knowledge of the parts to be subjected to
medicine (which is the human body, and the names of its
various divisions) is a part of medical science, as saith
Averrhoes in his first chapter, in the section on the
definition of medicine, for this reason among others, I have
set out to lay before you the knowledge of the parts of the
human body which is derived from anatomy, not attempting to
use a lofty style, but the rather that which is suitable to a
manual of procedure."

Some of the early editions of Mondinus' book are said, according to old
writers, to have contained illustrations. None of these copies have come
down to us, but the assertion is made so definitely that it seems likely
to have been the case. The editions that we have contain wood engravings
of the method of making a dissection as frontispiece, so that it would
not be difficult to think of further such illustrations having been
employed in the book itself. As we note in the chapter on "Great
Surgeons of the Medieval Universities," Mondeville, according to Guy de
Chauliac, had pictures of anatomical preparations which he used for
teaching purposes. It is easy to understand that the value of such aids
would be recognized at a time when the difficulty of preserving bodies
made it necessary to do dissections hurriedly so as to get the rapidly
decomposing material out of the way.

Beyond his book and certain circumstances connected with it we know very
little about Mondino. What we know, however, enables us to conclude
that, like many another great teacher, he must have had the special
faculty of inspiring his students with an ardent enthusiasm for the work
that they were taking under him. Hence the body-snatching and other
stories. Mondino continued to be held in high estimation by the
Bolognese for centuries after his death. Dr. Pilcher calls attention to
the fact that his sepulchral tablet, which is in the portico of the
Church of San Vitari in Bologna, and a replica of which he was allowed
to have made in order to bring it to America, is the only one of the
sepulchral tablets in the great churches of Florence, San Domenico, San
Martino, the Cathedral and the Cloister of San Giacomo degli Ermitani,
which has not been removed from its original location and placed in the
halls of the Civic Museum. Their removal he considers "a kind of
desecration which does violence to one's sense of sanctity and
propriety." "Fortuna