Life of Gerard Blasius, and His Description of the Spinal Cord

Abstract

Gerard Blasius (Blasius or Blaes) is a Dutch physician, chemist and anatomist. In this study, Gerard Blasius’ life, books and his contributions to neuroanatomy were researched. Blasius has written dozens of books. It is accepted that first important study of spinal cord is belong to Blasius. He depicted the horizontal section of the spinal cord and represented the white and gray matters in these drawings successfully. Besides, in these drawings, spinal ganglion, anterior median fissure, posterior median sulcus, brainstem, terminal filum, cerebellum, vertebral artery, anterior spinal artery and spinal dura mater are seen remarkably. In addition to being one of the leading scientists in anatomy, zootomy, botany and chemistry, Blasius’ description and drawing of spinal cord in detail must be seen as a success beyond the his time.