historical lectures and essays(查尔斯金斯利历史讲座)






seemed      not   to  have    effected。    Philip     sent  into   the   prince’s   chamber 

several   of   the   precious   relics   which   he   usually   carried   about   with   him。 

The miraculous image of the Virgin of Atocha; in embroidering garments 

for whom; Spanish royalty; male and female; has spent so many an hour 

ere now; was brought in solemn procession and placed on an altar at the 

foot    of  the   prince’s   bed;    and   in  the   afternoon    there   entered;    with    a 



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procession likewise; a shrine containing the bones of a holy anchorite; one 

Fray Diego; 〃whose life and miracles;〃 says Olivarez; 〃are so notorious:〃 

and    the   bones    of  St。  Justus   and    St。  Pastor;   the  tutelar   saints   of  the 

university of Alcala。        Amid solemn litanies the relics of Fray Diego were 

laid upon the prince’s pillow; and the sudarium; or mortuary cloth; which 

had covered his face; was placed upon the prince’s forehead。 

     Modern science might object that the presence of so many personages; 

however   pious   or   well   intentioned;   in   a   sick   chamber   on   a   hot   Spanish 

May day; especially as the bath had been; for some generations past; held 

in religious horror throughout Spain; as a sign of Moorish and Mussulman 

tendencies; might have somewhat interfered with the chances of the poor 

boy’s   recovery。   Nevertheless   the   event   seems   to   have   satisfied   Philip’s 

highest hopes; for that same night (so Don Carlos afterwards related) the 

holy   monk   Diego   appeared   to   him   in   a   vision;   wearing   the   habit   of   St。 

Francis; and bearing in his hand a cross of reeds tied with a green band。 

The prince stated that he first took the apparition to be that of the blessed 

St。 Francis; but not seeing the stigmata; he exclaimed; 〃How?                    Dost thou 

not bear the marks of the wounds?〃              What he replied Don Carlos did not 

recollect; save that he consoled him; and told him that he should not die of 

that malady。 

     Philip had returned to Madrid; and shut himself up in grief in the great 

Jeronymite monastery。          Elizabeth was praying for her step…son before the 

miraculous images of the same city。             During the night of the 9th of May 

prayers went up for Don Carlos in all the churches of Toledo; Alcala; and 

Madrid。       Alva   stood   all   that   night   at   the   bed’s   foot。 Don   Garcia   de 

Toledo sat in the arm…chair; where he had now sat night and day for more 

than a fortnight。       The good preceptor; Honorato Juan; afterwards Bishop 

of   Osma;   wrestled   in   prayer   for   the   lad   the   whole   night   through。   His 

prayer was answered:            probably it had been answered already; without 

his being aware of it。        Be that as it may; about dawn Don Carlos’s heavy 

breathing     ceased;    he   fell  into  a  quiet   sleep;   and   when    he   awoke     all 

perceived at once that he was saved。 



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     He did not recover his sight; seemingly on account of the erysipelas; 

for a week more。          He then opened his eyes upon the miraculous image of 

Atocha; and vowed that; if he recovered; he would give to the Virgin; at 

four   different   shrines   in   Spain;   gold   plate   of   four   times   his   weight;   and 

silver plate of seven times his weight; when he should rise from his couch。 

So on the 6th of June he rose; and was weighed in a fur coat and a robe of 

damask;   and   his   weight   was   three   arrobas   and   one   poundseventy…six 

pounds   in   all。   On   the   14th   of   June   he   went   to   visit   his   father   at   the 

episcopal   palace;   then   to   all   the   churches   and   shrines   in Alcala;   and   of 

course to that of Fray Diego;  whose body  it is said   he contemplated   for 

some      time    with   edifying     devotion。       The     next   year    saw    Fray    Diego 

canonised as a saint; at the intercession of Philip and his son; and thus Don 

Carlos re…entered the world; to be a terror and a torment to all around him; 

and   to   dienot   by   Philip’s   cruelty;   as   his   enemies   reported   too   hastily 

indeed; yet excusably; for they knew him to be capable of any wickedness… 

…but simply of constitutional insanity。 

     And now let us go back to the history of 〃that most learned; famous; 

and rare Baron Vesalius;〃 who had stood by and seen all these things done; 

and   try  if   we   cannot;  after   we   have   learned   the   history  of   his   early  life; 

guess at some of his probable meditations on this celebrated clinical case; 

and   guess   also   how   those   meditations   may   have   affected   seriously   the 

events of his afterlife。 

     Vesalius   (as   I   said)   was   a   Netherlander;   born   at   Brussels   in   1513   or 

1514。      His   father and  grandfather   had   been  medical   men   of   the   highest 

standing   in   a   profession   which   then;   as   now;   was   monly   hereditary。 

His real name was Wittag; an ancient family of Wesel; on the Rhine; from 

which town either he or his father adopted the name of Vesalius; according 

to   the   classicising   fashion   of   those   days。      Young   Vesalius   was   sent   to 

college at Louvain; where he learned rapidly。                  At sixteen or seventeen he 

knew not only Latin; but Greek enough to correct the proofs of Galen; and 

Arabic   enough   to   bee   acquainted   with   the   works   of   the   Mussulman 

physicians。       He   was   a   physicist   too;   and   a   mathematician;   according   to 



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the knowledge of those times; but his passionthe study to which he was 

destined to devote his lifewas anatomy。 

     Little   or   nothing   (it   must   be   understood)   had   been   done   in   anatomy 

since the days of Galen of Pergamos; in the second century after Christ; 

and very little even by him。           Dissection was all but forbidden among the 

ancients。      The Egyptians; Herodotus tells us; used to pursue with stones 

and curses the embalmers as soon as they had performed their unpleasant 

office; and though Herophilus and Erasistratus are said to have dissected 

many subjects under the protection of Ptolemy Soter in Alexandria itself: 

yet the public feeling of the Greeks as well as of the Romans continued the 

same   as   that   of   the   ancient   Egyptians;   and   Galen   was   fainas   Vesalius 

provedto   supplement   his   ignorance   of   the   human   frame   by   describing 

that of an ape。      Dissection was equally forbidden among the Mussulmans; 

and the great Arabic physicians could do no more than ment on Galen。 

The   same   prejudice   extended   through           the   Middle   Age。     Medical   men 

were all clerks; CLERICI; and as such forbidden to shed blood。                      The only 

dissection; as far as I am aware; made during the Middle Age was one by 

Mundinus   in   1306;   and   his   subsequent   mentaries   on   Galenfor   he 

dare allow his own eyes to see no more than Galen had seen before him 

constituted   the   best   anatomical   manual   in   Europe   till   the   middle   of   the 

fifteenth century。 

     Then;     in  Italy   at  least;  the   classic   Renaissance       gave   fresh   life  to 

anatomy   as   to   all   other   sciences。     Especially   did   the   improvements   in 

painting and sculpture stir men up to a closer study of the human frame。 

Leonardo da Vinci wrote a treatise on muscular anatomy。                       The artist and 

the   sculptor   often   worked   together;   and   realised   that   sketch   of   Michael 

Angelo’s   in   which   he   himself   is   assisting   Fallopius;   Vesalius’s   famous 

pupil; to dissect。      Vesalius soon found that his thirst for facts could not be 

slaked   by   the   theories   of   the   Middle   Age;   so   in   1530   he   went   off   to 

Montpellier;   where   Francis   I。   had   just   founded   a   medical   school;          and 

where the ancient laws of the city allowed the faculty each year the body 

of   a   criminal。    From   thence;   after   being         the   fellow…pupil   and     the 



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friend     of   Rondelet;     and    probably      also   of   Rabelais     and    those    other 

luminaries of Montpellier; of whom I spoke in my essay on Rondelet; he 

returned to Paris to st