Vesalius: De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem

For the Fisher Library 60th festivities, Catherine Storey, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Medical School, gives a brief talk about the Library's new purchase of Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem.
ABSTRACT
Source: www.tandfonlin...
In the second century ce, Galen described seven pairs of cerebral nerves. He did not name the nerves, nor did he illustrate his work. Galen’s descriptive texts survived until the mid-sixteenth century, when anatomists, influenced by the artistic and scientific revolution of the Renaissance, began a reformation in anatomical research. They closely observed their own dissected material and conveyed their results not only in words but commonly by lavish drawings. Many of the great anatomists reexamined the cerebral nerves, adding descriptive text or changing the classification. In 1778, Thomas Soemmerring (1755-1830) named 12 pairs of cerebral nerves upon which the modern cranial nerve nomenclature is based. Soemmerring matched his text with clear, decisive illustrations. This article describes the works of some of the great artists in the period from Vesalius to Soemmerring and how they used illustration to supplement and provide clarity for their textual descriptions of the cranial nerves.

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