A medieval anatomy class was unlike today's medical training; the students performed no dissection. Instead, they stood by, watched and listened. The image above, depicting such a class, is from the Fasciculus medicinae, 1491, the first medical book to contain noteworthy anatomical illustrations.

The Anatomia of Bolognese physician Mondino de Liuzzi was written in 1316. It became a popular work, widely read at anatomy demonstrations, despite its many fallacies. This illustration depicts which body parts were ruled by different astrological signs.

This anatomy of 1491 by Joannes de Ketham compiled a variety of ancient and medieval texts. Its illustrations, crude by later standards, nevertheless were more detailed and accurate than its predecessors.

The anatomical authority who loomed over the medieval and early modern periods was the second-century Greek physician Galen. Although Galen advocated firsthand observation, it is unlikely that he carried out his own human dissections. Thus, his writings included many anatomical errors.

The Vesalius conference re-created a dramatic historical scene in which a 25-year-old Vesalius challenged the beliefs of an aged professor who favored the work of Galen. Robert K. Henke, professor of drama, portrayed the professor, with performing arts student Jim Short as 16th-century Flemish anatomist Vesalius and Maxwell Fiorello, a student at Crossroads College Preparatory School, dressed in the cadaver suit.

While medieval medical authorities revered the writings of Galen, Vesalius instead championed 'the body over the book,' advocating dissection as a means of inquiry that would reveal the inner workings of the body.

De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Vesalius, depicted here, is regarded as a milestone in the history of medicine, monumental in its intellectual content and a spectacular example of early modern printing.

The Fabrica is as famous for its beautiful illustrations as it is for its medical information. The book contains more than 200 woodcuts, ranging from small depictions of single bones and organs to the large, exquisitely crafted skeletons and 'muscle men' large enough to fill entire pages.

Books with multiple layers of illustrations printed on flaps allow the armchair anatomist to lift the flaps and explore the human body layer by layer. Suzanne Karr Schmidt, curator of prints at the Art Institute of Chicago, led a discussion about some of the flap anatomy books held in Becker Medical Library's rare book collection.

Attendees peruse a first edition of Vesalius' Fabrica. Becker Medical Library has two copies of the first (1543) edition, one copy of the second (1555) edition, as well as a smaller Venetian edition printed in 1568.

The title page of the Fabrica ensconces a stage-like scene with Vesalius and a corpse as the centerpieces. The energetic crowd signifies the hope of dissection for the betterment of humanity. Vesalius' touching of the body underscores the importance of hands-on experience and observation.

One minor detail of the title plate lights the way to broadening the dissemination of more accurate medical knowledge. The quill and ink at his side symbolize Vesalius writing a new authoritative text for the purposes of scholarly study.

Some of the most striking images in the Fabrica are the decorative capital letters that set off different sections of the text and contain narrative scenes.

A sort of panoramic puzzle is hidden within the Fabrica. Not until the early 20th century did scholars note that the illustrations of muscle men dispersed throughout the book actually form a continuous scene — the landscape of Padua — when laid alongside one another. This reconstruction shows how the muscle men would have appeared in the complete set of original drawings.

Vesalius' Fabrica set a new standard. By comparison, Charles Estienne probably began work on his anatomical text, De dissection partium corporis humani, in the early 1530s, but it did not appear in print until two years after the publication of Vesalius' Fabrica. Estienne's book does not achieve the same level of integration of text and images, yet the work represents the 16th-century desire to find a way to illustrate the body.

The spirit of Vesalius continues annually when first-year medical students dissect cadavers. Anatomy instructor Glenn C. Conroy, MPhil, PhD, has said that 'anatomy is the absolute bedrock of medical education.' For nearly 10 years, students completing the class have held a ceremony honoring their ‘first patients’ — those who donated their bodies to medical education.

THE BIG PICTURE

Dissecting Vesalius

Celebrating the founder of modern anatomy

VIDEO: FACULTY DISCUSS VESALIUS' LASTING IMPACT

An interdisciplinary symposium honored the 500-year anniversary of the birth of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), founder of the study of modern human anatomy. Washington University and St. Louis University jointly hosted three days of events inspired by the landmark publication of Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Basel, 1543 and 1555) and the new critical edition and translation of this work, the New Fabrica.

The slideshow above offers a sampling of materials presented at the conference, highlighting the revolutionary aspects of Vesalius' work and placing him in the context of his contemporaries.

The conference program featured internationally renowned speakers, an anatomy demonstration, rare books workshops and a publishers’ exhibit hall.

Because the original Fabrica represented a collaborative project involving a scientist (Vesalius), a humanist (Johannes Oporinus, the printer), and an artist (Jan van Kalkar), one goal of the conference was to encourage a network of scholars working in disparate fields to explore the potential for future interdisciplinary research.

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