He studied at
Leiden University. He subsequently succeeded his father
Johannes Heurnius as professor of medicine at Leiden University, and took over anatomy teaching from
Pieter Pauw from 1617. Alongside his practical anatomy teaching, he had the care of a very various collection of zoological and botanical specimens. The aims of the collection included reconstruction of the life of the
Israelites in
Egypt, as in the
Book of Exodus. He was also a
historian of philosophy, stressing the period before the philosophers of the
Ancient Greeks ("barbarian philosophy"). He based his ideas on the
Corpus Hermeticum. ==References==