ch the German scholar who edited, about 1500, the Leipzig edition
of Mundinus' well-known manual, the _Anathomia_, introduces it to his
readers. The expression is well worth noting, because it shows what was
still the reputation of Mundinus in the medical educational world nearly
two centuries after his death.[12]

Until the time of Vesalius, whose influence was exerted about the middle
of the sixteenth century, Mondino was looked up to by all teachers as
the most important contributor to the science of anatomy in European
medicine since the Greeks. He owed his reputation to two things: his
book, of which we have already spoken, and then, the fact that he
reintroduced dissection demonstrations as a regular practice in the
medical schools. His book is really a manual of making anatomical
preparations for demonstration purposes. These demonstrations had to be
hurried, owing to the rapid decomposition of material consequent upon
the lack of preservatives. The various chapters were prepared with the
idea of supplying explicit directions and practical help during the
anatomical demonstrations, so that these might be made as speedily as
possible. The book does not comprise much that was new at that time, but
it is a good compendium of previous knowledge, and contains some
original observations. It was entirely owing to its form as a handy
manual of anatomical knowledge and, besides, because it was an incentive
to the practice of human dissection, that it attained and maintained its
popularity.

Mondino followed Galen, of course, and so did every other teacher in
medicine and its allied sciences, until Vesalius' time. Even Vesalius
permitted himself to be influenced overmuch by Galen at points where we
wonder that he did not make his observations for himself, since,
apparently, they were so obvious. The more we know of Galen, however,
the less surprised are we at his hold over the minds of men. Only those
who are ignorant of Galen's immense knowledge, his practical common
sense, and the frequent marvellous anticipations of what we think most
modern, affect to despise him. His works have never been translated
into any modern language except piecemeal, there is no complete
translation, and one must be ready to delve into some large Latin, if
not Greek, volumes to know what a marvel of medical knowledge he was,
and how wise were the men who followed him closely, though, being human,
there are times when necessarily he failed the