Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Jacobus Sylvius

  • Medical terminologies inspired by the animal world

    Saty Satya-MurtiSanta Maria, California, United States In the transitional decades from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, restrictions against human cadaveric dissection gradually dissipated. This gave Italian and French anatomists an opportunity to break away from rigid dogmas and incorrect Galenic (Galen of Pergamon, 129–216 CE) pronouncements. Religious and moral taboos had long prohibited detailed human…

  • The two Sylvius anatomists

    Buried deep in the cobwebs of medical history lies the persisting misconception that a single person called Sylvius made important advances in the discipline of anatomy. But in fact, there were two persons remembered by that name. There was Jacobus, whose name is most commonly linked to the Aqueduct of Sylvius, and there was Franciscus,…