Bartolomeo Eustachi

Bartolomeo Eustachi (27 August 1574), also known by his Latin name of Bartholomaeus Eustachius, was an Italian anatomist and one of the founders of the science of human anatomy. Biography Bartolomeo was born in San Severino in the province of Ancona, where his father, Marinao Eustachius, was an wealthy and prominent physician. Bartolomeo received the required, broad humanistic education typical for that time, and then studied Medicine at the Archiginnasio della Sapienza in Rome. He was also well versed in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek languages, which gave him access to the original medical treatises written in those languages. As a physician, Eustachius enjoyed great prestige among the upper classes, having among his patients the Duke of Urbino, the Cardinal della Rovero, and the Duke of Terranova. He became a member of the Medical College of Rome and was appointed in 1549, Professor of Anatomy at the Papal College, the Archiginnasio dell Sapienza. Soon he obtained papal dispensation allowing him to dissect cadavers from patients from the Santo Spirito Hospital. Bartolomeo Eustachio (writing with the Latin surname Eustacius) wrote during 1562 and 1563 a remarkable series of scientific works on the anatomy of the kidney, the hearing apparatus, the teeth and their structure, and the circulatory system including the lower vena cavae and its valves (now known as the Eustachian valve). These works were organized and published as Opscula Anatomica in 1564. Eustachius was deeply interested in understanding the anatomical structures of the human body through direct observation instead of accepting the many a Priori theories current among other physicians. His anatomical investigations into the vena caval Eustachian valve, led him its functions was to avoid retrograde blood reflux. He also discovered the thoracic canal. Trying to understand how diseases affected body structures, Eustachius made comparative anatomical analysis between healthy and disease-altered organs (pathological anatomy). working with Pier Matteo Pini, they produced a series of 47 detailed drawings of the studied organs. these series of illustrations, Tabulae Anatomicae Clariviri, were published in 1714.