0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

328
RECENT TIMES.
choose a mode of death for the condemned, proposed by^
VESALIUS, with the object of preserving the bodies uninjured,
or they put off the executions at his desire till
such time as a scarcity of bodies prevailed. This obliging
disposition was carried so far that when VESALIUS, wishing
to solve the, at that time, undecided problem * as to the ;4
existence of the hymen virginitatis, was in a state of embarrassment
as to where he could get a suitable female ;,.|
subject, COSMO DE MEDICI placed at his disposal the
corpse of a pious nun who had died a short time before. Jf
As a result of this, as HYRTL remarks, it was possible to
give its due weight to this important attribute of virginity,
which it had hitherto been impossible to do, since the
bodies of the maidens brought from the gallows as a rule :
were no longer in possession of this structure.
Practical teaching in anatomy consisted chiefly in the
demonstration of parts of the body; the students only :jj
exceptionally had the opportunity of taking part in dissections
themselves. It can be seen however from the
statutes of the medical faculties that the number of
dissections made every year for* the purpose of educating;
the doctors gradually increased. In 1519 the rule was
made that every year a body should be publicly dissected, |
since without anatomical dissection a knowledge of the^
human body and its diseases was unattainable.! A similar -|
order is found in the statutes which the Duke ULRICH pro- •
mulgated for Tubingen.
In Prague not only were anatomical studies in a very j
low condition, but the whole university had sunk into dis- 1
repute. The Priest JACOB in 1517 called it at the Teynkirchea
"rusty ornament."J Medicine had almost ceased to
be taught there in the 15th and 16th centuries. Anatomical
demonstrations were- first introduced at this university by i
JOHANN JESENSKY (JESSENIUS) who at the conclusion of
* H.TOLLIN in the Biolog. Centralbl. v, 347.
t ZARNCKE: Statutenbiicher der Uni\Tersftijtt Leipzig, 1861, S. 39.
X W. TOMEK: Geschichte der Prager Universitat, 1849.