Franciscus Sylvius | |
|---|---|
 Franciscus Sylvius | |
| Born | Franz de le Boë 15 March 1614 (1614-03-15) |
| Died | 19 November 1672(1672-11-19) (aged 58) |
| Education | Academy of Sedan Leiden University University of Basel (M.D., 1637) |
| Known for | Sylvian fissureAqueduct of Sylvius |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Leiden University |
| Theses |
|
| Doctoral advisor | Emmanuel Stupanus |
| Other academic advisors | Adolph Vorstius Otto Heurnius |
| Doctoral students | Burchard de Volder[1] |
| Other notable students | Ehrenfried von Tschirnhaus |
Franciscus Sylvius (Dutch:[frɑnˈsɪskʏsˈsɪlvijʏs],Ecclesiastical Latin:[franˈtʃiskusˈsilvi.us]; bornFranz de le Boë;[needs IPA] 15 March 1614 – 19 November 1672) was aDutchphysician andscientist (chemist,physiologist andanatomist) who was an early champion ofDescartes',Van Helmont's andWilliam Harvey's work and theories. He was one of the earliest defenders ofthe theory of circulation of the blood in the Netherlands, and commonly falsely cited as the inventor ofgin[2] – others pinpoint the origin of gin to Italy.[3]
Sylvius, aLatinization of "de le Boë" translated as "of the woods", was born inHanau to an affluent family originally fromCambrai, but worked and died in the Netherlands.
He studied medicine at theProtestantAcademy of Sedan, and from 1632 to 1634 atLeiden University underAdolph Vorstius andOtto Heurnius.[4] In 1634 he held a dissertation titledPositiones variae medicae (Various Medical Positions) under the direction of Vorstius,[5] in which he defended the proposition that there should be apulmonary circulation. After that Sylvius made a study tour toJena andWittenberg.[5]
On 16 March 1637 he defended adoctoral thesis titledDe animali motu ejusque laesionibus (On Animal Movement and its Disorders) at theUniversity of Basel under the direction ofEmmanuel Stupanus.[5] After practicing medicine in his hometown Hanau he returned to Leiden in 1639 to lecture. In this period he became famous for his demonstrations oncirculation. From 1641 on he had a lucrative medical practice inAmsterdam. While in Amsterdam he metGlauber, who introduced him tochemistry. In 1658 he was appointed the professor of medicine at Leiden University and was paid 1800 guilders which was twice the usual salary. He was the university's Vice-Chancellor in 1669–70.
In 1669 Sylvius founded the first academic chemical laboratory.[6] For this reason, the building in which the Institute of Biology of Leiden University is housed has the nameSylvius Laboratory. His most famous students wereJan Swammerdam,Reinier de Graaf,Niels Stensen andBurchard de Volder.
He founded theIatrochemical School of Medicine, according to which all life and disease processes are based on chemical actions. That school of thought attempted to understand medicine in terms of universal rules of physics and chemistry. Sylvius also introduced the concept of chemical affinity as a way to understand the way the human body uses salts and contributed greatly to the understanding of digestion and of bodily fluids. The most important work he published wasPraxeos medicae idea nova (New Idea in Medical Practice, 1671). Specifically, he explained that digestion is a result of the chemical reactions of acids and bases coming from pancreatic, stomach, and saliva secretions.[7]
He researched the structure of thebrain and was credited as the discoverer of the cleft in the brain known asSylvian fissure byCaspar Bartholin in his 1641 bookCasp. Bartolini Institutiones Anatomicae[8] In this book, it is noted that in the preface that "We can all measure the nobility of Sylvius’s brain and talent by the marvelous, new structure of the brain". And also, "In the new images of the brain, the engraver followed the design and scalpel of the most thorough Franciscus Sylvius, to whom we owe, in this part, everything that the brain has the most, or the most wonderful of".[8]
However Caspar Bartholin died in 1629 and Franciscus Sylvius only started medicine in 1632 and it has been argued that the words in this word describing the Sylvian fissure are either by his sonThomas Bartholin or indeed Franciscus Sylvius.[8] In 1663 in hisDisputationem Medicarum, Franciscus Sylvius under his own name described the lateral fissure: "Particularly noticeable is the deep fissure or hiatus which begins at the roots of the eyes (oculorum radices) [...] it runs posteriorly above the temples as far as the roots of the brain stem (medulla radices). [...] It divides the cerebrum into an upper, larger part and a lower, smaller part".[8]
TheSylvian fissure and theSylvian aqueduct are named after him.
Themineralsylvite was also named for Sylvius.[9]
His bookOpera Medica, published posthumously in 1679, recognizesscrofula and phthisis as forms oftuberculosis.
He owned a collection of 190 paintings, nine byFrans van Mieris and eleven byGerard Dou, in the 17th century highly valued and pricey painters.[10]
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