Innocent III and the evolution of anatomy*

1 C. D. O'Malley, 'Pre-Vesalian Anatomy', in Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1964, p. 12. For another view of Salimbene's chronicle and of its significance in the history of medicine, see E. Greco, 'Fm Salimbene da Parma-the first post mortem examination of the morbid anatomy, performed in 1286', Paninerva medica, 1962, 4: 235-237. ' G. G. Coulton, in his From Saint Francis to Dante, 2nd ed., New York, Russeil & Russell, 1968, pp. 233-235, catalogued and commented on the events of that melancholy year and its effects on Salimbene. 8 "Nam In Cremona et in Placencia et in Parma et in Regio et in multis aliis Italie civitatibus et dyocesibus fuit mortalitas maxima tam hominum quam gallinarum. Et in civitate Cremone ani soli malieri brevi temporis intervallo mortue sunt XLVIII galline. Et quidam medicus phisicus fecit aliquas aperiri et invenit apostema super cor gallinarum. Erat enim in puncta cordis cuiuslibet galline vescicula qudamn. Fecit similiter aperiri mortuum hominem quendam et super cor hominis idem invenit," 'Cronica Fratris Salimbene de Adam Ordinis Minorum', ed. Oswald Holder-Egger, Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores, XXXII, Hanover and Leipzig, Impensis Bibliopolli Hahniani, 1905-1913, p. 614. ' Walter Artelt, 'Die &ltesten Nachrichten iiber die Sektion menschlicher Leichen im mittelalterlichen Abendland', Abh. Ges. Med. Naturw., Heft 24, (Berlin, 1940), pp. 6-8. ' The account of an earlier investigation into pathological anatomy, that of Sigurd Jorsalfar (1090-1130), was found and first cited by Fredrik Gr0n in 'Lot Sigurd Jorsalfar en av sine menn obdusere i Bysans?', Norsk Magasin for Laegevidenskaben, 1934, 95: 14051418. According to the twelfth-century English historian, William of Malmesbury, Sigurd Jorsalfar, the Norwegian king, was returning from Jerusalem via Byzantium. While in that city, many of his entourage died, and as he believed the strength of the wine they had been dfinking might have contributed to their deaths,