The Bassett Collection

Text below is from the Basset Collection on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanfordmedicine/sets/72157603949930348/

The Basset Collection, which now belongs to Stanford University's School of Medicine, is the definitive dissection collection available to medical students and instructors. These incredibly detailed dissections show and label most every part of the human body, from its tiniest veins, arteries and nerves to serial cross-sections of the spinal cord. The collection is the product of a 17-year collaboration between David L. Bassett, a School of Medicine alumnus and faculty member known for his elegant dissections and love for the human body, and William Gruber, the photographer who invented the View-Master stereoscopic viewing device.

The entire collection can be seen here:
http://lane.stanford.edu/bassett/index.html

Historical Anatomical Prints

From:
Gautier d'Agoty, Jacques Fabian. Anatomie generale des viscères en situation, de grandeur et couleur naturelle, avec l'angeologie, et la nevrologie de chaque partie du corps humain.

Jacques Gautier d'Agoty was born in Marseilles in about 1717 and was trained as a printmaker under the noted Jacob Christoph Le Blon (1670-1741). Le Blon, originally from Frankfurt-am-Main, was the first to use colored mezzotinting, which involved making three different impressions (with blue, yellow, and red inks) using copperplates. Gautier d'Agoty associated himself with surgeon Jacques-François-Marie Duverney (1661-1748) and together the two produced a number of large, colorful anatomical atlases, which were noted more for their style and sometimes their shocking appearance than their usefulness to physicians.

Text from:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/gautier_bio.html

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From,
Quain: The anatomy of the arteries of the human body, with its applications to pathology and operative surgery. 1800-1887

More Antique Anatomical Models

Wax model of a human face, Germany, 1801-1900

Female ivory anatomical figure, Europe, 1601-1800

Reclining wax woman, Florence, Italy, 1771-1800

Wax anatomical models of this period had different uses for different audiences. In the European anatomical tradition, the standard or normative body was always male. Female bodies were studied in terms of how they differed. In practice this meant a focus on their reproductive capacities – most often they were pregnant, with a fetus as one of the removable pieces.

Text and images taken from the Science Museum:

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife.aspx