André du Laurens1558–1609

The brain of Laurentius

André du Laurens, latinized as Andreas Laurentius, was appointed professor of anatomy at Montpellier in 1586. His anatomical plates were based on those of Vesalius, and the one in which he is portrayed can be found in Historia Anatomica of 1589. His book, A Discourse of the Preservation of the Sight: of Melancholic Diseases; of Rheumes, and of Old Age was translated into English in 1599. With regard to vision he wrote: “Finally, the eye is like vnto the looking glasse, and this receiueth all such shapes as are brought vnto it, without sending any thing of it owne vnto the object. They differ onely in this, that the looking glasse hath no power to recommend his formes and shapes vnto their judge, as the eye doth vnto the common sense by the nerue opticke.” In 1600 he moved to Paris to assume the role of royal physician, and he died in that city.