The low countries - 16th/17th century.

Andreas Vesalius and Jan Baptist Van Helmont are the two major personalities who contributed substantially and in a different way to the early development of renal anatomy/physiology of the 16th/17th century in the Southern Low Countries. The importance of A. Vesalius' publication 'de humani corporis fabrica libri septem' cannot be overestimated. The kidney was an intriguing organ to Vesalius, the function of which he could not fully grasp. J.B. Van Helmont was the first to demonstrate the importance of the measurement of the specific gravity of the urine and relating it to physiological and pathophysiological conditions. He made accurate clinical observations supported by autopsy examinations concerning the role of the kidney in the generation of dropsy.

The Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) and the kidney.

Andreas Vesalius was born in Brussels on December 31, 1514 from a long line of physicians. He died in Zante in 1564. He was a typical son of the Renaissance. In 1543, his two most important books were published: De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Libri Septum and the Epitome. The former was a book of over 700 pages with several illustrations, highly systematically composed and fully indexed. Andreas Vesalius was the first modern anatomist who based his anatomical descriptions on personal observation. The kidney was a fascinating organ to Vesalius, whose function, particularly regarding the production of urine, he did not fully grasp. He makes short work of the 'perforated membrane theory' which was the current conception of the origin of urine in the kidney. Andreas Vesalius broke with the established rigid and fabricated way of teaching anatomy, and introduced the modern concept of learning based on personal observations, using illustration combined with a critical spirit and sense of experiment.