as an aneurismal tumour, but it greatly
puzzled the two doctors. Vesalius was therefore consulted, and said,
"There is a blood-vessel dilated; that tumour is full of blood." They
were surprised at such a strange opinion; but the man died, the tumour
was opened; blood was actually found in it, and we are told _in
admirationem rapti fuere omnes_.

It was not until after Vesalius had been three years professor that he
began to distrust the infallibility of Galen's anatomical teaching.
Constant practical experience in dissection, both human and comparative,
slowly convinced him that--great anatomist as the "divus homo" had
undoubtedly been--his statements were not only incomplete, but often
wrong; further, that Galen very rarely wrote from actual inspection of
the human subject, but based his teaching on a belief that the structure
of a monkey was exactly similar to that of a man. With this conviction
established, Vesalius proceeded to note with great care all the
discrepancies between the text of Galen and the actual parts which it
endeavoured to describe, and in this way a volume of considerable
thickness was soon formed, consisting entirely of annotations upon
Galen. The generally received authorities being thus found to be
unreliable, it became necessary in the next place to collect and arrange
the fundamental facts of anatomy upon a new and sounder basis. To this
task Vesalius, at the age of twenty-five, devoted himself, and began his
famous work on the "Fabric of the Human Body." Owing possibly to the
good fortune of his family, and to the income which he derived from his
professorships, Andreas was able to secure for his work the aid of some
of the best artists of the day. To Jean Calcar, one of the ablest of the
pupils of Titian, are due the splendid anatomical plates which
illustrate the "Corporis Humani Fabrica," and which are incomparably
better than those of any work which preceded it. To him most likely is
due also the woodcut which adorns the first page, and which represents
the young Vesalius, wearing professor's robes, standing at a
lecture-table and pointing out, from a robust subject that lies before
him, the inner secrets of the human body; while the tiers of benches
that surround the professor are completely crowded with grave doctors
struggling to see, even climbing upon the railings to do so.

But throughout the work the plates are used simply to illustrate and
elucidate the text, and the information