Tag: Fall 2019
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The central nervous system of the leech
Leeches are worms of the subspecies Hirudinea that live in oceans, rivers, or on land. They consist of several parts or segments; a front area designated as the head or anterior brain, the middle part consisting of segments each containing a nerve ganglion as well as other organs, and the hind part which has the…
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Catalepsy
Catalepsy has been defined as a trance or seizure with a loss of sensation and consciousness accompanied by rigidity of the body. It may occur in neurological diseases such as Parkinsonism and epilepsy, also following the withdrawal from certain drugs such as cocaine. These images are part of a series of observations made in an…
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Atlas of head sections
Sir William Macewen, pioneer of modern brain surgery, was born in western Scotland in 1848. In 1872 he graduated in medicine from the University of Glasgow, greatly influenced by Lord Lister. In 1875 he was appointed to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, first as assistant surgeon, and in 1877 as full surgeon. Continuing his career as…
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Embalming
The practice of embalming the dead goes back at least to the ancient Egyptians, who wanted to ensure that they arrived in the afterworld in a presentable state as well as having their sarcophagi and pyramids provided with all the necessities required for that long journey. The page shown here is from The Champion Text…
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An interrupted dissection
The increasing interest in teaching anatomy by dissecting the human cadaver had a sordid side—the practice of body snatching, the illegal removal of corpses from graves, often by organized gangs of so-called resurrectionists. Body snatching was first recorded in Italy as early as the fourteenth century and as the centuries went on it became widespread…
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Pediatric nurse
Nurses are often the first point of contact for patients entering the medical system. They perform essential work, and often spend more time with patients then physicians do, ensuring treatment is performed and the body heals. Their essential work can include tending to children who may simply need a moment of attention, as in this…
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The unity of nurses
This postcard, published in the midst of World War I in 1915, represents the unity of nurses across nations. In war time, many military nurses cared for wounded soldiers regardless of country of origin thus setting military nurses and other field medics apart into an army of their own. This independence was partially out of…
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Nurse reading
This Turkish postcard shows a nurse reading a letter to a wounded man. The nurse appears to smile, even as her patient remains seemingly indifferent to whatever news she has brought him. The postcard conjures a number of questions. How was he injured? Is he far from home? Who has written him? Where is his…
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Lovis Corinth and the sick father
Franz Heinrich Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) began his career as a realistic painter, showing things on canvas as they are seen in reality. Thus in His Father on his Sickbed (Stadel Museum, Frankfurt) we see the father in bed, sick but perhaps not mortally so. His loving daughter keeps watch by the bedside. She has arranged…
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Did Salvador Dali follow the prolactin discovery in his painting of the fountain of milk?
Michael YafiHouston, Texas, United States The Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes by Salvador Dali remains one of his most enigmatic works. It shows a nude woman on a pedestal, milk flowing from her breasts, while an emaciated man is staring at her.1 As he was completing the painting, Dali may have…