Vesalius: His Presence in New Spain

In this paper we present a review of Mexican medical literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, analyzing the presence of Vesalius anatomical contributions and the conservation of Galen teachings in the official circles. We start with the anecdotal identification of don Carlos, son of Philip II, with Gregorio López, a hermit living in New Spain in the second half of the 16th century, as a legendary possibility of being a celebrated patient of Vesalius. After a short review of the birth and early diffusion of Vesalius anatomy in Spain, we analyze the early anatomical and surgical books written and published in New Spain; those of Alonso López de Hinojosos (1578, 1595), Agustín Farfán (1592), Juan de Barrios (1607), Gerónimo Bezerra and Diego Osorio y Peralta (1685), identifying their acceptance or negation of the validity of Vesalius’ discoveries and the tensions existing between those two intellectual positions. In the following pages we will present and discuss the nature, dimensions and impact of Vesalius’ Fabrica knowledge in the medical thought of Colonial Mexico.