Andreas Vesalius on the anatomy and function of the lower thoracic vertebrae

Abstract

Some remarkable statements made by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) in his principal work De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543) about the anatomy and function of the lower thoracic vertebrae are discussed in the light of information from the literature. Their accuracy is evaluated on the basis of several pieces of anatomical evidence and clinical cases.

Keywords:

• Anatomy
• history
• lumbar vertebrae
• osteology
• processus articularis

Endnotes

Acknowledgements

Our thanks are due to Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Paul Simoens, DVM, PhD and Dr Marjan Doom, DVM of the Morphology Department of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, and to Wim Wouters of the Operational Directorate of Earth and Life History of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Tervuren, for their kind cooperation. We are grateful to Prof. em. Dr Omer Steeno and Dr Theodoor Goddeeris for reviewing our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes

1 Vesalius A. Op. cit., 72. ‘Quandam vertebram supra infraque ab aliis suscipi…’, and then ‘…vertebrae … non … in omnibus eandem articulationis commonstrant speciem. Quum enim una thoracis vertebrarum sit, quae vertebram ipsi superpositam ascendentibus processibus & subiectam descendentibus pariter subeat, duabus’ve excipiatur vertebris, haec tamen non eadem se offert, quandoquidem nunc undecima, nunc vero duodecima, aut alia quaepiam interdum hoc articuli genere proximis committitur vertebris’.

2 Vesalius described a sacrum consisting of six sacral vertebrae as the norm in his Fabrica, an error to which Gabriele Falloppio would later draw attention in his Observationes Anatomicae (Venice, Marcus Antonius Ulmus, 1561).

3 Vesalius A. Op. cit., 76. ‘Verum interim non ita multa refert, an duodecima, an undecima, an alia quaepiam utrinque suscipiatur: modo nos indicibilis Naturae industria hic non lateat, quae in dorsi medio vertebram effinxit, stabilem, & utrinque ita susceptam, ut in cameratis & arcualibus aedificiis architectos inter utriusque lateris lapides unum locare cernimus, qui utrinque suscipitur, … hanc vertebram … quiescere, firmarique necessum est … Illa … quiescente quum dorsum flectimus, superiores deorsum ducimus, inferiores autem quodammodo sursum incurvamus’.

4 Vesalius A. Op. cit., 75–76. ‘Sunt enim hae thoracis vertebrae, secundum Galeni sententiam in libro de Ossibus, novem superiores: aut alicubi in libris de Usu partium decem. Is enim hîc undecimam, illic vero decimam thoracis suscipi tradidit, uti in simiis et canibus cernebat. Mihi autem nunquam decima utrinque suscipi in homine visa est, sed plurimum duodecima. Aliquando enim cum sacrum os quinque tantum ossibus efformatum repperi, undecima mihi utrinque suscepta occurrit’.

5 Galenus. De Usu Partium Corporis Humani libri XVII, magna cura ad exemplaris graeci veritatem castigati, …, Nicolao Regio Calabro interprete. Basileae, 1533: 121 r°. Vesalius knew Greek himself. He must have been familiar with this translation and may also have used it himself.

6 Sylvius J. Commentarius in Claudii Galeni de Ossibus ad Tyrones libellum. Parisiis, apud Aegidium Gorbinum, 1561. p. 22–24. Also IDEM, Opera Medica. Lugduni, sumptibus Iacobi Chouët, 1630: 69. Given that he died in 1555, it is theoretically possible that Sylvius could have taken the idea from his pupil Vesalius. However, anyone familiar with Sylvius’ hostility towards Vesalius, mainly because of the latter’s repeated criticism of Galen in the Fabrica, will realise that this is unlikely. See J. Sylvius, Vaesani cuiusdam calumniarum in Hippocratis Galenique rem anatomicam depulsio [‘Rebuttal of the calumnies of a madman against the anatomy of Hippocrates and Galen’; the ‘madman’ is Vesalius], Parrhisiis, apud Catharinam Barbé, viduam Iacobi Gazelli, 1551:29.

7 Columbus R. De re anatomica libri XV. Venetiis, ex typographia Nicolai Bevilacquae, 1559: 53. ‘Hic non est praetermittendum, quod quae nos cum recte sentientibus duodecimae tribuimus, ea Galenus decimae ascribit: verum illi canes, et simiae imposuere, in quibus decima est dorsi vertebrarum medium, ac veluti punctus et axis quidam: quo omnino quiescente caeterae hinc inde moveantur. Quod in duodecima hominis verum deprehendes, quae parem articulationis speciem ab utraque parte est consecuta; infra namque supraque processus mediae extuberantes habent, ut utrinque suscipiatur,…’

8 Valverde de Hamusco G. Anatomia del corpo humano. Roma, per Ant. Salamanca, et Antonio Lefrerj, 1560: 11 v°. ‘…il duodecimo delle spalle, che incassa tutti i suoi quattro processi in quelli de nodi vicini, i piu alti in quelli di sotto dell’undecimo delle spalle, i piu bassi nel primo de lombi’.

9 Bauhin C. Theatrum anatomicum. Frankfurt am Main: Matthaeus Beckerus, 1605: 479. ‘Decima vertebra in cane & simia est media vertebrarum dorsi, sed in homine duodecima, quare Galenus decima id tribuit, quod duodecima tribuendum’. The first edition dates from 1592.

10 Vesalius A. Op. cit.: 76. ‘…, atque horum processuum tuber adeo leviter ac in plana superficie extuberat, ut num sinus, num tuber censendum sit, vix internoscas’. (‘…, but the protuberance of these processes is so weak and superficial that it is difficult to ascertain whether it should be considered as a hollow or as a protuberance.’)

11 René Descartes (1596-1650); Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

12 For example, in the chapter on the cervical vertebrae, in which he says he is unable to invent any excuse for Galen, who claimed that we can move the head from left to right or from one shoulder to move the other by detaching the occipital bone from the articular cavities of the atlas.