The Anatomy of Humane Bodies, with Figures Drawn after the Life by Some of the Best Masters

1698

Monro Collection M52

Oxford: Printed at the Theater, for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, London

Galen (130-201 AD), a notable physician to a number of Emperors in the first century AD, was a strong advocate of massage, even applying this treatment to the bodies of gladiators to ward off physical injuries. He thus has the distinction of being one of the first to develop Sports Massage. Integral to the use of massage as a preventive and restorative treatment is the role muscles play within the body. This is the first edition of William Cowper’s The Anatomy of Humane Bodies (1698), which contains some 114 superbly executed engravings of the human body. Here is an engraving by Michiel van der Gucht (1660-1725) of Henry Cooke’s drawing which depicts the back view of the entire musculature. The terminology used in the book would be familiar to almost every physiotherapist.