Picturing the body : five centuries of medical images an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Ken Arnold.

  • Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
Date:
1993
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Picturing the body : five centuries of medical images an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Ken Arnold. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/24 (page 8)
    THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BODY In the Renaissance, medical exploration had concentrated on large-scale anatomy. In the seventeenth century, inquirers had turned in addition to the experimental analysis of organs such as the heart. In the eighteenth cen- tury, the focus of investigative attention shifted again, this time to less imme- diately visible body systems. Two were particularly dominant: the nervous and the reproductive. Both inquiries were pursued as contributions to the description and clas- sification of the human body: its 'natural history'. In each case, the findings were recorded and published in existing representational traditions, though with progressively more elaborate and larger-scale printing techniques. Both investigations resounded with profound philosophical implica- tions. Tracing the fine texture of the nervous system raised the question of how the material body related to the spiritual mind. Exploring the reproduc- tive system and the development of the foetus led to a general consideration of the nature of life itself. Plate from Sir Charles Bell, The anatomy of the brain explained in a series of engravings. London, 1802. A Scottish anatomist and physiologist, Bell did research in a number of areas, most significantly on the nervous system. His most influential idea was that individual nerve elements acted independently via the central system. Plate from Alexander Monro [secundus], Observations on the structure and func- tions of the nervous system. Edinburgh, 1783. After studying in Paris, Leyden and Berlin, Monro became one of the leading teachers of the Edinburgh school. In this work, his researches showed a strong inclination toward physiological concerns. In the text, he also philosophically contended that the brain acted as a medium between the mind and the body. Plate from Felix Vicq-d'Azyr, Traite d'anatomie et de physiologic Paris, 1786. The early section of this volume, which was intended to be the first of a large series, was devoted to the brain. The plates, remarkable examples of the sophisticated tech- nique of aquatinting, were much admired and often copied.