Ice stalagmites in the basement of Greystone Park State Hospital.
José Luis López Galván (Mexico) - Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Sabañón, 2011 Paintings: Oil on Canvas
An apothecary vessel inscribed “MUMIÆ” once contained powdered mummy.
Mumia (or mummia) was 1st prepared in the 12th c., was in common use by the 15th c., and reached great popularity by the 17th c. “Mummy is become merchandise, Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is sold for balsams,” wrote Sir Thomas Browne in 1841. Mummy powder was in such demand that the supply of ancient Egyptians slowed and contemporary corpses were substituted. Mumia was still available as recently as the early 20th c.
This curious medicine was used topically and orally to treat various ailments such as gout, bruising, migranes, epilepsy and internal bleeding.
“He [Samuel Guthrie] - for reasons best known to himself - mixed together two gallons of whiskey with a couple of pounds of chlorinated lime. He put them together and then fed this substance to his daughter. She took a sip, declared it quite delicious then passed out. He decided to market it as a stimulant; he never realized that, in fact, it was an anesthetic.”
Samuel Guthrie, discovered chloroform independently in 1831 (Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery - Bloody Beginnings)
Totally legit ways to develop drugs.
(via biomedicalephemera)
(Source: zygoma)
Apropos for the season ~ this illustration is indeed by Frederick Ruysch, from a set of 1744 engravings.
Arrangement of fetal skeletons, bladder calculi, blood vessels, and a songbird.
Artist/Anatomist not noted, but the artistic style is that of Frederik Ruysch and he was one of the more notable at the height of the artistic Renaissance of anatomy. He arranged specimens in artistic poses and displayed them in glass-cased displays that fascinated and dazzled the public. Preserved specimens had only been developed and used since the late 1600s. While the novelty of seeing a preserved animal or human on display caught the public’s attention, the artistic stylings of the anatomists and naturalists of the day is what kept it.
Watercolour of the Brain by Sir Charles Bell - Plate 1, 1823
