historical lectures and essays(查尔斯金斯利历史讲座)
prince; enlarging the wound twice; and torturing him seemingly on mere
guesses。 〃I believe;〃 says Olivarez; 〃that all was done well: but as I
have said; in wounds in the head there are strange labyrinths。〃 So on the
7th they stand round the bed in despair。 Don Garcia de Toledo; the
prince’s faithful governor; is sitting by him; worn out with sleepless nights;
and trying to supply to the poor boy that mother’s tenderness which he has
never known。 Alva; too; is there; stern; self…pressed; most terrible; and
yet most beautiful。 He has a God on earth; and that is Philip his master;
and though he has borne much from Don Carlos already; and will have to
bear more; yet the wretched lad is to him as a son of God; a second deity;
who will by right divine succeed to the inheritance of the first; and he
watches this lesser deity struggling between life and death with an
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intensity of which we; in these less loyal days; can form no notion。 One
would be glad to have a glimpse of what passed through that mind; so
subtle and so ruthless; so disciplined and so loyal withal: but Alva was
a man who was not given to speak his mind; but to act it。
One would wish; too; for a glimpse of what was passing through the
mind of another man; who has been daily in that sick chamber; according
to Olivarez’s statement; since the first of the month: but he is one who has
had; for some years past; even more reason than Alva for not speaking his
mind。 What he looked like we know well; for Titian has painted him
from the lifea tall; bold; well… dressed man; with a noble brain; square
and yet lofty; short curling locks and beard; an eye which looks as though
it feared neither man nor fiendand it has had good reason to fear both
and features which would be exceeding handsome; but for the defiant
snub…nose。 That is Andreas Vesalius; of Brussels; dreaded and hated by the
doctors of the old schoolsuspect; moreover; it would seem to inquisitors
and theologians; possibly to Alva himself; for he has dared to dissect
human bodies; he has insulted the mediaevalists at Paris; Padua; Bologna;
Pisa; Venice; in open theatre; he has turned the heads of all the young
surgeons in Italy and France; he has written a great book; with prints in it;
designed; some say; by Titianthey were actually done by another
Netherlander; John of Calcar; near Clevesin which he has dared to prove
that Galen’s anatomy was at fault throughout; and that he had been
describing a monkey’s inside when he had pretended to be describing a
man’s; and thus; by impudence and quackery; he has wormed himselfthis
Netherlander; a heretic at heart; as all Netherlanders are; to God as well as
to Galeninto the confidence of the late Emperor Charles V。; and gone
campaigning with him as one of his physicians; anatomising human bodies
even on the battle…field; and defacing the likeness of Deity; and worse than
that; the most religious King Philip is deceived by him likewise; and keeps
him in Madrid in wealth and honour; and now; in the prince’s extreme
danger; the king has actually sent for him; and bidden him try his skilla
man who knows nothing save about bones and muscles and the outside of
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the body; and is unworthy the name of a true physician。
One can conceive the rage of the old Spanish pedants at the
Netherlander’s appearance; and still more at what followed; if we are to
believe Hugo Bloet of Delft; his countryman and contemporary。 {10}
Vesalius; he says; saw that the surgeons had bound up the wound so tight
that an abscess had formed outside the skull; which could not break: he
asserted that the only hope lay in opening it; and did so; Philip having
given leave; 〃by two cross…cuts。 Then the lad returned to himself; as if
awakened from a profound sleep; affirming that he owed his restoration to
life to the German doctor。〃
Dionysius Daza; who was there with the other physicians and surgeons;
tells a different story: 〃The most learned; famous; and rare Baron
Vesalius;〃 he says; advised that the skull should be trepanned; but his
advice was not followed。
Olivarez’s account agrees with that of Daza。 They had opened the
wounds; he says; down to the skull before Vesalius came。 Vesalius
insisted that the injury lay inside the skull; and wished to pierce it。
Olivarez spends much labour in proving that Vesalius had 〃no great
foundation for his opinion:〃 but confesses that he never changed that
opinion to the last; though all the Spanish doctors were against him。
Then on the 6th; he says; the Bachelor Torres came from Madrid; and
advised that the skull should be laid bare once more; and on the 7th; there
being still doubt whether the skull was not injured; the operation was
performedby whom it is not saidbut without any good result; or;
according to Olivarez; any discovery; save that Vesalius was wrong; and
the skull uninjured。
Whether this second operation of the 7th of May was performed by
Vesalius; and whether it was that of which Bloet speaks; is an open
question。 Olivarez’s whole relation is apologetic; written to justify
himself and his seven Spanish colleagues; and to prove Vesalius in the
wrong。 Public opinion; he confesses; had been very fierce against him。
The credit of Spanish medicine was at stake: and we are not bound to
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believe implicitly a paper drawn up under such circumstances for Philip’s
eye。 This; at least; we gather: that Don Carlos was never trepanned; as is
monly said; and this; also; that whichever of the two stories is true;
equally puts Vesalius into direct; and most unpleasant; antagonism to the
Spanish doctors。 {11}
But Don Carlos still lay senseless; and yielding to popular clamour; the
doctors called in the aid of a certain Moorish doctor; from Valencia; named
Priotarete; whose unguents; it was reported; had achieved many
miraculous cures。 The unguent; however; to the horror of the doctors;
burned the skull till the bone was as black as the colour of ink; and
Olivarez declares he believes it to have been a preparation of pure caustic。
On the morning of the 9th of May; the Moor and his unguents were sent
away; 〃and went to Madrid; to send to heaven Hernando de Vega; while
the prince went back to our method of cure。〃
Considering what happened on the morning of the 10th of May; we
should now presume that the second opening of the abscess; whether by
Vesalius or someone else; relieved the pressure on the brain; that a critical
period of exhaustion followed; probably prolonged by the Moor’s
premature caustic; which stopped the suppuration: but that God’s good
handiwork; called nature; triumphed at last; and that therefore it came to
pass that the prince was out of danger within three days of the operation。
But he was taught; it seems; to attribute his recovery to a very different
source from that of a German knife。 For on the morning of the 9th; when
the Moor was gone; and Don Carlos lay seemingly lifeless; there
descended into his chamber a Deus e machina; or rather a whole pantheon
of greater or lesser deities; who were to effect that which medical skill
seemed not to have effected。 Philip sent into the prince’s chamber
several of the precious relics which he usually ca