on the night of December 31, or possibly at a morning hour of January 1, 1515. The family name is derived from the district of Wesel in Cleves in which his ancestors had formerly resided. Vesalius's ancestors had for many generations been distinguished in various departments of science, medicine, and mathematics. His great- great-grandfather had translated some treatises of Avicenna, and especially had succeeded at considerable cost in having copies made of certain Arabic medical works. His son, Vesalius’s great-grandfather, occupied the position of physician-in-ordinary to Maria of Bur- gundy, the wife of the German Emperor, Maximilian I., the distinguished patron of letters in the Renaissance period. He lived to an advanced age as a professor of medicine in Louvain. From this time Vessalius’ 25
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