Classic

Medical Progress in the Renaissance

In Glogpedia

by TaylorECP09
Last updated 10 years ago

Discipline:
Social Studies Subject:
History

It was in 1508 that Leonardo really started indepth studies on the human body and how it worked. To make sure it was accurate, he dissected about thirty corpses, averaging about two per year during his studies. His notebooks from this time are full of notes and amazment; beside a figure of the heart is the notation, "Marvelous instrument invented by the Supreme Master."

In 1531 Johannes Guinter published a Latin translation of Galen's "On Anatomical Procedures". Galen's understanding of human anatomy had been decided from dissections of animals such as the barbary ape, leading to a number of errors. This changed the ban on human dissection brought by the Catholic Church, and made proper investigation of the human body more acceptable.

William Harvey concluded that the heart acts as a muscular pump which circulates blood around the body with the blood vessels. By 1616 he was lecturing before a College of Physicians on the circulation of the blood. His notes added up, as he went about, through the years, cutting up animals and giving lectures on his findings. In 1628, he published a seventy-two page volume of his work, "Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus".

Geronimo Fabricus was an anatomist and embryologist. He made a study of the veins and discovered the tubes that direct the blood flow towards the heart. He also studied the development of chick embryos. Fabricius publicly demonstrated the valves in the veins of the limbs 1579, and in 1603 published the first correct description, with illustrations, of these valves in De Venarum Ostiolis.

Ambroise Pare was a military surgeon in France. In 1536, Pare developed the use of ligatures and soothing ointment. He came out with a book in 1545, "Method of Treating Wounds Inflicted by Arquebuses and Other Guns", which became a standard book for surgeons and the lower class.

Da Vinci contributed a knowledge of muscles and how they worked, the spine, human proportions, the heart, and many sketches of human anatomy. His sketches have been used in numerous publications, too.