Vesalius' short chapter on craniology and the "unnatural" shapes that skulls could take is a uniquely interesting illustration of the young anatomist's position halfway between a traditional belief in a standard or canonical "natural" human anatomy and the host of variations confronted in his day-to-day observation of actual cadavers. His interest in variability is marked in both editions of De humani corporis fabrica (1543, 1555), and it is no coincidence that two of the anatomical features that today bear the great anatomist's name are atypical. In their shape, all of the five skulls that illustrate Chapter 5 of Book I of the Fabrica fall within margins of variability recognized as standard today, but even in Vesalius' own century it was noticed that the sutures in the four "unnatural" skulls do not occur in real life. The article considers the meaning of this unusual departure from his reliance upon observation and includes a translation of Vesalius' craniology chapter from the original Latin, with annotations and two appendices containing his 1555 revisions and clinical addenda.
Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.