Professor Ilya Vasilyevich Buyalsky (1789–1866) (on the 235th anniversary of his birth)

An outstanding anatomist and surgeon, scientist and teacher, talented artist, Privy Councilor, Honored Professor and Academician of the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy, Honorary Member of the Medical Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, Professor Ilya Vasilyevich Buyalsky was born on July 26 (August 6, new style), 1789 in the village of Vorobyovka, Novgorod-Seversky district, Chernigov province, in a family of noble origin. After graduating from the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy in 1814, I. V. Buyalsky received the position of prosector at the Department of Anatomy under the direction of Professor P. A. Zagorsky. In 1817, he was appointed associate Professor of Anatomy. In 1823, he presented a treatise «Some Circumstances Determining the Pathology and Therapy of Aneurysms» at the Academy conference and, after a public defense, he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Medicine. At the same time, the detailed description and corresponding report at the conference on 210 complex surgical interventions he performed served as the basis for receiving the degree of Doctor of Surgery. In 1825, I. V. Buyalsky was elected extraordinary, and in 1831, ordinary Professor of the department of Anatomy of the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy (he headed the department from 1833 to 1844) and consultant of the Mariinsky Hospital (1831–1864). From 1833, he served as surgeon of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, and from 1835 – chief doctor of all cadet corps. Since 1829, I. V. Buyalsky was the head of the St. Petersburg Surgical Instrumental Plant, which produced various instruments for doctors. In 1828, I. V. Buyalsky published an outstanding work «Anatomical and surgical tables explaining the operations of ligation of large arteries», which became the first domestic atlas on topographic anatomy and operative surgery, combining educational and practical manuals. Later, two more volumes of the atlas were published, devoted to other topics of topographic anatomy and surgery (1835 and 1852). I. V. Buyalsky stood at the origins of teaching plastic anatomy in our country. Having a natural inclination towards fine arts, Ilya Vasilyevich became a Professor of Anatomy at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1831, and in 1842, he was the first Russian physician to be elected its Academician. In 1837, he published a lithographic manual «Anatomy for Painters and Sculptors». I. V. Buyalsky is one of the founders of forensic medicine. Professor Ilya Vasilyevich Buyalsky died on December 8 (20 according to the new style), 1866 and was buried at the Bolsheohtinskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg.