urgery_ (Brooklyn, 1878-1880). All the material that Dr. Fisher used
in his sketch is to be found in Roth's "Life of Vesalius," p. 256.
Now, Columbus was a contemporary of Vesalius, and worked with him at
Bologna. The years of their lives correspond almost exactly. When
Vesalius left Padua to become the royal physician to Charles V., it
was Columbus who succeeded him. Later he taught also at Pisa. Then,
strange as it may seem for those who have put any faith in Dr. White's
excursion into medical science, he was invited to become Professor of
{117} Anatomy at the Papal University at Rome, and it was while there
that he had as many as three hundred students present at his
demonstrations in anatomy and there that he did fourteen dissections
in one year. The pretense that there was any ecclesiastical objection
to dissection becomes absolutely farcical when one compares the life
of Vesalius sketched by President White with a motive, and the life of
his contemporary and successor, Columbus, by an unbiased physician,
whose only idea was to bring out the facts.

According to Prof. White's opinion, Vesalius dedicated his work to
Charles V. to shield himself as far as possible, and after this gave
up his anatomical studies in Italy to put himself under the protection
of Charles V.

Vesalius's successor, Columbus, did not have to do any such thing.
Instead, he went down to Rome, and under the protection of the Popes
continued to carry on his anatomical work there.

When Charles V. died, however, according to President White, a new
weapon was forged against Vesalius. Vesalius was charged with
dissecting a living man. President White hints that "the forces of
ecclesiasticism united against the innovators of anatomy, and either
from direct persecution or from indirect influences Vesalius became a
wanderer." Just what that means I do not know. President White does
not say that he was exiled, though that idea is implied. There is a
great deal of doubt about this charge of Vesalius having made an
autopsy on a living person. Roth discusses various versions. The whole
thing seems to be a trumped-up story; but supposing it true, would it
not be only proper that a man who made an autopsy on a living person
should be brought before the court? He certainly would {118} in our
day in any civilized country. Professor Foster, of the University of
Cambridge in England, following the lead of President White in this
matter, blames the Inquisition