Albinus entered the University of Leiden at the age of twelve, and spent nine years studying under his father, Boerhaave, Bidloo, and Rau. He received his M.D. in 1719, and two years later, on the death of his father, was appointed at the age of twenty-four to the chair of anatomy and surgery. a position he held for the next fifty years. Such was his reputation, that his lectures attracted students from all over Europe and the American colonies. As well as his own writings, he edited the works of earlier medical writers, notably Vesalius (with Boerhaave), Fabricius ab Aquapendente, Harvey, and Eustachi. To his 1744 edition of Eustachi, Albinus supplied a new medical commentary. Each of these works was adorned by plates newly engraved by Jan Wandelaar (1690-1759) under Albinus's direction. Wandelaar also engraved the plates for Albinus's own works. Albinus devoted many years to devising new methods of draughtsmanship for his anatomical illustrations, which he recorded with painstaking care and accuracy. He descibes his methods in the preface to his Tabulæ sceleti. He compared his method to that of an architect, who lay the foundation on which he then built; similarly, Albinus began with the skeleton, making important contributions to osteological study.
