Andreas Vesalius' 500th anniversary: the initiation of hand and forearm myology

Andreas Vesalius (1515-1564) was the first to market an illustrated text on the freshly dissected muscular anatomy of the human hand and forearm when he published his De Fabrica Corporis Humani Libri Septem, in 1543. To commemorate his 500th birthday, we searched the second of seven books composing De Fabrica, the annotated woodcut illustrations of De Fabrica, the Tabulae Sex, and Epitome, and an eyewitness report of a public dissection by Vesalius for references to the morphology and functions of these muscles. We found Vesalius to have recognized all currently distinguished muscles except the palmaris brevis and he noted occasional absence of some muscles. Generally, he limited the origin and insertion to bones, largely disregarding attachments to membranes and fascia. Functionally, he recorded the muscles as having a single vector and operating on only one joint. We conclude that Vesalius was nearly completely correct about the anatomy of the muscles of the forearm, but much less accurate about their function.

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