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NYAM hosts Vesalius 500: Art and Anatomy

This October, the New York Academy of Medicine will host Art, Anatomy, and the Body: Vesalius 500, Guest curated by artist and anatomist Riva Lehrer On October 18, the NYAM's second-annual Festival for Medical History and the Arts, “Art, Anatomy, and the Body: Vesalius 500″ will celebrate the 500th birthday of anatomist Andreas Vesalius. Our own Brandy Schillace, research associate and guest curator for the Dittrick, will be one of the hosted speakers! Click here for the full schedule--and see below for a short description. Vesalius’ groundbreaking De humani corporis fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) of 1543 is a...

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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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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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