Vesalius on the variability of the human skull: Book I chapter V of De humani corporis fabrica

Vesalius' short chapter on craniology and the "unnatural" shapes that skull s could take is a uniquely interesting illustration of the young anatomist' s position halfway between a traditional belief in a standard or canonical "natural" human anatomy and the host of variations confronted in his day-to -day observation of actual cadavers. His interest in variability is marked in both editions of DE humani coporis fabrica (1543, 1555), and it is no co incidence that two Of the anatomical features that today bear the great ana tomist's name are atypical. In their shape, all of the five skulls that ill ustrate Chapter 5 of Book I of the Fabrica fall within margins of variabili ty recognized as standard today, but even in Vesalius' own century it was n oticed that the sutures in the four "unnatural" skulls do not occur in real life. The article considers the meaning of this unusual departure from his reliance upon observation and includes a translation of Vesalius' craniolo gy chapter from the original Latin, with annotations and two appendices con taining his 1555 revisions and clinical addenda. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss. Inc.