Comments on: Health Institute Puts Viscera-Manikins on Parade

By: Nadya

Nadya — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:46:50 +0000

dirtynorth: Thanks for the tip!

By: dirtynorth

dirtynorth — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:48:55 +0000

those axe murderer style illustrations are by a guy named william hunter. he helped revolutionize obstetrics back in the 1730′s. his fetal atlases are frigging amazing. the engravings were done life size. if you want to see more of this kind of stuff you should really get your hands on a copy of a book called human anatomy by rifkin and ackerman.

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Renaissance-Digital-Age/dp/0810955458

By: David Forbes

David Forbes — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:29:13 +0000

Tequila: You’ve got an excellent point there and it does bring into sharp relief how bloody (literally) weird the human body looks on the inside.

I can only imagine how shocking it must have been to a medieval/early Renaissance mindset to get a first glimpse of this stuff, when there were no popular depictions of guts, a taboo against dissection and widespread illiteracy. It would seem to be the visual equivalent of the average reaction to first hearing gunpowder: shock at having one’s worldview changed so radically.

On a side note, as recently as the late 1800s gangs of medical students at universities used to go grave-robbing. When they were caught, the public response from their academic superiors usually ran something along the lines of: “Well what do you expect? Give us corpses or we’ll keep stealing them.”

By: Tequila

Tequila — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:05:08 +0000

Some of these had to have been the equivalent of a slasher/gore film for people beyond the medical trade. The book you sneak around and show to friends after a long day in whatever medieval job drove one to say “Now wouldn’t you want to do THIS to our Lord?”

Beautiful illustrations. I like the ones that show the more intricate or abstract parts of the body. Some look almost like flowers yet to bloom and others like weird alien things found in the sea. Kind of a shame we don’t have many books like this around anymore…they’re so academic and proper now that some of the magic & mystery is lost.

By: rickie

rickie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:12:19 +0000

i actually really enjoy drawing grotesque body parts. i am a little envious of the lower torso artist.

By: Joseph Francis

Joseph Francis — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:30:18 +0000

“He says the thigh rash is the worst part”

By: john colby

john colby — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:12:09 +0000

there a section on the text in James Burkes ” the day the Universe changed” Book/tv show. they re-enact some of it.

By: David Forbes

David Forbes — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:06:52 +0000

So… who’s hungry?

Me! Let’s all go for ribs!

In all seriousness, those are amazing, the Persian one especially. Though I think the medieval surgery cover might be my favorite. The wounds were so grievous not even the ruffles on his pants could save him.