leted by an Englishman, it is to Italy that,
in anatomy, as in most of the sciences, we owe the first attempts to
cast off the thralldom of the ancients. Mundinus had published a work
in the year 1315, which contained a few original observations of his
own; and his essay was so well received that it remained the text-book
of the Italian schools of anatomy for upward of two centuries. It was
enriched from time to time by various annotators, among the chief of
whom were Achillini, and Berengarius, the first person who published
anatomical plates. But the great reformer of anatomy was Vesalius, who,
born at Brussels in 1514, had attained such early celebrity during his
studies at Paris and Louvain, that he was invited by the Republic of
Venice, in his twenty-second year, to the chair of anatomy at Padua,
which he filled for seven years with the highest reputation. He also
taught at Bologna, and subsequently, by the invitation of Cosmo de'
Medici, at Pisa. The first edition of his work, "De Corporis Humani
Fabrica" was printed at Basle, in the year 1543; it is perhaps one of
the most successful efforts of human industry and research, and from the
date of its publication begins an entirely new era in the science of
which it treats. The despotic sway hitherto maintained in the schools of
medicine by the writings of Aristotle and Galen was now shaken to its
foundation, and a new race of anatomists eagerly pressed forward in the
path of discovery. Among these no one was more conspicuous than
Fallopius, the disciple, successor, and in fame the rival, of Vesalius,
at Padua. After him the anatomical professorship was filled by Fabricius
ab Aquapendente, the last of the distinguished anatomists who flourished
at Padua in the sixteenth century.

Harvey became his pupil in 1599, and from this time he appears to have
applied himself seriously to the study of anatomy. The first germ of the
discovery which has shed immortal honor on his name and country was
conceived in the lecture-room of Fabricius.

He remained at Padua for two years; and having received the Degree of
Doctor of Arts and Medicine, with unusual marks of distinction, returned
to England early in the year 1602. Two years afterward he commenced
practice in London and married the daughter of Dr. Launcelot Browne, by
whom he had no children. He became a Fellow of the College of
Physicians, when about thirty years of age, having in the meantime
renewed his degree of Doctor i