This article is part of the series "A Moment in History" where we honor those who have contributed to the growth of medical knowledge in the areas of anatomy, medicine, surgery, and medical research.

Adrian Van Der Spigelius

Adriaan Van Der Spigelius (1578 - 1625). Sometimes knows as Adrianus Spigelius, was a Flemish surgeon, anatomist, and botanist born in Brussels. Just as Vesalius, he studied at the University of Louvain, and later in Padua, Italy. Having settled as a professor of anatomy in Venice, in 1616 he was offered and accepted the Chair of Anatomy at Padua. His posthumous work "De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri X" was published in 1627.

Spigelius described the caudate lobe of the liver and the "linea semilunaris", the lateral border of the rectus abdominis muscle. Today, a ventral hernia that occurs in the linea semilunaris is said to be an "Spigelian hernia".

His name is also associated with the Spigelian fascia, formed by the combined aponeuroses of the external oblique muscle, the internal oblique muscle and the transversus abdominis muscle.

If you hover over Spigelius' image, you will see an anatomical drawing depicting the linea semilunaris (arrow).

Original image courtesy of Wikipedia. Hover image property of:CAA.Inc.. Artist:D.M. Klein