A commentary of in Plaute Cappadox in his Curculio by Dr. J. A. Vander Linden.

In 1656, some Selecta medica of Dr Johannes A. Vander Linden (1609-1664) were published in Leiden. Among these miscellaneous, it was quite unexpected to come on a medical commentary on a fictional character from Plautus' theatre : Cappadox hepaticus, or the Bilious. Today unknown, full of erudite quotations, this scholarly doctor's commentary is both philological and medical, on twenty densely printed pages in Latin. Every term used by Plautus is analized, weighed up, and confronted with texts or contemporary situations, thereby drawing knowlegde for his everyday work, how to define a bilious, hydropical affection.

[Not Available]. / Un exemplaire du De humani corporis fabrica (1543) annoté par Jan Wauters van Vieringen (Ioan. Valterius Viringus), lecteur et traducteur d'André Vésale.

The bibliothéque municipale de Boulogne-sur-Mer (France) owns a copy of Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica, published in Basel in 1543, which might have belonged to Vesalius ; it also has many handwritten notes that can be attributed to Ioan. Valterius Viringus or Jan Wauters (or Wouters) van Vieringen, who was the author of the first translation in Dutch of Vesalius' Epitome (1569).

Andreas Vesalius--the work.

This session focuses on the Fabrica (1543). Karger Publishers of Basel are producing a new English translation, by Daniel Garrison and Malcom Hast, to coincide with the quincentenary while Vivian Nutton's scholarly analysis of a newly discovered second edition indicates that the annotations are of Vesalius himself.

[Do women cry more than men, and why?]. / Les femmes pleurent-elles plus que les hommes, et pourquoi?

Where do tears come from? Do women weep more than men, and why? Ijsbrand van Diemerbroeck (1609-1674), a physician at Utrecht in the 17th century, tries to find an answer to these questions in a dissertation of about fifteen pages in his book Anatome corporis humani. Acccording to tradition, he thinks that tears are produced by the brain, he gives a mechanical explanation of their origin, but he persists in thinking that their main function is the purgation of the brain. On the other hand, this exocrin secretion causes moralizing or aesthetic interpretations in the literature and arts contemporaneous with van Diemerbroeck's work.

[The Paraphrasis of Vesalius in the Context of Latin Translations of Rhazes]. / La Paraphrasis de Vesale dans le Contexte des Traductions Latines de Rhazes.

In the 16th century, most students initiated their studies at the Faculty of Arts (or Liberal Arts), where the syllabus was not like one of today academic studies, rather, it was closer to a grammar school program of studies. This gave the students access to one of the three other Faculties: Theology, Law (civil and canonic) and Medicine. At Louvain University, the students could choose between four pedagogic programs, called 'Porc' [Porcus], 'Lily' [Lilium], 'Falcon' [Falco] and 'Castle' [Castrum]. The most appreciated topics were Philosophy, Logics, Physics, Metaphysics and Ethics. Aristotle was the most estimated author. However, Mathematics, Astronomy and Music were also on the syllabus. There were also a number of training exercises in Latin, as well as courses on Eloquence. In higher studies, there were also Disputationes and Quaestiones quodlibeticae, during which the students were supposed to vindicate their views and to answer the questions of their teachers and of their fellow-students. The academic language was Latin, without the knowledge of which nobody could register; moreover registration fees were required, as well as taking an Oath on being faithful to the statutes of the University.

[The physician exhibits fantasy, in addition to cleansing the drug of madness]. / Le médecin guarissant phantassie, purgeant aussi par drogues la folie

The Musée Rolin of Autun, Burgundy (France) owns an interesting and rather large picture, entitled Le médecin guarissant phantassie, purgeant aussi par drogues la folie; it was originally painted on wood and was used as a shop-sign at the Cosseret Pharmacy, at 20 Grand Rue Chauchien, Autun, from the beginning of the XVIIth century to 1897. A naive description, the same that might have been by the clients, gives more fright than trust in the treatments on display. In the background, before rows of bottles, a medical action that looks like a purge is in progress. In the foreground a torture scene must be interpreted. The juxtaposition and alteration of traditional medical elements tend to spread confusion in the spectator's mind and introduce him into a world where reality is disturbed. This communication aims at showing that this picture about evacuation of madness has a medical meaning, showing that this icon of the evaciation of madness refers to medical theories, from Galen to Vesalius, and is a satirical representation of quacks'practices.

[Epitome, an ignored work of Andreas Vesalius]. / L'Epitome, un ouvrage méconnu d'André Vésale (1543).

A few days before De humani corporis fabrica libri septem publication, in 1543, from Oporinus' office at Basel, a very large but not too bulky in-folio was published, which Andreas Vesalius, the author; offered as the Epitome or Summary of the seven Fabricae books. This work, written in latin, is divided into two parts: the first of them includes six chapters describing the human body, the second is composed of eleven anatomical plates with indices; the reader is invited to cut up the last two and stick them onto the preceding, so as to make a human three-dimensional figure. This method inserts the work in a modern conception of anatomical learning. Vesalius involves himself patiently gives many explanations for learning the body in dissection order through plates and text as well. But these plates--and most of them are different from those in the Fabrica-, are not simple illustrations, but play an active part in anatomical knowledge acquisition, just as the text does, but through a different access. We will attract your attention on this originality, often ignored, of the Epitome.