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During the Renaissance, Andreas Vesalius improved the existing understanding of anatomy. His contribution to medicine shows a significant change in the importance of scientific methods, especially observation. The ideas of the ancient Greek physician Galen began to be challenged. This, in turn, encouraged the discovery of more new ideas about the human body and medicine.

The work of Vesalius

Vesalius was the most famous anatomist of the Renaissance. He studied in Paris, where the new humanist ideas about medicine were very popular. He later became a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua. Vesalius was very interested in the human body and was keen to make new discoveries.

Dissection

Dissection had previously been viewed as extremely indecent and blasphemous, but it was no longer banned because the power of the Church was decreasing. It was difficult to get a steady supply of corpses. However, Vesalius was able to carry out a large number of dissections because a local magistrate allowed him to use the bodies of executed criminals. This meant that Vesalius was able to closely observe the internal parts of the body by completing various dissection procedures.

Improved anatomical knowledge

Vesalius noticed that Galen had made some incorrect assumptions about the human body, as Galen had been unable to dissect human corpses. Galen had based his ideas about the human body on his dissections of animals such as monkeys, dogs and pigs. By dissecting humans, Vesalius was able to improve on Galen’s previous work. He made the following discoveries:

• the human jaw has one bone, not two
• the human breastbone has three parts, not seven
• blood does not flow into the heart through invisible holes in the septum (the wall dividing the ventricles of the heart) but is ‘diffused’ through it

Improved training of physicians

In 1543, Vesalius published the details of his dissections in a book called On the Fabric of the Human Body. Vesalius’ discoveries led to an improved understanding of the human body.

His book was used to train physicians across Europe, including in England. Doctors were encouraged to carry out dissections themselves and carefully observe the human body rather than relying on old books.