During 1543, he wrote a book on the human anatomy called “The fabric of the Human Body” Which rivalled many ideas of Galen and other such physicians.
Because Vesalius challenged the ideas’ of Galen he was often ridiculed and disliked by his colleagues at the Padau University Italy, where he became Professor of anatomy at the age of just 23. It was not just his fresh anatomical speculations that contributed to the progression of medicine, but in addition his philosophy towards the study and investigation of the human body. Oppose to most professors of his time, who during public disections would read from a book while assistants would carry out the actual anatomization as it was considered manual work, Vesalius carried out dissections himself as he believed it gave both him and his students a greater understanding. He also told his students to study the human body for themselves rather than believing what they read in the ancient medical books written by Greek, Roman and Islamic writers.
After leaving Padua Vesalius became a court physician to Emperor Charles V.
His book methods began a new era of progress in medicine. In addition, by increasing the understanding of anatomy he improved the understanding of how the body works, therefore this way future physicians such as Pare and Harvey had a greater understanding of the cause of disease and how it could be cured.
Aborise Pare (1510-1590) is considered by many the Father of modern surgery. During the twenty years he spent as a barber surgeon to the French army, he improved surgical techniques and ideas.
Pare developed the technique of applying mild ointment to wounds rather than cauterisation as he detected simply by accident that when the wound healed naturally with the aid of ointment the process was quicker with considerably less pain.With wounded soldiers to treat he certainly had the material to develop this technique.
Working with injured soldiers their wounds were often deep, initially Pare used the accepted method of treatment: cauterisation. Boiling oil was poured on to the wound and it was then sealed with a hot iron. This was both painful and dangerous. However, by chance Pare ran out of oil, till more supplies were delivered he concocted a dressing of egg yolks, rose oil and turpentine (a herbal antiseptic) and applied it to the wounds of damaged men. Pare discovered that the dressing had successfully sealed the wounds of soldiers he had treated and they had suffered considerably less pain than usual. The following day he noticed that the men who had been cauterised were feverish, however those treated with the ointment were not and their wounds were healing well.
This accidental experiment led to great things for Pare. He opposed the method of cauterisation and recommended that wounds should be treated with his ointment, and bleeding arteries should be tied up with silken thread. However although this method provided pain relief there was an increased risk of infection as germs from the surgeons hands were transferred to the wound.
Pare designed sophisticated surgical tools and artificial limbs, which improved that quality of surgery he and others could achieve.
During 1575 he wrote “The Collected Works of Surgery” which contained detailed diagrams of surgical procedure, tools, and artificial limbs.
The Paris Collage of Physicians attempted to prevent the publishing of his book, and never accepted him as a physician and surgeon because he was a barber Surgeon.
After the Army Pare became personal physician to the King of France. With Royal support, this enabled him to overcome the medical community’s opposition to his ideas.
Pare Changed ideas of surgery and improved both surgical procedure and philosophy.
William Harvey (1578-1657) introduced a turning point in medical history. Similar to Pare and Versalius, Harvey relied on observation and experiment to increase his understanding of the human body.
He performed many experiments on both animals and human bodies and was particularly interested in the motion of blood. He conducted many experiments to learn how the blood moves through the body.
After making careful studies of the human pulse beat and heart beat, Harvey concluded that the heart pumps blood through the arteries to all parts of the body and then it returns to the heart through the veins. Harvey discovered that the heart pumps blood round the body and it continues to loop in a circuit. The circulation of blood.
To prove, spread and explain his new theory, like Versalius he used a diagram: “an anatomical Account of the Motion of the heart and blood in mammals” (1628). It explained an experiment he had carried out to prove that the blood travels only one way through veins. Harvey said that if the upper arm is bandaged the valves show up as nodules on the vein. If a finger is pushed along the vein one valve to the two away from the heart, the section of vein will be emptied. Therefore this was valid proof of his new finding and confirmed that the blood travels in a circuit around the body as circuits only move one way therefore proving that Galen’s theory was incorrect.
This discovery made a turning point in medical history and contributed immensely to the progress of medicine. Before Harvey scientists and doctors had only studied parts of the process and invented theories to fill in the gaps, however he tackled the whole problem. After Harvey, scientists realised knowledge of how the body works depends on knowledge of the body’s structure. This was a huge progression, now scientists could understand how circulation was important and had a greater understanding of how the body functions.
Although all three men contributed immensely to the progression of medicine, in my opinion it is Harvey who holds the greatest influence.
Unlike Versalius and Pare who contributed to only sections of medicine i.e., Anatomy and Surgery Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of blood revolutionised the entire procedure. It influenced Anatomy, as now it is understood how the heart works and blood circulates which led to the knowledge of other bodily functions. It contributed to surgery as now with knowledge of circulation and heart surgeons can perform intricate cardiac operations; also, it allows them to understand when and why an operation is going wrong. It progressed the work of physicians as now they can determine a patient’s health by their heartbeat and pulse rate. They now understand that when the heart stops pumping blood around the body the person will die. It influenced philosophy as this discovery finally made other physicians and scientists realise that knowledge of the body’s functions depends on knowledge of the body’s structure, this idea allowed the development of new ideas and discoveries which today we would be lost with out.
The work of Vesalius was important however he did not really make a major significant improvement to medicine at that time. Although he did make changes in anatomy and introduced new ideas and methods of research, it is not possible to claim that he, like Harvey brought a turning point.
Pare created brilliant surgical tools and limbs which contributed greatly, nevertheless his theory of applying ointment to wounds was not in fact his. The egg and rose oil would not have been benificial in the process of healing, it was in fact the turpentine which was the aid. Turpentine had been used as an antiseptic by prehistoric people over a thousand years before him, who applies it to wounds to promote healing, prevents infection and ease pain. “Wise” women in the countryside who were knowledgeable of the importance of plants and herbs in medicine were still doing indeed this. Prehaps if women had not been shunned from the medical society this so-called “Discovery” would have been made a lot earlier.
You may argue that without the work of Vesalius, Harvey’s finding would not have been possible, and I agree that in a way this is true. It is a similar to the argument of Galen and Hippocrates, without either of the three men’s' discoveries the system would not work. I understand that Harvey built upon the ideas of Vesalius and his knowledge of anatomy was vital to Harvey’s research, and without the positive attitude of Vesalius inspiring him to research the human body himself he may well not have strived to make his discovery. In addition, if Pare had not come before Harvey and provided him with the surgical equipment and tools necessary to conduct delicate research, it would not have been possible for Harvey to investigate the problem. However, I am sticking to my original statement. Harvey introduced a turning point in medical history without the knowledge of how the heart functions and blood circulates where would we be today? What would happen if there were no heart monitors? There would be no accurate method of checking a person’s health during a dangerous or indeed any operation. Harvey not only made an amazing discovery, but he also inspired those after him to do the same. Harvey did need the work of Versalius and Pare to make his breakthrough and without either it would not have been possible, however overall I believe that it was Harvey who made the greatest contribution.
