PhilSci Archive

The Instructive Corpse: Dissection, Anatomical Specimens, and Illustration in Early Nineteenth-Century Medical Education

Stelmackowich, Cindy (2012) The Instructive Corpse: Dissection, Anatomical Specimens, and Illustration in Early Nineteenth-Century Medical Education. Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, 6 (1). pp. 50-64. ISSN 1913 0465

[img]
Preview
Text
17159-Article Text-43476-2-10-20121003.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

At the turn of the nineteenth century when anatomy and hands-on dissection became the prerequisite for a medical career, the medical community in England and France increasingly relied upon visual representations as part of a complex system of reinforcement of their professional goals. The production of novel illustrated textbooks that disseminated arguments through systematizing illustrations were thus integral to their professional status. Through an examination of a series of realistic diagrams that outlined the new methods of surgical and preservation techniques, this paper argues that visual diagrams were instrumental in supporting the systematic codification and prestige on which nineteenth-century medical knowledge was to depend. It analyses the visual rhetoric and the complex representational languages of these intricate and equally precise illustrations by asking how these illustrations embraced new representational strategies as well as embodied idealizing aesthetic techniques.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Stelmackowich, Cindy
Subjects: General Issues > Science Education
Depositing User: Miss Charlotte Marcotte-Toale
Date Deposited: 29 Jan 2019 18:30
Last Modified: 29 Jan 2019 18:30
Item ID: 15684
Journal or Publication Title: Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science
Publisher: The University of Toronto
Official URL: https://spontaneousgenerations.library.utoronto.ca...
DOI or Unique Handle: https://doi.org/10.4245/sponge.v6i1.17159
Subjects: General Issues > Science Education
Date: 3 October 2012
Page Range: pp. 50-64
Volume: 6
Number: 1
ISSN: 1913 0465
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15684

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item