The Illuminated Body: Representation in Medicine and Culture
The Anatomical Body
"...Anatomy... differs essentially from natural history. ...natural history dwells upon forms, upon the exterior qualities of bodies, and is restricted, in whatever guise, to skimming their surfaces. Anatomy goes further: it penetrates bodies, divides them, isolates the parts of which they are composed, and seeks to lift the veil hiding the secret of their organization."
Francesco Atommarchi, 1826
Anatomy
| Each culture has a theory of the body that determines anatomical descriptions. The pre-modern practice of dissection however, has always been surrounded by moral anguish and legal constraints. Up until about 1540, anatomical drawing was based largely on guesswork. In the last 100 years, new technologies such as X rays and better dissecting methods have enabled vast improvements in anatomical drawings. Artists have also contributed by improving the technical quality of the drawings. These illustrations show a progression from speculation to scientific accuracy.
3. Trephined Skulls
On loan from the National Museum of Health and Medicine
Gregor Reisch, (c. 1467-1525,)
Margarita Philosophica. One of the earliest printed illustrations of the internal organs.
Andreas Vesalius, Opera omnia anatomica & Chirugica, cura Hermanni Boerhuave & Bernhardi Siegfried Albini.
c. 1725 |
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Understanding the Anatomical Body
Physicians have concerned themselves with the internal arrangement of the body for almost two thousand years. Various theories of disease determined the functions and location of the organs.
The classical Greek theory that an imbalance of the four humors caused illness became the ruling medical theory in the West from the 1st through the 18th centuries. The humors-phlegm, black bile, yellow bile and blood-it was believed, were contained in all bodily fluids; an excess or deficiency of one or more caused illness.
Modern Western physicians organize the body into ten interdependent organ systems-each having a distinct function and all ten being coordinated by chemical and nervous links.
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4. Twentieth Century Iowa Skulls
The four skulls on display are representative of those donated to the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Their different shaped and sizes reveal that even in a relatively homogenous racial group, diversity exists. Phrenology, the belief that the size of the skull is indicative of one's mental capabilities was a popular theory in the nineteenth contury and was often used to justify the subjugation of racial groups. Contemporary anthropologists agree that there is as much variation in a micro-population as among populations. Such an awareness indicates how effectively modern science has challenged the belief that differences among populations are always biologically determined.
Courtesy of the UI Department of Anthropology |
5. Anatomical photographs and artifacts. American Frohse
Anatomical Charts are to the right of the photo.
Information on individual anatomists and the four humors.
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