Brain Renaissance: From Vesalius to Modern Neuroscience

by Marco Catani, Stefano Sandrone

Overview

Brain Renaissance: From Vesalius to Modern Neuroscience is published on the 500th anniversary of the birth and the 450th anniversary of the death of Vesalius. The authors translated those Latin chapters of the Fabrica dedicated to the brain, a milestone in the history of neuroscience. Many chapters are accompanied by a commentary tracking the discoveries that paved the way to our modern understanding of the brain - from the pineal gland that regulates sleep, the fornix and mammillary bodies for memory, the colliculi for auditory and visual perception, and the cerebellum for motor control, to the corpus callosum for interhemispheric cross-talk, the neural correlates of senses, and the methods for dissections. The chapters constitute a primer for those interested in the brain and history of neuroscience. The translation, written with modern anatomical terminology in mind, provides direct access to Vesalius' original work on the brain. Those interested in reading the words of the Renaissance master will find the book an invaluable addition to their Vesalian collection.

Brain Renaissance pays a tribute to the work of the pioneers of neuroscience and to the lives of those with brain disorders, through whose suffering most discoveries are made. It's an unforgettable journey inspired by the work of the great anatomist, whose words still resonate today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199383832
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/04/2015
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Marco Catani
Neuroanatomy and Tractography Brain Laboratory
Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences
Institute of Psychiatry
Kings College
London, UK

Stefano Sandrone
Neuroanatomy and Tractography Brain Laboratory
Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences
Institute of Psychiatry
Kings College
London, UK

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

PART ONE: VESALIUS'S LIFE: THE ANATOMY OF AN ANATOMIST
1. Vesalius, a Man of His TIme
2. A Flemish Formation in Brussels and Leuven
3. Vesalius Meets Galen in Paris
4. The Paduan School of Anatomy
5. A Slow Departure From Galen
6. The Making of the Fabrica
7. Dissecting the Fabrica
8. Vesalius and Venice
9. A Life Among Eminent Men, with Many Honors and Gifts
10. From Anatomy to Surgery
11. Desolation in Spain
12. The Last Journey

PART TWO: THE FABRICA OF THE HUMAN BRAIN
13. The Brain Is Fabricated for the Sake of the Supreme Spirit, the Senses, and Also the Movement That Depends upon Our Will
14. On the Hard Membrane That Surrounds the Brain and the Small Membrane Covering the Skull Under the Skin
15. On the Thin Membrane of the Brain
16. On the Number, Position, Shape, Convolutions, and Substance of the Brain and Cerebellum
Commentary: Scratching the Surface of Complexity
17. On the Corpus Callosum of the Brain and the Septum of the Right and Left Ventricles
Commentary: The Corpus Callosum: A Tale of Anarchic Hands and Split Brains
18. On the Cerebral Ventricles
Commentary: The Liqour of our Souls
19. On the Brain Structure That Expert Dissectors Have Compared to a Tortoise-Like Vault
Commentary: The Fornix: A Memory Thread in the Brain
20. On the Cerebral Gland Resembling a Pine Nut
Commentary: The Pineal Gland: From the Seat of the Soul to the "SAD" Lamps
21. On the Testes and the Buttocks of the Brain
: Commentary: Sex on the Hills
22. On the Cerebellar Processes Resembling Worms and the Tendons That Contain Them
Commentary: The Cerebellum: More Than a Little Brain
23. On the Infundibulum, the Glandule That Receives the Cerebral Phlegm, and the Other Ducts That Clense It
Commentary: The Axis of Survival
24. On the Networks of the Brain Believed to Be Similar to the Reticular Plexus and the Placenta
Commentary: The Net of Wonder
25. On the Organ of Smell
26. On the Eye, the Instrument of Vision
27. On the Organ of Hearing
28. On the Organ of Taste
29. On the Organ of Touch
30. How to Dissect the Brain and all the Other Organs Discussed in This Book

PART THREE: A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEUROSCIENCE FROM VESALIUS TO THE CONNECTOME
31. Introduction to Network Neuroscience
32. Protoconnectome Maps
33. Seeing Things in Gray and White
34. Phrenology and Animal Electricity
35. Microscope Discoveries
36. Early Cartography
37. From Electrophysiology to Neuroimaging
38. Metaphors and Myths

Appendix: Figures from the Seventh Book of the Fabrica
Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Marco Catani and Stefano Sandrone rehearse the life and labors of Andreas Vesalius and his influence on contemporary neuroscience; in offering the modern reader a new and lively translation of De humani corporis fabrica libri septi (1543), Book 7, the authors make an outstanding contribution to scholarship and the history of neuroscience that is much to be admired. —Professor Alastair Compston, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Neurology, Cambridge, UK

"What a rich celebration of Andreas Vesalius' birth half a millennium ago! Vesalius, the father of modern anatomy, and the history of neuroanatomy ever since the appearance of his stunning atlas of human anatomy in 1543, come to life in this highly readable and richly illustrated volume, which also contains the authors' translation of Vesalius' text." —Professor Willem J. M. Levelt, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

"From Vesalius, Renaissance pioneer of human dissection, to contemporary MRI pictures of the connectome, this gorgeously illustrated book retraces five centuries of efforts to map the human brain. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of neuroscience and its modern-day developments." —Professor Stainslas DeHaene, Collège de France, Paris, France

"This is a delightfully readable book. The authors combine the colorful biography of Vesalius with a lucid translation of his revolutionary anatomical discoveries. The lavishly illustrated volume also offers keen insights into the history of neuroscience as it was being transformed by Vesalius and his contemporaries from a philosophical into an empirical field of inquiry." —Professor Marsel Mesulam, MD, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL

"Brain Renaissance epitomizes Calvino's points on why we should read classics. The authors make Vesalius reaching out to us from the pages of this captivating volume like a clued-up old friend, conversing unflappably on buttocks of the brain and the seat of the soul. As a result, we feel more erudite, and we could smugly assert that we have 're-read' such a great classic." —Professor Sergio Della Sala, Human Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, UK

"In Brain Renaissance, neuroscientists Marco Catani and Stefano Sandrone present a translation from the Latin of the Fabrica's last volume, which focuses on the brain. Through it we can appreciate Vesalius's extraordinary attention to detail, and his willingness to believe his eyes, even when what he saw contradicted established knowledge." Nature

"This book is a compact and historically important contribution of interest to historians of science, especially biology. But I feel it is even more valuable for those teaching neuroscience in all its guises and at whatever levels, in universities and medical schools.
There are lots of lecture tidbits at the very least, helping put our modern conceits as part of a long journey to understand mind and behavior." —Gordon M. Burghardt, PsycCRITIQUES

From the Publisher