The 'Epitome' of Vesalius on vellum in the British Museum library / W.G. Spencer, London.

  • Spencer, Walter George, 1858-1940
Date:
[1924?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The 'Epitome' of Vesalius on vellum in the British Museum library / W.G. Spencer, London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The following summary will indicate some of its peculiar cha¬ racteristics. — Leaf A recto has a reproduction of the Frontispiece of the ‘Fabrica’ with the alteration of the title to: ’Andreae Vesalii Bruxel- lensis, Scholae Medicorum Patavinae Professoris — suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum Epitome.’ Below, in the space left by the greater height of the page as compared with the ‘Fabrica’, is the ‘Address to the Reader*, and at the foot, ‘Basileae’ without date. A. verso contains the Dedicatory Letter to Prince Philip, then aged 15, dated Aug: 15th 1542. The ‘Address to the Reader and the ‘Dedicatory Letter’ are in difficult Latin the substance of which is thus summarised by Miss Joyce Lowe M. A: — Firstly, Vesalius intended this work for the Common man; it was a shame that whilst studying other philosophies man should continue in ignorance of the structure and working of the body which accompanies him throughout life. The Common man, in order to get an elementary knowledge, should read the text, whilst using the illustrations as an atlas. Students of Art and of Medicine could make a beginning in anatomy with the illustrations against which was set a voluminous index of the lettering. The illustrations could be studied in a synthetical fashion, beginning from the skeleton and working up to the nudes, or by an analytical proce¬ dure, which might be accompanied by dissecting, descend from the nude figures to the skeleton. To the finished drawings were added diagrams, intended to be cut out and superimposed on the main figures. Secondly, a standpoint of Vesalius differs from present day views. One speaks now in terms of Evolution. Vesalius spoke of the Divinus Opifex, the Divine Designer and Constructor of the Universe and of Man, or of the Divinus Artifex, the Divine Artisan who originated minute details and fastened together the various parts — Vesalius employed the same word compages (‘articulation’) when referring to the fastening together by the Divine Artifex, as when speaking of a skeleton which he himself had put together. The finished and highest work of the Designer was the young adult human being, which Vesalius aimed to depict, not as when dead, but alive, with the muscles in action. Animals were products of a less elaborate design. The leaves B. recto to G. recto contain in double columns the brief text; the outer margin of each column has the Greek synonyms, but only Greek, of the Latin terms. — The text is divided into six chapters, I. ’On the Bones and Cartilages, or those parts