第 19 节
作者:
老是不进球 更新:2021-02-20 14:50 字数:9322
healed diseases; and collected plants; and wrote a book on fish。
But the learned men of Montpellier; and of all Europe; had a very
different opinion of him。 His body was buried at Realmont; but
before the schools of Toulouse they set up a white marble slab; and
an inscription thereon setting forth his learning and his virtues;
and epitaphs on him were composed by the learned throughout Europe;
not only in French and Latin; but in Greek; Hebrew; and even
Chaldee。
So lived and so died a noble man; more noble; to my mind; than many
a victorious warrior; or successful statesman; or canonised saint。
To know facts; and to heal diseases; were the two objects of his
life。 For them he toiled; as few men have toiled; and he died in
harness; at his workthe best death any man can die。
VESALIUS THE ANATOMIST {9}
I cannot begin a sketch of the life of this great man better than by
trying to describe a scene so picturesque; so tragic in the eyes of
those who are wont to mourn over human follies; so comic in the eyes
of those who prefer to laugh over them; that the reader will not be
likely to forget either it or the actors in it。
It is a darkened chamber in the College of Alcala; in the year 1562;
where lies; probably in a huge four…post bed; shrouded in stifling
hangings; the heir…apparent of the greatest empire in the then
world; Don Carlos; only son of Philip II。 and heir…apparent of
Spain; the Netherlands; and all the Indies。 A short sickly boy of
sixteen; with a bull head; a crooked shoulder; a short leg; and a
brutal temper; he will not be missed by the world if he should die。
His profligate career seems to have brought its own punishment。 To
the scandal of his father; who tolerated no one's vices save his
own; as well as to the scandal of the university authorities of
Alcala; he has been scouring the streets at the head of the most
profligate students; insulting women; even ladies of rank; and
amenable only to his lovely young stepmother; Elizabeth of Valois;
Isabel de la Paz; as the Spaniards call her; the daughter of
Catherine do Medicis; and sister of the King of France。 Don Carlos
should have married her; had not his worthy father found it more
advantageous for the crown of Spain; as well as more pleasant for
him; Philip; to marry her himself。 Whence came heart…burnings;
rage; jealousies; romances; calumnies; of which two lastin as far
at least as they concern poor Elizabethno wise man now believes a
word。
Going on some errand on which he had no businessthere are two
stories; neither of them creditable nor necessary to repeatDon
Carlos has fallen downstairs and broken his head。 He comes; by his
Portuguese mother's side; of a house deeply tainted with insanity;
and such an injury may have serious consequences。 However; for nine
days the wound goes on well; and Don Carlos; having had a wholesome
fright; is; according to Doctor Olivarez; the medico de camara; a
very good lad; and lives on chicken broth and dried plums。 But on
the tenth day comes on numbness of the left side; acute pains in the
head; and then gradually shivering; high fever; erysipelas。 His
head and neck swell to an enormous size; then comes raging delirium;
then stupefaction; and Don Carlos lies as one dead。
A modern surgeon would; probably; thanks to that training of which
Vesalius may be almost called the father; have had little difficulty
in finding out what was the matter with the luckless lad; and little
difficulty in removing the evil; if it had not gone too far。 But
the Spanish physicians were then; as many of them are said to be
still; as far behind the world in surgery as in other things; and
indeed surgery itself was then in its infancy; because men; ever
since the early Greek schools of Alexandria had died out; had been
for centuries feeding their minds with anything rather than with
facts。 Therefore the learned morosophs who were gathered round Don
Carlos's sick bed had become according to their own confession;
utterly confused; terrified; and at their wits' end。
It is the 7th of May; the eighteenth day after the accident
according to Olivarez's story: he and Dr Vega have been bleeding
the unhappy prince; enlarging the wound twice; and torturing him
seemingly on mere guesses。 〃I believe;〃 says Olivarez; 〃that all
was done well: but as I have said; in wounds in the head there are
strange labyrinths。〃 So on the 7th they stand round the bed in
despair。 Don Garcia de Toledo; the prince's faithful governor; is
sitting by him; worn out with sleepless nights; and trying to supply
to the poor boy that mother's tenderness which he has never known。
Alva; too; is there; stern; self…compressed; most terrible; and yet
most beautiful。 He has a God on earth; and that is Philip his
master; and though he has borne much from Don Carlos already; and
will have to bear more; yet the wretched lad is to him as a son of
God; a second deity; who will by right divine succeed to the
inheritance of the first; and he watches this lesser deity
struggling between life and death with an intensity of which we; in
these less loyal days; can form no notion。 One would be glad to
have a glimpse of what passed through that mind; so subtle and so
ruthless; so disciplined and so loyal withal: but Alva was a man
who was not given to speak his mind; but to act it。
One would wish; too; for a glimpse of what was passing through the
mind of another man; who has been daily in that sick chamber;
according to Olivarez's statement; since the first of the month:
but he is one who has had; for some years past; even more reason
than Alva for not speaking his mind。 What he looked like we know
well; for Titian has painted him from the lifea tall; bold; well…
dressed man; with a noble brain; square and yet lofty; short curling
locks and beard; an eye which looks as though it feared neither man
nor fiendand it has had good reason to fear bothand features
which would be exceeding handsome; but for the defiant snub…nose。
That is Andreas Vesalius; of Brussels; dreaded and hated by the
doctors of the old schoolsuspect; moreover; it would seem to
inquisitors and theologians; possibly to Alva himself; for he has
dared to dissect human bodies; he has insulted the mediaevalists at
Paris; Padua; Bologna; Pisa; Venice; in open theatre; he has turned
the heads of all the young surgeons in Italy and France; he has
written a great book; with prints in it; designed; some say; by
Titianthey were actually done by another Netherlander; John of
Calcar; near Clevesin which he has dared to prove that Galen's
anatomy was at fault throughout; and that he had been describing a
monkey's inside when he had pretended to be describing a man's; and
thus; by impudence and quackery; he has wormed himselfthis
Netherlander; a heretic at heart; as all Netherlanders are; to God
as well as to Galeninto the confidence of the late Emperor Charles
V。; and gone campaigning with him as one of his physicians;
anatomising human bodies even on the battle…field; and defacing the
likeness of Deity; and worse than that; the most religious King
Philip is deceived by him likewise; and keeps him in Madrid in
wealth and honour; and now; in the prince's extreme danger; the king
has actually sent for him; and bidden him try his skilla man who
knows nothing save about bones and muscles and the outside of the
body; and is unworthy the name of a true physician。
One can conceive the rage of the old Spanish pedants at the
Netherlander's appearance; and still more at what followed; if we
are to believe Hugo Bloet of Delft; his countryman and contemporary。
{10} Vesalius; he says; saw that the surgeons had bound up the
wound so tight that an abscess had formed outside the skull; which
could not break: he asserted that the only hope lay in opening it;
and did so; Philip having given leave; 〃by two cross…cuts。 Then the
lad returned to himself; as if awakened from a profound sleep;
affirming that he owed his restoration to life to the German
doctor。〃
Dionysius Daza; who was there with the other physicians and
surgeons; tells a different story: 〃The most learned; famous; and
rare Baron Vesalius;〃 he says; advised that the skull should be
trepanned; but his advice was not followed。
Olivarez's account agrees with that of Daza。 They had open