Images from old books about medicine and biology
October 11, 2016 12:25 PM   Subscribe

Wunderkammer is a collection of high resolution images from old books in the Hagströmer Medical Library. Some of my favorites are sea anemones, nerve cells, rooster chasing off a monster, 16th Century eye surgery, muscles and bones of the hand and arm, elephant-headed humanoid and cupping. It can also be browsed by tag, broken up into subject (e.g. beast), emotion (e.g. strange), technique (e.g. chromolithography) and era (e.g. 18th Century). Once you've exhausted the pleasures of the Wunderkammer, venture into the Bibliotheca Systema Naturae, with scans from more books in the Hagströmer Medical Library, such as portraits of patients and Goethe's theory of optics.
posted by Kattullus (11 comments total) 79 users marked this as a favorite
 
These are incredible! Thanks so much for the link!
posted by stillmoving at 12:42 PM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Wonderful, thank you very much Kattullus!

I've printed posters of Vaselius' De humani corporis fabrica (an early anatomy book published in 1543) and they've always been popular.

I found high resolution images here (these sources include many other digitized books):
- The University of Oklahoma's Exhibits Online. (full humani; Copernicus; Newton)
- The U.S. National Library of Medicine's Turning The Page (humani highlights; A Curious Herbal; Surgical Casebook)
posted by vert canard at 1:16 PM on October 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


Cupping? So they had nonsense back then too.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 1:25 PM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


trump

early evil clown
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:36 PM on October 11, 2016


:P
posted by BrashTech at 1:40 PM on October 11, 2016


This image of an anatomy model never fails to astound me. Not only is he holding his flayed skin in one hand; he's holding the flensing knife in the other. Also it was one of the first high resolution images I ever downloaded on the Internet, in about 1993 or so. An astonishing 1000 pixels high IIRC. Still love it.
posted by Nelson at 3:13 PM on October 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


You will all love the Tarascon pocket guide series - each cover has a classic image. My specialty's book cover is particularly interesting.
posted by borborygmi at 3:29 PM on October 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


AWESOME thank you
posted by xarnop at 8:59 PM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Well before the more user-friendly term intersex came into being, they used the word hermaphrodite, beautifully illustrated--in one of its manifestations, anyway, here.
posted by kozad at 9:45 PM on October 11, 2016


These are great, thank you!
The cupping one made me giggle out loud, was not expecting that.
posted by Fig at 4:00 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


You will all love the Tarascon pocket guide series - each cover has a classic image. My specialty's book cover is particularly interesting.

uh-oh...
posted by lagomorphius at 5:34 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


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