Costanzo Varolius of Bologna (1545-1575), one of the greatest of the Italian anatomists, described the optic nerves and many important points in the anatomy of the brain.
Volcher Coiter, of Groningen (1534-1600), was a pupil of Fallopius and Eustachius, who was distinguished for his important researches on the cartilages, bones, nerves, and the anatomy of the fœtal skeleton.
Fabricius, of Acquapendente (1537-1619), a pupil of Fallopius, and a distinguished anatomist, made important researches on the structure of animals in general. His famous discovery of the valves of the veins and his investigations concerning their use led Harvey to make the discovery of the circulation of the blood.
Casserius (1561-1616) investigated the anatomy of the vocal organs, discovered the muscles of the ossicles of the ear, and practised bronchotomy, which he had learned from Fabricius. He was professor at Padua, and a teacher of Harvey.
Spigel (1578-1625) made researches on the liver, a lobulus of which bears his name.
Olaus Worm (1588-1654) first described the small bones of the skull, now called “Wormian” bones.
It was not till the sixteenth century that France contributed her quota to the list of great anatomists. Nothing shows more clearly the difficulty with which learning was spread in the times of which we write than the fact that the works of the early Italian anatomists were altogether unknown in France until a hundred years after they were written.
Jacques Dubois (1478-1555) taught anatomy at Paris, and was professor of surgery to the Royal College. He was an irrational admirer of Galen. The carcases of dogs and other animals were the materials from which he taught; it does not appear that it was possible to obtain human subjects for dissection without robbing the cemeteries.
Charles Etienne (1503-64) was the first to detect valves in the orifices of the hepatic veins. He knew nothing of the researches of Achillini concerning the brain, although they were made sixty years before; yet his investigations of the structure of the nervous system were most important, and his demonstration of the existence of a canal running through the whole length of the spinal cord, which had not previously been suspected, entitles him to a high place in the history of anatomy.
A new era in the history of anatomy was inaugurated by the appearance of Andrew Vesalius (1514-1564), a Fleming, who pursued the study with the greatest assiduity at Venice, and demonstrated it at Padua before he was twenty-two. He remained there seven years, then went to Bologna and thence to Pisa. He is known as the first author of a systematic and comprehensive view of human anatomy. He recognised the necessity of divesting the science of the current misrepresentations of ignorance and fancy.