[Vesalius or the fascinating encounter of art and anatomy]. / Vésale ou la rencontre éblouissante de l'art et de l'anatomie.

The De Humani Corporis Fabrica is an essential moment in the history of western civilization. Being a headline of the Renaissance, it is far more than an anatomical textbook and an artistic masterpiece, that will stay unrivalled for a long time. The Fabrica indeed gives us a new vision of Man and of the World, bound together with an unprecedented rise of science and technology, providing Europe with the opportunity to outpace decisively the parallel civilizations. In this respect, we analyse the Fabrica both in its scientific and its artistic aspect; we show that if Vesalius takes part in the anatomical revolution in his time, it is too schematic to call him "the father of modern anatomy" while other anatomists of his time also took part in that revolution. On the other hand, the radically enforced a new view of the human body that will stamp anatomical knowledge and its practice for several centuries.

[Surgeons and the spirit of surgery in France during the 18th century]. / Les chirurgiens et l'espirit chirurgical en France au XVIIIème siècle.

In less than a century, French surgery changed completely by ceasing to be an uncertain technique practised by routine practitioners and becoming a scientific discipline. This transformation involves the 4 following aspects: 1. The surgeon becomes an anatomist, a scientist, a clinician and a pathologist. 2. New structures and new teaching methods are adopted. 3. The separation between medicine and surgery progressively decreases; if not structurally at least in fact, surgery becomes associated to medicine. 4. Surgery takes a prominent place in the private life of the French. In the light of these facts, it could be said that surgery has developed medicine to a point where it raises new hopes for the scientific world and gains the support and esteem of the public at the end of the XVIIIth century.