Collecting and Recollecting: Gifts from the Recent Past

Publications

14. Veins of the Arm
Taken from Harvey, Exercitatio anatomica de motu
cordis et sanguinis in animbalibus, 1628

American Frohse Anatomical Wall Charts
manufactured between 1918 and 1939
A.J. Nystrom and Co. Publishers, Chicago

These wall charts, originally purchased by The University of Iowa Biology Department, were used for classroom instruction until the 1970's. Slide projections have now replaced these once common wall charts for lecture instruction.

Franz Frohse, of the University of Berlin, created a series of anatomical drawings which, because of their accuracy and clarity, were quickly adopted for instruction in this country. Commerce was interrupted at the outbreak of World War I, and these German illustrations, much in demand for medical instruction, were reproduced in the United States. The original Frohse drawings were edited and additional charts, drawn by Max Brodel of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, were added to the series.

The American Frohse Anatomical Charts were copyrighted in 1918 and became the classroom standard. The organization of the abdominal charts was especially useful because of the four successive layers illustrating the underlying organs. The illustration of the male and female pelvis was added in 1922, and the drawing of the endocrine glands, supplemented with photographs taken through a microscope, was added in 1939.

The anatomical drawings of the crayfish, worm and frog, also used by the Biology Department, are French illustrations and demonstrate a more lyrical approach to anatomical drawing in comparison with the German illustrations.

Gift of The Department of Biology, The University of Iowa

Dr. Chase's Third, Last and Complete Receipt Book and Household Physician
By A.W. Chase, M. D.
Detroit: F.B. Dikerson. Copyright 1882.
1907

In this popular self-help remedy book, Dr. Chase compiled a wide-ranging collection of recipes for home medication. Collected from a variety of sources including physicians, the public and even newspaper accounts, these therapeutic "recipes" are accompanied by testimonials -- stories of people who have tried and recommended the remedies.

Sections covering symptoms and treatment of diseases describe common ailments and offer a variety of "tried and practical" cures. In many instances, readers are given a number of choices for the treatment of one ailment; for example, twelve different options are offered for the treatment of rheumatism.

Chapters on self-help medicine are followed by homemaking tips, cook-book recipes, and advice on topics such as husbandry. Such practical wisdom promises to fulfill the "everyday wants of the people." Among hundreds of practical "how to" entries are suggestions for small-scale manufacture of such items as apple cider vinegar.

At the time, single recipes were sometimes sold for exorbitant prices if they were thought to be of commercial value (an exchange called "gulling"). Dr. Chase promoted his book by explaining that it contained hundreds of valuable recipes and cures which, if purchased singly, would amount to many times the price of the whole book. His motto was "Why Conceal What Relieves Distress?"

"Easily Worth the Price," Dr. Chase's Receipt Bookwas sold by traveling agents, door-to-door, to assure distribution of the "Book for the Millions."

Gift of Elizabeth Keyser Means, Iowa City

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