Franz Sylvius

FRANZ SYLVIUS (Franz Sylvius de le Boë; 1614-1672), known French physician, born into a Protestant family in the city of Cambrai (France), which had emigrated to the Netherlands due to religious persecutions in the second half of the 16th century. S. studied medicine in Dutch and German universities; received his doctor's degree in Basel; for a long time worked as a practicing physician in Prussia, then went to Paris and Leiden to continue his education, where he gave lectures on Harvey's discovery. From 1641, for 17 years, S. worked as an outstanding physician in Leiden and Amsterdam. S. set as his task to establish therapeutic medicine on the data of anatomy, physiology, and clinical observations. In therapy, he was a devoted follower of Hippocrates. S. was the first to describe tubercles and to indicate their significance in tuberculosis. In anatomy, he and his students (Bartholin and Van Linden) made a number of discoveries, and there are many terms named after him (ossiculum, aquaeductus, fissura and fossa, sagitta quadrata Sylvii). S. was at the same time an brilliant teacher.