![]() ![]() Tortuous vessels in old people were of special interest to Leonardo. In the days of the autopsy on the centenarian, Leonardo also did an autopsy on a two-year old child: ‘here I found everything the contrary to what it was in the case of the old man.’ 9 He makes an interesting observation: ‘the vessels in the old acquire great length and those which used to be straight become bent, and the coat thickens so much that they close themselves up and stop the movement of the blood.’ 10 ![]() ![]() Leonardo also theorises on the cause of the degeneration of the vessels: ‘I consider that a thing which is nearer to that which feeds it increases more, and for this reason these vessels being a sheath of the blood that nourishes the body it nourishes the vessels so much the more as they are closer to the blood.’ 8 This quote states that the thickening of the intima is due to nourishment of the blood they contain, which brings to mind the role of cholesterol in atherosclerosis. As he put it in one of his many metaphors: ‘this coat of the vessels acts in man as in oranges, in which the peel becomes thicker and the pulp diminishes the more they become old.’ 7 This remark is followed by: ‘and the process continues until it affects the capillary vessels which are the first to close completely, and from this it comes to pass that the old fear the cold more than the young, and that those who are very old have their skin the colour of wood, or of dried chestnut, because this skin is almost completely derived of sustenance.’ 6 It is clear that Leonardo realised that the process of ageing is linked to degeneration of the vessels. He sees the vascular system as a one-way street and therefore believes that the narrowing of the vessels starts near the source of sustenance, that is the digestive system. 5 It is important to realise that Leonardo was not aware of the concept of Circulation. Leonardo continues: ‘the old who enjoy good health die through lack of sustenance, and this is brought about by the continuous narrowing of the passage of the mesenteric vessels by thickening of the coats of these vessels’. Then Leonardo did something remarkable for a man without medical training: ‘I made an autopsy in order to ascertain the cause of so peaceful a death, and found that it proceeded from weakness through the failure of blood and of the artery that feeds the heart and the other lower members, which I found to be very dry, shrunken and withered.’ 4 Since ‘the artery that feeds the heart’ also feeds ‘lower members’, this passage does not refer to a coronary artery but probably to the aorta. However, while Leonardo was at his bedside, the centenarian suddenly passed away ‘without any movement or sign of anything amiss’. Somewhere between 15, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) met a very old man in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, who told him he was a hundred years of age and did not feel, in Leonardo's own words, ‘any bodily ailment other than weakness’. ![]()
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