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Flipping through Anatomical Fugitive Sheets

Bodies move and have layers. Yes, this is hopefully an obvious statement. But imagine you lived in the 16th century and were attempting to demonstrate this point. In print. When illustrations served as a primary means of study for students of anatomy and medicine, could a piece of paper adequately represent the complexity of the human body? How about multiple pieces of paper? Anatomical “fugitive” sheets, so named because of their unfortunate tendency of being torn or misplaced over time, allowed readers to visualize the layers of organs lying beneath an illustrated subject’s flesh . Any observer could see the interior of the...

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Morbid Matter: Public Health and Public Opinion

John Snow in Anesthesia and Epidemiology Today, June 16th, we remember the work of Dr. John Snow who died on this day in 1858.  During his lifetime, Snow’s innovative work in the fields of anesthesia and epidemiology was met either with public rejoicing or skepticism . As public opinion has shifted with new available information, technologies, and social expectations, so has the response to Snow’s endeavors. When the control and protection of bodies become subjects of public discourse, the morbid matters of health are determined not only by research, but by convention. Chloroform: The Popular Poison John Snow popularized the use of chloroform...

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First Medical Publication in America? SMALLPOX!

On January 21st, 1677, the first medical publication in America was circulating around Boston. Its message? How to manage smallpox. The pamphlet was a broadside, 12 inches by 17 inches, and written by Reverend Thomas Thacher. John Foster of Boston printed and sold it under the title: "A Brief Rule to guide the Common People of New England How to order themselves and theirs in the Small Pocks, or Measles." A second version appeared in 1702. Pamphlets on smallpox continued to circulate (almost as much as the disease) well into the next century--but outbreaks continued even into the early...

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Understanding The Motion of the Heart: From Knowledge to Practice

Guest Post by Catherine Osborn, BA/BS Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University Matters of the heart are often confusing. Early scientists wondered if “the motion of the heart was only to be comprehended by God” . The heart and blood were the subjects of much medical debate in the 17th century when an English physician questioned classic anatomical texts. Although previous anatomists like Vesalius had questioned traditional views, William Harvey was the first to accurately describe the circulation of blood throughout the body. Once scientists understood the regular functions of the cardiovascular system, medical pioneers explored how to...

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