In 1561 Fallopius, who had studied under Vesalius, published his "Anatomical Observations," containing several points in which he had extended the knowledge of anatomy beyond the limits reached by his master. He had taught publicly for thirteen years at Ferrara, and had presided for eight years over an anatomical school, so that he was no novice in the field of biology. Yet so completely had Vesalius lost the philosophic temperament that he regarded this publication as an infringement of his rights, and in this spirit wrote an "Examen Observationum Fallopii," in which he decried the friend who had made improvements on himself, as he had been decried for his improvements on Galen. The manuscript of this work, finished at the end of December, 1561, was committed by the author to the care of Paulus Teupulus of Venice, orator to the King of Spain, who was to give it to Fallopius. The orator, however, did not reach Padua until after the death of Fallopius, and he consequently retained the document until Vesalius, on his way to Jerusalem, took possession of it, and caused it to be published without delay. It appeared at Venice in 1564.[19]
The letter on the China root--a plant we know nowadays as sarsaparilla--by the use of which the emperor's recovery was effected, has been already referred to. It was addressed to the anatomist's friend, Joachim Roelants. Very little space, however, is taken up with a description of the medicine which gives title to the letter. Something certainly is said of the history and nature of the plant, the preparation of the decoction and its effects; but the writer soon introduces the subject which was at that time of very vital importance to him, namely, his position with regard to the statements of Galen and his followers. He collects together various assertions of the Greek anatomist, on the bones, the muscles and ligaments, the relations of veins and arteries, the nerves, the character of the peritoneum, the organs of the thorax, the skull and its contents, etc., and shows from each and all of these that reference had not been made to the human subject, and that therefore the statements were unreliable.
To the work on the "Fabric of the Human Body" we have already alluded, as well as to the causes which led to its being written. More than half of this great treatise is occupied with a minute description of the build of the human body--its bones, cartilages, ligaments, and muscles. It may have been owing to the thorough acquaintance which Vesalius showed with these parts that his detractors pretended afterwards that he only understood superficial injuries. But other branches of anatomy are fully dealt with. The veins and arteries are described in the third book, and the nerves in the fourth; the organs of nutrition and reproduction are treated of in the next; while the remaining two books are devoted to descriptions of the heart and brain.