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"Hieronymus Fabricius was a respected Italian surgeon and anatomist who studied under Gabriel Fallopius at the University of Padua. Fabricius succeeded his teacher as professor of anatomy at Padua and counted the English physician and physiologist William Harvey among his students. In De Venarum Ostiolis, Fabricus identifies and describes the valves found in the veins of the human circulatory system. He failed, however, to understand their function or importance to blood circulation. The purpose of the valves in veins-to prevent backflow of deoxygenated blood as it is returned to the heart-was postulated by Harvey in De Motu Cordis (1628). Harvey gave full credit to Fabricus for discovering and describing the valves in veins, and the diagram on display here was the only illustration Harvey would include in De Motu Cordis. Plate II of De Venarum Ostiolis illustrates the presence and structure of the veins in the human arm using a ligature. The veins of the arm are also dissected out and opened lengthwise to show the anatomical structure of the valves. Source: MU Libraries Digital Exhibit: Anatomical Illustration: Art Informing Science: 1543-1950.
