clopaedia Britannica. The distinguished
Scotch anatomist who so worthily filled the chair of anatomy at the
University of Edinburgh says with regard to Berengar of Carpi, who was
the professor of anatomy at Bologna thirty-five years before
Vesalius's time, that, "In the annals of medicine Berengar's name will
be remembered as one of the most zealous and eminent in cultivating
the anatomy of the human body. It was long before the anatomists of
the following age could boast of equalling him. His assiduity was
indefatigable, and he declares that he dissected above one hundred
human bodies." This should be enough, it seems to me, to settle the
question that anatomy was permitted very freely before Vesalius's
time. Professor Turner's authority in such a matter is above all
suspicion. He knew the history of anatomy.

If more evidence be needed, compare with President White's fantastic
sketch of Vesalius the following sketch of his great contemporary,
Columbus or Colombo, to whose anatomical investigations we owe the
discovery of the pulmonary circulation:

"The fame of Columbus as an anatomical teacher was exceedingly great
and widespread. Students were attracted to the universities where he
professed, from all {116} quarters and in large numbers. He was an
ardent student of his favorite science and was imbued with the
genius and enthusiasm of an original investigator. He was not
satisfied with the critical examination of mere structure, but
extended his researches into the more subtle, difficult and
important investigation of the physiological function. He has been
most aptly styled the Claude Bernard of the sixteenth century. The
work of Columbus is a masterpiece of method and purity of style, as
well as on account of its richness in facts and observations. He
spent over forty years in these studies and researches. _He
dissected an extraordinary number of human bodies. It must have been
an age of remarkable tolerance for scientific investigation, for in
a single year he dissected no less than fourteen bodies._ He also
entered the crypts and catacombs of ancient churches, where the
bones of the dead had been preserved and had accumulated century
after century, and there, with unwearied care, he handled and
compared over a half million of human skulls."

This account was written by Dr. George Jackson Fisher in his
"Historical and Bibliographical Notes" for the _Annals of Anatomy and
S