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Two hundred years ago, the first of the nine volumes of Paolo Mascagni's Anatomia universa was published posthumously. This work was the fruit of a project that preoccupied Mascagni for most of his life: the Atlas of anatomy, which was the perfect replica on paper of the dissection, a fundamental part of the teaching of this discipline.Mascagni's treatises testify to the modernity of his approach to medical education, and his deep conviction that the main objective was to educate young people and to enable them to acquire the most perfect knowledge of the structure of the human body.

Two hundred years ago, the first of the nine volumes of Paolo Mascagni’s Anatomia universa was published posthumously. This work was the fruit of a project that had occupied Mascagni for most of his life: an Atlas of anatomy that was the perfect replica on paper of dissection, a fundamental part of the teaching of this discipline. Through a short journey that traces some of the most important passages in the life of the great anatomist, the authors commemorate the Anatomia universa, an extraordinary work in the history and teaching of medicine. To do so, they draw on information and recover evocative Anatomical plates that are still conserved intact today in the prestigious Museum of Siena. The plates are organized to reveal the body from the superficial muscle layer down to the skeleton, as in the process of dissection. For the first time in the history of anatomy, the plates were life-size. Furthermore, in an original manner, and again for the first time, these plates showed the network of lymphatic vessels that Mascagni had brought to light a few years earlier. The beauty and perfection of these drawings are the result of Mascagni’s knowledge and his ability to recruit the most expert artists and engravers of the time. Mascagni’s treatises testify to the modernity of his approach to medical education, and his deep conviction that the main objective was to educate young people and to enable them to acquire the most perfect knowledge of the structure of the human body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the great anatomists, Paolo Mascagni introduced important innovations into the methods of studying anatomy, as revealed both by his writings and, especially, by his approach to the analysis of anatomical sciences. He devoted his whole life to the study of anatomy, which he considered a mainstay of medical education. Mascagni’s great originality in this field lay in the fact that he designed new, modern tools for the teaching of anatomy – tools that enabled students to gain greater understanding of the human body even in the absence of dissection, which was regarded as indispensable in those days. His two most important results were the first description of the lymphatic system and the clear and precise anatomical tables of the Anatomia Universa. This “modern and evocative anatomical atlas” was the f rst to present precise, life-size drawings of the human body. The present overview aims to illustrate the modernity of this great scientist, his approach to the study of anatomy, his meticulous attention to topographical anatomy, and the utility of his innovative methods, which were to mark the evolution of medical education for many years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the beginning of the XIX century, when both vascular and cellular texture theories concerning the penis structure were still coexisting, three figures were involved in the controversy about the priority of the discovery of the vascular nature of human erectile tissues: Paolo Mascagni (1755-1815), represented by his pupil Tommaso Farnese (1780-1829), and Alessandro Moreschi (1771-1826). In the Elogio del celebre anatomico Paolo Mascagni (1816), Farnese attributed to his mentor the demonstration in 1809 of the continuity between arteries and veins and the description of venous plexuses, this term replacing the previous and misleading name of spongy body attributed to the inner part of penis. But in 1817 Moreschi inflamed the dispute, claiming for the priority of that discovery, with the publication of his anatomical work and a polemical essay against Farnese [1]. Farnese promptly replied with Note addizionali del Dottore Tommaso Farnese al suo elogio di Paolo Mascagni (1818) [2], where he reported a meeting with Moreschi in Bologna in 1810. In that occasion, Farnese explained a Mascagni's technique to perfuse urethral blood vessels that Moreschi would have plagiarized. Furthermore, Farnese also included eight testimonies claiming to have seen Mascagni performing such injections before 1810. The Prodromo della grande anatomia, a posthumous work of Mascagni edited in1819, includes a plate dedicated to the structure of the urethra and a comprehensive view of this scientific story. In short, Mascagni developed a technique to inject urethral blood vessels, but Moreschi was the first to publish an accurate work on this subject. For this reason, many Italian and international authors have attributed to the latter the discovery of the venous circulation of the urethra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]