Vieussens, Raymond, 1641-1715?

Lugduni [Lyon]

Apud Joannem Certe

1685

[16], 252, [2] p.; 34 x 22 cm.

anatomia:RBAI021

Vieussens studied at Montpellier, receiving his M.D. in 1670. Later he became Professor of Medicine at Montpellier, and was appointed physician to the French court. At the Hospital of Saint Eloy in Montpellier, he dissected over five hundred cadavers in a ten-year period while preparing for the publication of Neurographia universalis. The book provided the best account of the structure and arrangement of the nervous system to date, and continued the work of Thomas Willis. Divided into three books, it deals with the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves. Vieussens was the first to describe the olivary nucleus, the centrum semiovale ('ovale of Vieussens'), the pyramids, and the semilunar ganglion. He also demonstrated that the spinal cord was an independent structure, and gave a detailed description of the paths of the peripheral nerves. Neurographia is illustrated by thirty fine engravings by Beaudeau.

LeFanu, Lilly, p. 92-95; Heirs of Hippocrates 421; H.F. Norman 2153; DSB.

Academy of Medicine Collection

Certe, Jean