Epitome: Vesalius, Andreas, 1533 (facsimile)

This is a facsimile of the original housed in the Walker Library of one of the most famous works in the history of scientific inquiry, the Epitome by Andreas Vesalius. The Epitome was a 1533 medical student’s study guide that offered highlights from the atlas of anatomy called De Human Corporis Fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body) – or simply, the Fabrica. Both were published simultaneously, a rare practice then. Vesalius, a Flemish anatomist and physician is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. In 1541, Vesalius uncovered that all of the research done by the Roman anatomist Galen had been based on animals because dissection had been banned in ancient Rome. Galen’s work was aceepted as the perfect and unchallenged source of all anatomical knowledge for 1,400 years until the publication of these pages.