Summary

After allowing human dissection once again as a part of science and philosophy, there was a sudden development of interest in the anatomy and physiology field. Up to this point in time, the Galenic view of the human body was taught in schools by a teacher who supplied the thought and reasoning while a dissectionist supplied the model. According to the Galenic corpus, there is, in the body, a continuous ebb and flow of blood to the liver. From the liver it continues to the ventricles where it is combined with air through the pulmonary veins and is endowed with "vital spirit". Galen also classified 3 different systems of the body saying they were all disconnected: the veinous system, the arterial system, and the nervous system. Vesalius was the most well-known physiologist of the time after he revolutionized the way philosophers thought and taught views on anatomy. He completely rethought the Galenic view and corrected his errors while creating his master work which was hailed as a science as well as an art masterpiece. Along with his writings and observations, Vesalius also changed the way that anatomy was taught in schools. Anatomists after him, like Servetus, Columbo, Fabricius, and Harvey, also changed the way that people thought about anatomy. William Harvey observed the circulation of the body and through his observations, he theorized a new circulatory system that involves recycled blood and one long chain of circulation between the arteries and the veins.

Andreus Vesalius was born in 1514 in Flanders, Belgium. He studied medicine in Paris later becoming a dissectionist and the Demonstrator of Anatomy at Padua, Italy.  Wanted to reconstruct the Galenic physiology on the human body.  While reviewing Galenic physiology he recorded approximately 300 errors made by Galen.  Vesalius also moved to remove the barrier between the lecturer and the barber (performed dissections).  He advocated a more craftlike approach to medicine and successfully blended the role of the dissectionist with the anatomist.  

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Key Terms and Definitions

De Humani Corporius Fabrici - the master work of Vesalius that completely rethought and anazlyzed the Galenic view of anatomy. Considered a masterpiece of science for its information and a masterpiece of art for its numerous diagrams of the human body with Greek influences.

Systole - Contraction of the heart

Diastole - Expansion of the heart

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