Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani (Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body), a self-funded project. He commissioned the artist Jan Wandelaar (1690-1759) to assist. Wandelaar had a sense of humour. Many of the skeletal forms are executed against whimsical backgrounds; in this instance, the famed Indian rhinoceros Clara, who was displayed to crowds throughout Europe between 1741 and 1758. Here is the engraved frontal image, with Clara as the backdrop.]]> Bernard Siegfried Albinus]]> Books]]> Bernard Siegfried Albinus]]> Books]]> Catoptrum microcosmicum, published in 1619. This scarce Dutch edition of his Pinax Microcosmographicus, printed in 1667, offers engravings of two anatomical figures and their veins, and male and female figures that could well be termed ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’. The drawings done by Remmelin were rendered into engravings by the Augsburg artist Lucas Kilian (1579-1637).]]> Johann Remmelin]]> Books]]> Pinax Microcosmographicus - a flap book.]]> Johann Remmelin]]> Books]]> Pinax Microcosmographicus - a flap book.]]> Johann Remmelin]]> Books]]> Pinax Microcosmographicus - a flap book.]]> Johann Remmelin]]> Books]]> English Physician, a mixture of herbalism and astrology, was published in 1652. This is the 12th edition of 1809. The book is still in print today.]]> Nicholas Culpeper]]> Books]]> On the Influence of the Sun and Moon upon Human Bodies and the Diseases Arising Therefrom (1704). This page refers to the anatomy of vipers.]]> Richard Mead]]> Books]]> Pharmacopoeia.]]> William Salmon]]> Books]]> Francis Glisson]]> Books]]> Tractatus de Rachitide sive Morbo Puerili (A Work on Rickets or the Disease of Children). In it, he describes what he thought was a completely new disease, but in reality rickets as a disease was already known to the medical fraternity as a result of increased urbanisation and changing infant feeding practices of the 17th century. However, Glisson’s work was important because it revealed that rickets first develops in children aged 4 to 6 months, is not hereditary or contagious, and is caused by the lack of good nutrition.]]> Francis Glisson]]> Books]]> Tractatus de Ventriculo et Intestinis is a work that deals with the stomach and intestine, the peritoneum, omentum, abdominal muscles, skin, hair, and fat. In addition to giving a theory of digestion and fermentation, Glisson also discusses embryogenesis; a process that he studied when he was an assistant to Dr William Harvey. Importantly, Tractatus expands on Glisson’s theory of ‘irritability’ or response to stimuli of all tissues – a topic later made famous by Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777), the Swiss anatomist. Much of Glisson’s physiology was philosophical, and toward the end of the book he refers to ‘the sweetness of speculation’.]]> Francis Glisson]]> Books]]> Santiago Ramón y Cajal]]> Books]]> Thomas Willis]]> Books]]> Notomie is a copy of the seventh figure from Andreas Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica. The illustration top left is a dissected diaphragm with the two crural (leg-like in shape) attachments. The larger of the two holes is for the oesophagus and the smaller for the vena cava. However, they have been incorrectly transposed (the oesophagus should be on the left and vena cava on the right), as this and all the other illustrations in the work are mirror image copies of Vesalius’ originals. The ‘D.B.S.’ stands for Domenico Bonaveri Sculpsit. Bonaveri was the engraver.]]> Domenico Bonaveri]]> Books]]> The strong, energised, naturalistic poses of the men figured in the drawings have come from cadavers. There is a compelling and disturbing juxtaposition of gross detail and energy, even in the way the skeleton crosses its legs. The most disturbing image within is the engraving of the body of a man suspended from the gallows. It’s a gruesome and fascinating book.’ ]]> Domenico Bonaveri]]> Books]]> Antoine Laurent Lavoisier]]> Books]]> Joseph Priestley]]> Books]]> Jan Swammerdam]]> Books]]>
This is the frontispiece of Vesalius’s 1555 work.
The coat of arms at the top features three weasels. The weasels are the insignia of the town of Wesel, where the Vesalius family lived.
Standing behind the dissected body, there is an articulated skeleton. This highlights Vesalius’s notion that the logical order of anatomical study was from the skeleton outwards.

The female cadaver is placed diagonally on the table so that there is room to show the various knives and a sponge used for dissection. Female cadavers were also hard to obtain so there is an element of bragging here by depicting one.

There are three robed figures (two on the left of the table, one almost hidden by the other, and the other on the right distracted by the dog) that surely represent Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen.

On the left hand-side of the dissected body stands Vesalius, who is looking straight at the ‘camera’. He has one hand on the corpse; the other points upwards, perhaps to the heavens.]]>
Andreas Vesalius]]> Books]]>
Reinier de Graaf]]> Books]]> Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium, published in 1651, summarizes his work. In it, he discusses conception, embryogenesis, and spontaneous generation. In the frontispiece, we see Zeus opening an egg out of which everything springs: plants, fish, snakes, birds, as well as humans.]]> William Harvey]]> Books]]> William Smellie]]> Books]]> R.S. Croxson and M.D. Goddard]]> Dissertations]]> Abortion in England, 1900-1967 (1988).' This item was chosen by Professor Barbara Brookes, University of Otago]]> Donald McAllister]]> Dissertations]]>