Volcher Koyter, who was born at Groningen, North Holland, in 1534, studied under Fallopius and Guillaume Rondelet (1507–1566), to whom the University of Montpellier was indebted for its anatomical theatre, and to whom (rather than to Gaspard Bauhin of Basel) is due the honor of discovering the ileo-caecal valve. Koyter was one of the earliest workers in the field of comparative anatomy—a department of knowledge to which Vesalius had already made some creditable additions; and his two most important published treatises bear these titles: “De ossibus et cartilaginibus corporis humani tabulae” (Bologna, 1566), and “Externarum et internarum principalium humani corporis partium tabulae” (Nuremberg, 1573). He died in 1600.

Hieronymus Fabricius was born in 1537 at Acquapendente, a small city of Etruria, about fifty miles northwest of Rome. He studied anatomy at Padua under Fallopius, and, after the latter’s death, was assigned to the duty of making the necessary dissections and anatomical demonstrations before the class. In 1565 he was appointed Professor of Surgery, with the understanding that he was to continue giving his demonstrations in anatomy. The salary which he received for this double work was 100 ducats, but it was increased from time to time until finally he was paid 1100 ducats yearly. At the end of thirty-six years he was retired upon a pension of 1000 ducats for the remainder of his life, and was allowed the privilege of appointing his successor in the Chair of Surgery. He gave the place to Julius Casserius in 1609. To distinguish him from another Fabricius, who gained great distinction in the field of surgery, it has always been customary for later historical writers to speak of him as “Fabricius ab Acquapendente.” His namesake is known as “Fabricius Hildanus.”

As a teacher of anatomy, especially in its relations to physiology, Fabricius was held in the highest esteem. Albert von Haller speaks of him as being one of the glories of the Italian school of medicine. Pupils came in flocks from all parts of Europe to attend his lectures, and among them were some who, like William Harvey of England, afterward attained great celebrity for the effective work which they did in advancing the science of medicine. One of the attractive features of Fabricius’ teaching was to be found in his practice—something quite new at that period—of showing to the students, not only the particular organ (human) upon which he happened then to be lecturing, but also the corresponding organ in one or several of the animals; thus enabling them to learn what were the features possessed in common by all the species, and what were those in respect of which the species differed. As time went on, the number of those who came to witness his anatomical demonstrations increased so greatly that he felt impelled to build, at his own expense, a new and larger amphitheatre. But even this, in a short time, proved to be too small, and then the Senate at Venice, which exercised a governing control over the University of Padua, erected (in 1593) a much larger and more complete amphitheatre, upon the walls of which there was placed an inscription stating that it had been built in honor of Fabricius. Among the other distinctions which were conferred upon him at this time he was raised to the rank of Knight of the Order of Saint Mark and made an honorary citizen of Padua.

Fabricius ab Acquapendente added to our stock of anatomical knowledge by his researches on the structure of the oesophagus, stomach and intestines, the eye, ear, larynx and foetus. One of his chief claims to distinction, however, rests upon the fact that he wrote an elaborate monograph on the valves of the veins. Although these structures had been seen and described at an earlier date by Charles Estienne, Berengarius, Vesalius, Cannani and others (Fra Paolo Sarpi, for example), nobody had yet offered a satisfactory explanation of their probable use or had traced them through the venous system at large. In 1574 Fabricius demonstrated their presence in all the veins of the extremities.

But Fabricius ab Acquapendente was not merely a good anatomist and physiologist; he was also a most distinguished surgeon and general practitioner. From far and from near patients came to consult him about their ailments, and he appears to have been immensely popular among all classes of the community. His home, situated on the River Brenta, just outside the city of Padua, was most attractive, and it was there that he dispensed hospitality in a princely fashion. One of his peculiarities was that in many cases he was unwilling to accept a fee for his services. As a natural result, gifts of all sorts, many of them of considerable value, were showered upon him. He devoted one of the rooms of his residence to the purposes of a cabinet or museum, in which all those gifts which were suited to such display might be properly exposed to view, and over the doorway of the room he placed this inscription, “Lucri neglecti lucrum,” which I venture to render into English by the following, “Costly gifts representing unproductive wealth.”[74]

Fabricius remained a bachelor all his life, and at the time of his death (May 21, 1619, at the age of eighty-two) his fortune, which he bequeathed to his brother’s daughter, amounted to 200,000 ducats—a very large sum in those days.

The writings of Fabricius were published at Leipzig in a single volume in 1687, but Johann Bohn, who edited the collection, omitted the different prefaces which Fabricius had written. In the Leyden edition of 1737 this defect has been remedied.

To furnish here even a much abbreviated account of the important discoveries made in anatomy and physiology during the sixteenth century would call for a much larger amount of space than can possibly be given to these two branches of medical science. Our modern text books on the subject of anatomy alone are, in a certain sense, catalogues of these very discoveries, and every physician knows what a vast amount of space they occupy. I have already made mention of a few of these discoveries, and, when I come to consider the splendid work done by William Harvey in the early part of the seventeenth century, I shall have occasion to recapitulate briefly the more important discoveries made by his predecessors in this particular field. In this way I shall be able to supply information regarding several of the discoveries which I am now obliged to pass over in silence, but which, under other circumstances, would more properly receive consideration in the present chapter.

CHAPTER XXVIII
FURTHER DETAILS CONCERNING THE ADVANCE IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ANATOMY—DISSECTING MADE A PART OF THE REGULAR TRAINING OF A MEDICAL STUDENT—IATROCHEMISTS AND IATROPHYSICISTS—THE EMPLOYMENT OF LATIN IN LECTURING AND WRITING ON MEDICAL TOPICS

Further Details Concerning the Advance in Our Knowledge of Gross Anatomy.—In the preceding chapter I have given some account of the efforts made during the sixteenth century by certain physicians to lay solidly the foundations of a gross anatomy of the human body. The time was ripe for such a movement, and the right sort of men took charge of it and pushed it forward to such a stage of successful accomplishment that we physicians of to-day are able to continue in the direction indicated, and under the impulse communicated, by these master builders. These men, it should be remembered, did something more than merely to lay solid and durable foundations in the form of an accurate anatomy, they also taught the correct methods of procedure for the erection of the superstructure of the science of medicine.