View source for Bartolomeo Eustachi

{{Short description|Italian anatomist}}
{{for|the legendary Christian martyr known as Eustachius or Eustace|Saint Eustace}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Bartolomeo Eustachio
| image             = Bartolomeus Eustachius.jpg
| other_names       = {{nowrap|Bartholom(a)eus Eustachius}}
| birth_date        = 1500–1510
| birth_place       = [[San Severino Marche|San Severino]]
| death_date        = {{death date|df=y|1574|8|27}}
| death_place       = [[Fossombrone]]
| nationality       = Italian
| fields            = anatomist, university teacher, physician
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = 
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = [[Volcher Coiter]]
| known_for         = [[Eustachian tube]] [[Eustachian valve]]
}}
[[File:Eustachi t21.jpg|thumb|right|''Tabulae anatomicae'' (Rome, 1783): Table 21]]
[[File:Eustachi - Tabulae anatomicae, 1769 - 2981432.jpg|thumb|right|''Tabulae anatomicae'' (Rome, 1783): Title page]]

'''Bartolomeo Eustachi''' (1500–1510 – 27 August 1574), also known as '''Eustachio''' or by his [[Latin]] name of '''Bartholomaeus Eustachius''' ({{IPAc-en|j|uː|ˈ|s|t|eɪ|ʃ|ə|s}}), was an [[Italians|Italian]] [[anatomy|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 a wealthy and prominent physician. Bartolomeo received the required broad humanistic education typical of that time, and then studied medicine at the Archiginnasio della Sapienza in Rome. He was also well versed in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, which gave him access to 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 in 1549 was appointed Professor of Anatomy at the Papal College, the Archiginnasio dell [[Sapienza University|Sapienza]]. He soon obtained papal dispensation to dissect cadavers from patients from the Santo Spirito Hospital.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ep1wxrUgXW4C Rivista enciclopedica contemporanea], Editore Francesco Vallardi, Milan, (1913), entry by A Albertini, page 294.</ref>

During 1562 and 1563 Bartolomeo Eustachio (writing under the Latin surname Eustacius) wrote 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 cava and its valves (now known as the Eustachian valve). These works were organized and published (illustrated with eight plates) as ''Opscula Anatomica'' in 1564.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/eustachi_bio.html|website=Historical Anatomies on the Web, [[National Library of Medicine]], [[National Institutes of Health]] (nlm.nih.gov)|title=Eustachi, Bartholomeo. ''Tabulae anatomicae''. (Romae: Ex Typographia Pauli Junchi, 1783)}}</ref>

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 to conclude that its function was to avoid reflux of blood. He also discovered the thoracic canal. Trying to understand how diseases affected body structures, Eustachius made comparative anatomical analysis of healthy and disease-altered organs (pathological anatomy). Working with Pier Matteo Pini, he produced a series of 47 detailed drawings of the studied organs. This series of illustrations, ''Tabulae Anatomicae Clariviri'', was published in 1714.

Eustachio extended knowledge of the [[internal ear]] by rediscovering and describing correctly the ''[[Eustachian tube]]'' that bears his name.  He was the first to describe the internal and anterior muscles of the [[malleus]] and the [[stapedius]], and the complicated figure of the [[cochlea]]. He was the first to study accurately the anatomy of the teeth, and the phenomena of the first and second dentitions. Eustachius also discovered the [[adrenal glands]] (reported in 1563). His greatest work, which he was unable to publish,{{why?|date=June 2025}} was his ''[[Anatomical Engravings]]''. These were completed in 1552, nine years after [[Vesalius]] had published his magnum opus, ''[[De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem]]'' in Basel.

Published in 1714 by [[Giovanni Maria Lancisi]] at the expense of [[Pope Clement XI]], and again in 1744 by [[Cajetan Petrioli]], and again in 1744 by [[Bernhard Siegfried Albinus]], and subsequently at [[Bonn]] in 1790, the engravings show that Eustachius had dissected with the greatest care and diligence, and had taken the utmost pains to give accurate views of the shape, size, and relative position of the organs of the human body.

The first seven plates illustrate the history of the kidneys and some of the facts relating to the structure of the ear.  The eighth represents the heart, the ramifications of the [[vena azygos]], and the valve of the [[vena cava]]. The seven subsequent plates offer different views of the viscera of the chest and abdomen.  The seventeenth contains the brain and spinal cord; and the eighteenth more accurate views of the origin, course, and distribution of the nerves than had been given before.  Fourteen plates are devoted to the muscles.

Eustachius did not confine his researches to the study of comparative anatomy.  He attempted to derive the physiology of organs on the basis of their anatomy. He did not restrict himself to gross anatomy: what was too minute for unassisted vision he inspected by means of glasses (early [[microscopes]]). Structure that could not be understood in their pristine state he unfolded by maceration in different fluids, or rendered more distinct by injection and exsiccation.

He was known as a supporter of the 2nd century AD Roman anatomist [[Galen]],<ref>[https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/eustachi_bio.html Eustachi, Bartholomeo. Tabulae anatomicae. (Romae: Ex Typographia Pauli Junchi, 1783).]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thephysicianspalette.com/2012/11/27/eustachi-medical-cartographer/ |title=Bartolomeo Eustachi: Anatomical Cartographer &#124; the Physician's Palette |accessdate=2012-12-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209173454/http://thephysicianspalette.com/2012/11/27/eustachi-medical-cartographer/ |archivedate=2013-12-09 }}</ref> entering into a public dispute with the eminent contemporary anatomist, [[Vesalius]]. However, both made their anatomic observations from dissection of human cadavers.

Eustachius died in Umbria in 1574, during a trip to meet Cardinal della Rovere.

==Works==
* Bartolomeo,Eustachi (1564), "Opuscula Anatomica" 
* Bartolomeo Eustachi (1728), [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/nat_hist/id/32427 ''Tabulae anatomicae''] – digital facsimile from the [[Linda Hall Library]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner ''World of Anatomy and Physiology''  Vol. 1 
*Choulant, L. ''History and bibliography of anatomic illustration.'' Trans. and annotated by Mortimer Frank. (New York: Hafner, 1962). pp.&nbsp;200–204.
*''Dizionario biografico degli italiani.'' (Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1960- ). Vol. 43, pp.&nbsp;531–536.
*Roberts, K. B. "Eustachius and his anatomical plates." ''Newsletter of the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine'', (1979) Apr.: 9–13.

==External links==
* [https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/eustachi_home.html Bartholomeo Eustachi: ''Tabulae anatomicae'' (Rome, 1783)]. Selected pages scanned from the original work. Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
* {{CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05626d.htm|title=Bartolomeo Eustachius}}
* [http://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=contains&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Eustachi%2C+Bartolomeo%2C+-1574.+Tabulae+anatomicae Selected images from ''Tabulae anatomicae''] From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eustachi, Bartolomeo}}
[[Category:Italian anatomists]]
[[Category:1574 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian physicians]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Physicians from the Papal States]]