ANDREAS VESALIUS

ON THE FABRIC OF THE HUMAN BODY, BOOK

THE FIRST, dedicated to those things which sustain and prop up the entire body, and by which all things are stabilized and attached.

Because this first Chapter applies equally to all bones, no illustration of them is placed before it, nor does it claim any specific illustration for itself for this reason. This is unless one were to think that all the figures should be placed here which will necessarily be used for the Chapters on individual bones, and by which the entire and whole connection of the bones, with their various names, will be expressed at the end of this first book. But to put them all back here would be of little use, because then the same and similar figures would be found everywhere and would occupy the pages beyond measure; and also because we would seem to distrust too much the industry and zeal of the Reader in lightly looking over the images of the whole work right at the start, and in cursorily weighing the order of the books and chapters before serious reading.

The nature of bone.

Ornamental woodcut initial 'O' depicting several cherub-like figures (putti) in a landscape. Some are holding and examining a human skull, while others appear to be performing a dissection or anatomical study on a body lying on a table.
OF ALL THE OTHER parts of man, bone is
The use of bones.

the most earthy, and therefore the driest
and hardest. God, the supreme craftsman
of the world, deservedly formed its sub-
stance to be this way, so as to be placed
beneath the entire body like a foundation.
For what walls and beams provide in
houses, and poles in tents, and keels along
with ribs in ships, that is what the sub-
stance of bones provides in the fabric of
The difference of bones by use.

man. Indeed, some bones are created for
the sake of strength, like the supports of
the body; among their number are the
bones of the shins original: "tibiarum"; the tibia and fibula and thighs, and the vertebrae of the back, and almost the entire connection of the bones. Others are placed by Nature before the remaining parts like ramparts, and very safe palisades and walls, besides the fact that they support them: such as the skull original: "caluaria", the spines of the vertebrae and their transverse processes, the breastbone, and the ribs. Others, born with their main part in the tendons, are placed before the joints of certain bones, elegantly aiding the strength of the tendons, and in a certain way presiding over the loose movement of the joints. For this reason, the ^a patellaThe kneecap. occurs in the knee, and likewise the ^b small sesamoid bonesoriginal: "oſsicula ſeſamo ſemini"; small bones named for their resemblance to sesame seeds, found in the hands and feet. (so named by those skilled in dissection) are placed at the second joint of the thumb of the hand, and at the first joints of the four remaining fingers, and also at the first joints of the five toes of the foot. Furthermore, the teeth are specifically conducive to cutting, breaking, grinding, and wearing down food, just as the two small ^c bones of the hearing instrument serve a peculiar use in the office of hearing. But the primary function of each bone will be shown more fully in the Chapters in which we shall describe the individual bones, since for the present it is enough to recount their use in general: by which (to say it once) the bones sustain the entire mass of the body like supports, and to them all things are attached and fastened, and from them they are suspended, so much so that from the use or office of the bones, no other difference can be taken than that which we have just stated. In size, however, bones vary, because some are indeed large, such as the thigh, the shin bone, the humerus The upper arm bone., and the bones connected to the sides of the sacrumoriginal: "sacri ossis"; the large triangular bone at the base of the spine. on both sides: while some are small, such as the bones of the wrist, the teeth, and the small bones compared to sesame. Others again are broad, such as the bones of the sa...