Vesalius & the Study of Anatomy

Once Vesalius was appointed Professor of Surgery at Padua University he set about changing the way anatomy was studied. At that time, anatomy teaching involved the teacher reading from a book (usually Galen's) while assistants dissected a body to support the ideas being read out. Galen, however, had stressed the importance of first-hand examination and observation. Vesalius likewise wanted to see for himself how the anatomy of a human body worked from the inside.

In 1539 Vesalius was given access to the bodies of executed criminals by a local judge and he began to regularly perform dissections, many of them as public demonstrations. Originally he had accepted Galen’s ideas but he soon realised that Galen had made mistakes. By dissecting both human bodies and dead animals Vesalius showed that Galen had based his human anatomy on the bodies of monkeys, cows, pigs and dogs.

Though Vesalius still included some inaccuracies in his anatomical work, he corrected many of Galen’s mistakes. More importantly he changed the emphasis in medical teaching. Instead of relying on the writings of the past, Vesalius stressed the importance of direct empirical observation in the pursuit of understanding. He believed that only by carrying out dissections personally could doctors understand how a body worked. He also put anatomy at the forefront of medical study. Vesalius’ work typified Renaissance thinking. He looked back to Classical modes of learning as well as ahead to the developing scientific method and used experiment, observation and physical confirmation to challenge and correct mistaken beliefs and ideas that were based on authority or tradition rather than evidence.

Use the information on this page to answer the following questions:

• In what way did Vesalius agree with Galen?
• How did Vesalius acquire bodies to dissect?
• Why were the findings of Galen’s dissections inaccurate?
• What did Vesalius use to challenge mistaken ideas?