Stock Photo - Syntagma Anatomicum is the first anatomical work of its kind, published in 1647 by Johannes Veslingius. It was the first comprehensive anatomical textbook based on observation and direct experience, and one of the founding works of the scientific medical tradition in Europe. It treats anatomical structure in a systematic and comparative way, using a methodical approach that went beyond the traditional Hippocratic and Galenic method of describing body parts without paying much attention to their function and relations. Veslingius introduced several innovations, such as representing anatomic structures in their own motion, or exposing the grand scale of human anatomical structure by comparing it to a mussel or clam. The work was highly acclaimed by both practitioners and academic scholars, and went through numerous editions and translations throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Its lasting influence on the development of anatomical thought was immense and dramatic.