Page 170 - My FlipBook

172 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

by y^tius himself. To argue from such titles that Adamantius was the
author of a book on dentistry is not only inadmissible, for all the reasons
already given, but also because if it were allowable to reason with such
lightness, it might also be stated— by arguing from the title of Chapter
XXXIII—that Galen was the author of a monograph on the treatment
of dental caries; a thing which is absolutely untrue. Consequently, the
beginning of odontologic literature cannot be traced back to Adaman-
tius, but, as Dr. Geist-Jacobi would have it, to an author much less
ancient, that is, to Walter Hermann RyfF, or, if it is preferred, even to the
anonymous writers of the odontologic compilations which appeared in
Germany at the end of the fifteenth century.
Andreas Vesalius. We must now speak of Andreas Vesalius, an
extraordinary man, who by his genius infused new life into medical
science, and who, although he gave but little attention to dental matters,
yet fully deserves a place of honor in the history of dentistry ; for this,
like every other branch of medicine, received great advantage from
his reforming work, which broke down forever the authority of Galen,
thus freeing the minds of medical men from an enslavement which
made every real progress impossible.
Andreas Vesalius was born at Brussels, December 31, 15 14. He
studied at Louvain and then at Paris, where at that time great scientists
taught, and among others the celebrated anatomist Jacques Dubois,
generally known by the Latinized name of Sylvius.^ The latter, a great
admirer of Galen, whose anatomical writings served as texts for his
lectures, became jealous of the young Belgian student, who was his assist-
ant, and who gave undoubted proofs of great genius, and of extraordinary
passion in anatomical research. Vesalius often defied the greatest
dangers in order to obtain corpses either from the cemetery of the Inno-
cents or from the scaffold at Montfaucon. He soon surpassed his most
illustrious masters, and at only twenty-five years of age published splendid
anatomical plates, which astonished the learned. He acquired also great
renown as surgeon, and in this capacity he followed the armv of Charles
V in one of his wars against France. After having been professor of
anatomy in the celebrated University of Louvain (Belgium), he was
invited b\- the Venetian Republic to teach in the University of Padua,
which, through him, became the first anatomical school in Europe.
Yielding to the requests of the magistrates of Bologna and Pisa, he also
taught in those famous universities, before immense audiences.
Before Vesalius, Galen's anatomy had served as the constant basis for
the teaching of this science. Although even from the end of the fifteenth
century dead bodies were dissected in all the principal universities, the

' A Latin rranslation of the French namt- Du hots.