Andreas Vesalius is often regarded as the founding father of modern anatomical study. The quincentennial anniversary of his birth – 31 December 2014 – has been very widely commemorated, and it is the purpose of this article to contrast these celebrations with what happened during the Vesalius quatercentenary year of 1914. More specifically, we look at how Vesalius was perceived a century ago by examining his influence on two of western medicine’s most iconic gentlemen – Harvey Williams Cushing (1869–1939) and his larger than life mentor, Sir William Osler (1849–1919).
BrowneTHydriotaphia, urn-burial; or, a discourse of the sepulchral urns lately found in norfolk; dedication. In: BrowneT (ed). Religio Medici, a letter to a friend, Christian morals, Urn-burial, and other papers by Sir Thomas Browne, KT. M. D, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1862, pp. 280–280.
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KochTW. The University of Louvain and its library, Norwood, MA: The Plimpton Press, 1919, pp. 37–38.
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SpielmannMHIntroductory Note, Section II. In: SpielmannMH (ed). The iconography of Andreas Vesalius (Andre Vesale), anatomist and physician, 1514–1564, London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd, 1925, pp. xvii–xviii.
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HegerPForewords I. In: SpielmannMH (ed). The iconography of Andreas Vesalius (Andre Vesale), anatomist and physician, 1514–1564, London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd, 1925, pp. vii–vii.
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SpielmannMHThe portraits of Shakespeare. In: BullenAH (ed). The works of William Shakespeare, vol. 10, Stratford-upon-Avon: The Shakespeare Head Press, 1907.
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Spielmann MH. Op Cit. Introductory Note, Section II, 1925, p.xviii.
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Tricot-RoyerJJForewords IV. In: SpielmannMH (ed). The iconography of Andreas Vesalius (Andre Vesale), anatomist and physician, 1514–1564, London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd, 1925, pp. xii–xii. On April 2nd 1914, Jean Joseph Ghislain Tricot-Royer (1875–1951) arranged a meeting at the Sorbonne in honour of Vesalius’ 400th birthday. He also organised and presided over the first world Congress on the History of Healing which was held in Antwerp, Belgium in August of 1920, and was a founding member of the International Society for the History of Medicine.
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CushingH. The pituitary body and its disorders: clinical states produced by disorders of the Hypophysis Cerebri, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1912. The index case of ‘Cushing’s syndrome’ is described on p. 217–221.
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RothM. Andreas Vesalius Bruxellensis, Berlin: G. Reimer, 1892.
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CushingHApologia. In: CushingH (ed). A bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, New York: Schuman’s, 1943, pp. xv–xv.
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FultonJF. Harvey Cushing: a biography, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1946, pp. 230–230. No further details are given about this letter. The comment relating to Cushing’s lecture are given on the same page.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 567–567. In a letter written on 2 November 1901, Osler asks his colleague Francis Randolph Packard (1870–1950) to present at his Book and Journal Club. The original letter is registered as CUS417/97.83, Fonds number P417, in the McGill Library William Osler Letter Index.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit., 1946, p.530. Fulton also comments on Cushing’s preface to Spielmann’s iconography and a lecture he later gave on Vesalian portraits.
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Spielmann MH. Op. cit. Portraits in Oil, 16. Boston, MA. In the Collection of Dr. Harvey Cushing, 1925, pp.75–77. In a very detailed rebuttal given from pp.59–72, Spielmann methodically disproves the assumption that the original Louvre portrait by Calcar is actually of Vesalius. It is officially listed as ‘Portrait of a Man Unknown’. This finding may have upset Cushing.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit., 1946, pp.529–530.
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P417, Harvey Cushing Fonds, Osler Library MSS. Collection and Archives; Partial Inventory List, available online. Typeset letter, Cushing to Heger, 14 October 1912, Reference 6, Box F. The Vesalian Pamphlet referred to was written by Alphonse Wauters (1817–1898), a distinguished Belgian archivist and historian whose expertise had also been employed by Heger for the quatercentenary celebrations – see Spielmann (1925), footnote on p. xviii.
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CushingH. Realignments in greater medicine: their effect upon surgery and the influence of surgery upon them. General address in surgery delivered to the XVIIth International Congress of Medicine, at its meeting in London on August 7, 1913, London: Oxford University Press, 1914.
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Wellcome HS. Handbook of the Historical Medical Museum, Organised by Henry S. Wellcome. XVIIth International Congress of Medicine, London, 1913, p.22, 81, 98.
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The William Osler Papers at The National Library of Medicine. Typeset letter from Harvey Cushing to William Osler dated 16 December 1913. Original Repository: Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University. Bibliotheca Osleriana BO #7651.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol II, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 187, see footnote–187, see footnote.
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CushingHForewords III. In: SpielmannMH (ed). The iconography of Andreas Vesalius (Andre Vesale), anatomist and physician, 1514–1564, London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd, 1925, pp. x–xi.
Streeter EC and Cushing H. Exhibit commemorating the quater-centenary of the birth of Vesalius. American Medical Association, Atlantic City, 22–26 June 1914. Streeter and Cushing privately issued this pamphlet for the occasion.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit., 1946, p.386.
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BlissM. Harvey Cushing: A life in surgery, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 494–494.
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CushingHApologia. In: CushingH (ed). A bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, New York: Schuman’s, 1943, pp. xxii–xxii.
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[No Primary Author Listed], Green RM. Pilcher LS. Cushing H. The Quatercentenary of Andreas Vesalius, 1514 – December 31 – 1914. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 1914; 171: 995–1002.
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O'LearyRS. Robert Montraville Green. N Engl J Med1957; 256: 463–464.
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JenningsJE. Memoir: Lewis Stephen Pilcher 1845–1934. Ann Surg1935; 102: 793–797.
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FultonJFPreface. In: CushingH (ed). A bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, New York: Schuman’s, 1943, pp. vii–vii.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit., 1946, p.329. In describing a visit to the Bodelian with William Osler, Cushing’s diary says: ‘I had the great satisfaction in pointing out to the sub-librarian that their darn catalogue was wrong for the 1st item catalogued as a Borgarutius of 1552 proved to be the pocket edition of Vesal: Lugduni Ap. Joan Tornaesium 1552’..
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CushingH. A bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, New York: Schuman’s, 1943. Only 800 copies were printed.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit., 1946, pp.712–713.
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GoldschmidtEP. A doctor and his books: Harvey Cushing and his library. Recollections of Harvey Cushing and His Book-Collecting. J Hist Med1946; 1: 229–234. Quote taken from page 230 of the printed article. A larger excerpt is quoted by Fulton on pages 695–696 of his Cushing biography.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit., 1946, p.207. Osler lived at No. 1 West Franklin St.
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Ibid. pp.206–208. The ‘original’ latch-keyers were Henry Barton Jacobs (1858–1939) and William Sydney Thayer (1864–1932). The newly married Thayer moved out shortly after Cushing and Thomas Barnes Futcher (1871–1938) moved in.
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OslerWFrancisWWHillRH. Bibliotheca Osleriana, a catalogue of books illustrating the history of medicine and science, collected, arranged, and annotated, By Sir William Osler, Bt. and bequeathed to McGill University, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1929, pp. 58–63. 781.
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Ibid. pp.xxv, xxxiii, 1. Osler divided his catalogue into three categories, somewhat in order of influence; Prima I, Secunda II, and Litteraria III. Items 1-1072 were included in the Prima category and presented a bio-bibliographical account of the evolution of science, including medicine. Vesalius primary works are listed as items 567–588.
These values are taken from recent online listings of the first edition of the Fabrica on Sotheby’s and Abebooks.
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Osler W, Francis WW, Hill RH, et al. Op. cit. Introduction, The Collecting of a Library, 1929, p.xxiii.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol I, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 612–612. The same letter is referred to in Cushing’s Bio-Bibliography of Andreas Vesalius (p.xv) where its exact origin is given – the letter was ‘postmarked Guernsey’.
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Ibid. p.613. The same letter is referred to in Cushing’s Bio-Bibliography of Andreas Vesalius (pp.xv–xvi).
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CushingHApologia. In: CushingH (ed). A bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, New York: Schuman’s, 1943, pp. xv–xvi.
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Osler W, Francis WW, Hill RH, et al. Op. cit., 1929, Vesalius, entry 567, p.58. The copy Osler gave to Barker as a wedding present is also noted.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol II, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 166–167.
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Osler W, Francis WW, Hill RH, et al. Op. cit., 1929. Vesalius, entry 567, p.59. Notably, it was not in 1907 that Osler presented this copy – as is mistakenly stated in ‘The Collecting of a Library’ – but in 1909 as is proven by the dated inscription. This copy was eventually passed on to the New York Academy of Medicine.
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OslerW. The evolution of modern medicine; A series of lectures delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation in April, 1913, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921, pp. 154–154. The full section on Vesalius runs from pages 151–163.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol II, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 4–4.
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[No authors listed] Editorial: Osler and the Six Anatomical Tables. Bulletin of The Medical Library Association 1943; 31: 200–202. The transcript of Osler’s letter to Dr. Fletcher is also found in this editorial. Harvey Cushing visited St. Mark's Library in Venice after leaving Oxford and took pictures of their copy of the Tab. Sex. on 7 September 1909. See: Fulton page 295; images after page 340.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit. 1946, p.292. This entry in Cushing’s diary proves the exact date of the image in Figure 4.
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Fulton JF. Op. cit. 1946, p.329. The date of this entry – 12 July – is William Osler’s birthday.
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VesaliusAHollMSudhoffK. Des Andreas Vesalius sechs anatomische Tafeln vom Jahre 1538 in Lichtdruck, neu herausgegeben und der 86. Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte zur Feier der 400. Wiederkehr des Jahres seiner Geburt, Leipzig: J.A. Barth, 1920.
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CushingHApologia. In: CushingH (ed). A bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, New York: Schuman’s, 1943, pp. xviii–xviii. Here Cushing correctly dates the images which are reproduced in ‘Figure One’ two pages later. The previous dating error is not referred to although it is clearly visible on the image opposite page 187 in The Life of Sir William Osler, Volume II. McGill’s Library’s online William Osler Photo Collection reproduces this error.
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Fulton JF. Op Cit. 1946, p.328. Lady Osler writes to Kate Cushing a day after Harvey’s arrival in Oxford. The letter is dated 11 July 1912. On the same day, Cushing wrote in his own diary: ‘An hour with Dr. O.’s books which I gather he is to give to Montreal. They are being splendidly catalogued – and have burst from the Library into the hall’.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol II, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 431–431. No further context is given to the quote.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol II, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 431–431. Although Cushing gives the date of this letter as 2 September 1914, McGill University’s online William Osler Letter Index says 3 September (CUS417/118.30). Cushing suggests that Osler was the first to consider refurbishing Louvain’s library.
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Osler W. The re-stocking of Louvain Library (Correspondence). The Lancet 1919; 193: 1042. Osler was himself serving on the committee to restock the library and together with his wife provided respite care for refugee Professors from Louvain – See: Bliss M. William Osler; A life in medicine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp.404–405, 463.
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CushingH. The life of Sir William Osler. Vol II, Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 576–578.
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CushingH. From a surgeon's Journal, 1915–1918, Boston: Little, Brown, & Co, 1936, pp. 197–198.
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Harvey Cushing Society (1939). Harvey Cushing's 70th Birthday Party April 8, 1939: Speeches, letters, and tributes: Publ. for the Harvey Cushing Society, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1936, pp. 20–20. Also quoted in Fulton’s biography on page 707. Dr. Francis was primarily responsible for cataloguing Osler’s massive collection of books after he died and became the first Osler Librarian at McGill University in 1921.
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See ‘Events and Exhibitions’ list on Karger’s Vesalius 500 website: http://www.vesaliusfabrica.com/en/news-networking/events-exhibitions.html. This list is regularly updated and currently lists only a fraction of the actual number of commemorative events which first started in 2014. The events are all too numerous to mention here but a simple Internet search demonstrates the point well.
For a pointed pictorial biography of Vesalius' life and work, see Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564): 500 Years Young, a personalised video tribute uploaded to YouTube.
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VesaliusA. De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, The Fabric of the Human Body, An Annotated Translation of the 1543 and 1555 Editions, By Daniel H. Garrison, Malcolm H. Hast, Basel: Karger, 2014.
