Andreas, the greatest anatomist of his age, and the father of modern human anatomy, was born at Brussels in 1514. He belonged to a family which for several generations had distinguished itself in the science of medicine, and his father was apothecary to the Princess Margaret, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and ruler of the Netherlands. Up to this time the study of human anatomy could scarcely be said to have had any existence. Dissections of the human body were considered as in the highest degree impious, and medical men were content to draw their knowledge of anatomy from the study of dogs, monkeys, and other animals. This, however, would by no means content Vesalius, who early distinguished himself by his passion for anatomy, and by the fearlessness with which he exposed himself to reproach and danger in order to obtain human subjects. After receiving his early education at Louvain, he went first to Montpellier, and afterwards to Paris for the study of medicine. In the latter city he studied under Gonthier, Sylvius, and others, and so distinguished himself that he soon became chief assistant to his master Gonthier. In 1535, in order to obtain better opportunities for study, he attached himself to the army of Charles V., then at war with France. In 1537 he was appointed professor of anatomy at Padua, and afterwards, by request, he delivered lectures at Bologna and Pisa. In 1543, when only twenty-eight years of age, he published his great work, De Corporis Humani Fabrica, which placed the study of anatomy upon an entirely new basis, and, according to Senac, discovered a new world. The boldness with which he attacked and demolished the old system brought upon him the hatred and ill will of all who were of any note in the profession. In spite, however, of all opposition, Vesalius' fame was much increased, and in 1544 the Emperor Charles V. appointed him his chief physician. Having to be constant in his attendance at court, he seems from that time to have done little to increase his knowledge of anatomy. On the abdication of Charles V., he held the same post under Philip II. of Spain. About 1564 he quitted Madrid suddenly, on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the occasion of which is commonly reputed to have been as follows. A young Spanish nobleman whom he had attended being supposed to be dead, he obtained the consent of his friends to open the body, in order to discover the cause of his illness. When proceeding with the operation the heart was observed to beat, and in consequence Vesalius was accused by the friends before the Inquisition. The king interposed, but could only save him on condition of his making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The result however was disastrous, for on his return he was shipwrecked, and thrown upon the island of Zante, where he perished on the 15th of October 1564. The whole works of Vesalius were published, with life, by Boërhave and Albinus at Leyden, in 2 vols. folio, 1725. (See Anatomy.)