Editing Jacob B. Winslow

{{short description|Danish-born French anatomist}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Jacob Winsløw.jpg
| caption = Winslow in an 1886 illustration
| birth_name =  Jacob Benignus Winslow
| birth_place = [[Odense]], Denmark
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1669|04|17|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1760|04|03|1669|04|17|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
}}
'''Jacob Benignus [[Winsløw family|Winsløw]]''', also known as '''Jacques-Bénigne Winslow''' (17 April 1669 – 3 April 1760), was a [[Denmark|Danish]]-born French [[anatomist]].

== Life ==
Winsløw was born in [[Odense]], Denmark. Later he became a pupil and successor of [[Guichard Joseph Duverney]], as well as a convert to [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]], naturalized in [[France]], and finally became professor of anatomy at the [[Jardin des Plantes|Jardin du Roi]] in [[Paris]]. 

He greatly admired Bishop [[Jacques-Benigne Bossuet|Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]], the famous preacher who had been instrumental in his conversion, and changed his first name to that of Bossuet.

Winsløw died in Paris.

== Work ==
His main work, with many translations, was ''Exposition anatomique de la structure du corps humain'', published in 1732. His exposition of the structure of the human body is distinguished for being not only the first treatise of descriptive [[anatomy]], divested of physiological details and hypothetical explanations foreign to the subject, but for being a close description derived from actual objects, without reference to the writings of previous anatomists. About the same time [[William Cheselden]] in London, the first [[Alexander Monro (primus)|Alexander Monro]] in [[Edinburgh]], and [[Bernhard Siegfried Albinus]] in [[Leiden]], contributed by their several treatises to render anatomy still more precise as a descriptive science. The ''Osteographia'' of the first-mentioned was of much use in directing attention to the study of the [[skeleton]] and the morbid changes to which it is liable.

In 1742, he addressed the question of the sure signs of death and [[premature burial]] (burial alive), in his thesis "The uncertainty of the [[signs of death]], and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8M_AAAAcAAJ | title=Dissertation sur l'incertitude des signes de la mort, et l'abus des enterremens, et embaumens précipités | last1=Benigne-Winslow | first1=Jacques | year=1742 }}</ref> (in French :  ''Dissertation sur l'incertitude des signes de la mort, et des enterremens & embaumemens précipités'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldcat.org/fr/title/dissertation-sur-lincertitude-des-signes-de-la-mort-et-labus-des-enterremens-embaumemens-precipites-par-m-jacques-benigne-winslow-docteur-regent-de-la-faculte-de-medecine-de-paris-de-lacademie-roiale-des-sciences-c-traduite-commentee-par-jacques-jean-bruhier-docteur-en-medecine/oclc/490479611|title=Dissertation sur l'incertitude des signes de la mort, et l'abus des enterremens, & embaumemens précipités : par M. Jacques Benigne-Winslow, Docteur-Régent de la Faculté de Médecine de Paris, de l'Académie Roiale des Sciences, &c. Traduite, & commentée par Jacques Jean Bruhier, Docteur en Médecine &#124; WorldCat.org}}</ref>
<!-- Thesis An Mortis incertae Signa minus incerta a chirurgicis quam ab aliis Experimentis Lat et Gal 12mo Paris 1752 -->

The [[omental foramen]], which he first described, is still known under the alternative name of "Winslow's foramen".

Jacob Winslow is credited with first documenting the existence of the [[foramen spinosum]]. <ref name=KRAYEN2008>{{cite journal|last=Krayenbühl|first=Niklaus|author2=Isolan, Gustavo Rassier |author3=Al-Mefty, Ossama |title=The foramen spinosum: a landmark in middle fossa surgery|journal=Neurosurgical Review|date=2 August 2008|volume=31|issue=4|pages=397–402|doi=10.1007/s10143-008-0152-6|pmid=18677523|s2cid=37126697|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/13382/1/ZORA_NL_13382.pdf}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Guichard Joseph Duverney]]
* [[Hermann Treschow Gartner]]
* [[Jacques-René Tenon]]

== Sources ==
* {{in lang|da}} Egill Snorrason, ''Anatomen J. B. Winsløw 1669-1760'', Nyt Nordisk Forlag, 1969.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* ''Exposition anatomique de la structure du corps humain'' online:
** {{google books|JApbAAAAQAAJ|Volume 1|page=PR3}} (1732)
** {{google books|SUebehs3g0gC|Volume 2|page=PR5-IA1}} (1776)
** {{google books|1Q3a7Rl2qFcC|Volume 3|page=PP7}}
* [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2960.html Short biography] on [[Who Named It?]]

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winslow, Jacob B.}}
[[Category:1669 births]]
[[Category:1760 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Odense]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Denmark–Norway]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]
[[Category:Danish anatomists]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Winsløw family]]
[[Category:Immigrants to France]]