Andreas Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, Basel: ex. off. J. Oporini, 1543, p. 125, woodcut, leaf height 43 cm, N*.1.2(A).

Not all of the images in the Fabrica were full-scale figures that filled up a page. Here is a depiction of the smallest structure, the sesamoid bones from the toe; the ones at AB (outer sesamoid) are described as hulled chickpeas and the ones at CD (small lateral sesamoid) as solid and resistant to decay, though they can be broken and burnt. This feature is important, as Vesalius cites the belief in the inner ossicle of the right big toe, called ‘albardaran’ in the Arabic tradition, as incorruptible, and possessing magical qualities as the seed from which the body would be resurrected in the future. He also reports the case of three Venetian women who were executed for killing a boy in order to compare his living heart to this ossicle, though this may be Vesalius’s adaptation of a story from Horace’s Epode of three witches killing a boy in order to use his liver for a love charm.