The mere mention of Leonardo da Vinci evokes the genius. We know him as a scholar whose interests encompassed astronomy, geology, hydrology, engineering and physics. As a painter, his Mona Lisa and Last Supper Domain works are considered.
However, a great achievement that is often not recognized are its human anatomy studies. More than 500 years after his death, it is time for this to change.
It is believed that Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 in Anchiano, a small village near the city of Vinci, near Florence. His mother was a 16 -year -old peasant named Caterina Di Meo Lippi, and his father was to be Piero Da Vinci, a 26 -year -old notary.
Being illegitimate, the young Leonardo was only allowed a primary education in reading, writing and arithmetic. He was also forbidden to become a notary, but this worked for his advantage. Instead of being limited by life as officiated, it was free to be creative and explore the world of nature, satisfying its insatiable appetite for knowledge.
He human anatomy He became one of his great interests. This was sown during his time as an apprentice in Andrea del Verrocchio BOOTGA (study) In Florence, where studying the human form was crucial to achieve realistic representations.
The creation of detailed anatomical drawings required precise drawing skills and the ability to precisely represent the structures that are being studied. As Leonardo’s fascination grew, he would deepen anatomy as a discipline.
Pioneers
This dates back to the Greek doctor of the fourth century Pergamum Galenwhose anatomical descriptions were mainly based on ideas that he had obtained through the dissection of animals and studying injured gladiators. However, he did not make human dissections, they were illegal during his time, and many of his extrapolations of animal to human anatomy They were wrong.
It was not until the fourteenth century that anatomy and medical science advanced thanks to the beginning of the systematic dissections of human corpses. The doctor Mondino de Liuzzithat he practiced the first public dissections of human corpses at the University of Bologna, published the first modern anatomical text, Anatomy corpois humaniin 1316.
The text was mainly descriptive, such as Galen, which lacked drawings to illustrate anatomy. The subsequent texts on the subject during the fourteenth and early 15th centuries contained drawings, but these were basic and unrealistic.
Leonardo advanced this discipline through his notable observation skills, knowledge of the perspective and, above all, his outstanding drawing skills. His anatomical sketches were different from anything seen before. For example, their sketches of the Arms muscles and human skull They are comparable to illustrations in current medical anatomy texts.
According to Leonardo’s biographer, Giorgio VasariThe artist “was one of the first who, with Galen’s teachings, began to bring honor to medical studies and shed real light on anatomy, which until that time had been wrapped in the deepest shadows of ignorance.”
Leonardo was the first to represent a detailed study of the human column, which shows his natural curvature and properly numbered vertebers. He drew and described almost all the bones and muscles of the body with beautiful details, as well as investigating his biomechanics.
His studies on the heart combined both experimentation and observation. Using the heart of an ox to understand the blood flow through the aortic valves, Leonardo poured molten wax in the surrounding cavities to make a molten of wax, from which a glass of the heart of the heart was made. Then pumped water mixed with grass seeds through this model to visualize the flow pattern. From this experiment, he concluded that the vortex blood flow through the aortic valves was responsible for closing them during each beat.
More than 450 years later, in 1968, Scientists used radiography dyes and methods To observe this blood flow and show that Leonardo was correct. TO Study in 2014 The use of MRI (magnetic resonance) also showed that it had provided a surprisingly precise representation of these flows similar to vortex.
Leonardo da Vinci deficiencies
Leonardo may have dissected around 30 human bodies during his life. Most took place at Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Florence, and later at the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome. The fact that he had no more human corpses to study probably helps to explain why he was also wrong.
In addition, Leonardo was very influenced by Galen, through his readings of Mondino de Liuzzi and the Persian writer Avicena (C980-1037), while also dissecting animals such as dogs, cattle and horses to fill the human anatomical holes.
This approach is evident in its study of the male and female reproductive system, as I found when carrying out a Detailed review of your work In this area. The wrong concepts included the presence of three channels in the penis for semen, urine and “animal spirit.” The prostate gland also lacks all its sketches of the male reproductive system. Meanwhile, he made the spherical uterus (derived from cows dissections), and similarly misrepresented the fuel tubes and ovaries.
Even then, Leonardo still had a lot. He correctly represents the position of the fetus in the uterus and the anatomy of the umbilical cord. He also properly argued that the erections of the penis were caused by the congestion of the blood and not by the air or the “vital spirits” that flow to the penis, as Galen suggests.
Where he was wrong, Leonardo’s changing approach may also have played a role. Your restlessness, disorganized notes and their unfinished work suggest ADHD (Hyperactivity care deficit disorder). Likewise, this can also explain your unlimited curiosity and your incredible creativity.
Despite his deficiencies, Leonardo’s anatomical studies were centuries before his time, rivaling modern standards. His work in this area could have been more appreciated if he had published it in a book: he had planned one, and it is said that he has been collaborating with the Renaissance doctor and professor, Marc’antonio della Torre.
Unfortunately, this was interrupted with Marc’antonio’s death in 1511. Leonardo died in 1519 at the age of 67, and although his gifts to the world have received endless attention, their important contributions to anatomy remain eclipsed and deserve a greater recognition.
Michael CarrollAssociated reader / teacher in reproductive science, Manchester Metropolitan University
This article was republished from The conversation Under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
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