[The Anatomy Institutions of Jean Guinter d'Andernach (1487-1574), and André Vésale (1514-1564). ].

The text of the Anatomical Institutions of Johann Guinter von Andernach, in its original version, was published almost simultaneously in Paris and Basel in 1536. Guinter was then in his fiftieth year, and Andreas Vesalius who was his student in Paris between 1533 ans 1536, was only twenty-two years old. His studies being finished in Leuven and his thesis being published for the first edition in Leuven in February 1537, and for the second in Basel in March 1537, Vesalius went to Padua where he was named professor of anatomy and surgery. Vesalius, besides the reasons put forward in his dedicatory lettre to Johann Armenterianus, tried to have rapidly printed documents for his students. He published in this way in April 1538 the engraved version of the great plates which he had mostly drawn and used to support his demonstrations during sessions of dissection. For the accompanying text, he choosed the handbook of his Master Guinter von Andernach which he decided to edit incorporating modifications and which he published in Venice in 1538 by D. Bernardinus. The modifications made by Vesalius on the Guinter's text can be classified in several headings: minor adjustments, additions of anatomical comments, additions corroborating traditional physiology, and anecdotes peppering the text.