it is a far cry to
wring out of these references the conclusion that these are
the only dissections he made. It is quite true that if we
incline to enshroud his work in a cloud of mystery and to
figure it as an unprecedented awe-inspiring feature to break
down the prejudices of the ages, it is easy to think of him as
having timidly profaned the human body by his anatomizing zeal
in but one or two instances. His own language, however,
throughout his book is that of a man who was familiar with the
differing conditions of the organs found in many different
bodies; a man who was habitually dissecting."

(Quotations from the work of Mundinus showing his familiarity
with dissections. The leaf and line references are to the
Dryander edition, Marburg, 1541.)

"I do not consider separately the anatomy of component parts,
because their anatomy does not appear clearly in the fresh
subject, but rather in those macerated in water." (Leaf 2,
lines 8-13.)

"... these differences are more noticeable in the cooked or
perfectly dried body, and so you need not be concerned about
them, and perhaps I will make an anatomy upon such a one at
another time and will write what I shall observe with my own
senses, as I have proposed from the beginning." (Leaf 60,
lines 14-17.)

"What the members are to which these nerves come cannot well
be seen in such a dissection as this, but it should be
liquefied with rain water, and this is not contemplated in the
present body." (Leaf 60, lines 31-33.)

"After the veins you will note many muscles and many large and
strong cords, the complete anatomy of which you will not
endeavor to find in such a body but in a body dried in the sun
for three years, as I have demonstrated at another time; I
also declared completely their number, and wrote the anatomy
of the muscles of the arms, hands, and feet in a lecture which
I gave over the first, second, third, and fourth subjects."
(Leaf 61, lines 1-7.)

Very probably the best evidence that we have of the comparative
frequency at least of dissection at this time is to be found in the
records of a trial for body-snatching that occurred in Bologna. The
details would remind one very much of what we know of the difficulties
with regard to dissection in America a couple of generations ago, whe