Idle Thoughts of a Surgical Fellow

analysis of the illustrations of dissections in miniatures, sculptures, medallions, titlepages of books, typographical ornaments, portraits of dissectors, anatomical theatres and caricatures on this theme, provides a comprehensive survey of a subject which until now could only be reached through painstaking research. The illustrations show clearly the passing of basic artistic ideas from one country and prosector to another, plagiarisms as well as creative concepts, the use of flayed human skin as an ornamental motive in title-pages far more extended than until nowadays accepted. Curiously enough this book proves that a point of anatomical illustration-the basement dissecting scene in Valverde de Amusco-could attract entirely independently the interest of at least three different scholars, at precisely the same moment. The book is excellent and extremely useful, with well-arranged indices of authors, artists, and illustrations, but as the standard reference for the history of anatomical dissections, offers certain flaws which must be kept in mind. It represents the classical approach in medical history and relies almost exclusively on Western culture; even there, the omissions of anatomical theatres, dissecting scenes in title-pages of books, and even more of great dissectors, are numerous. One puzzling omission is the titlepage with the dissecting theatre of Madrid used in the Anatomy by M. Martinez, first published in 1728, reprinted in 1730, 1745, 1747, 1752, 1757, 1764, 1775, and 1788, which was one of the most popular texts in Spanish. Although the author M. Martinez is mentioned and the engraver Fr. Matias Irala registered for another work, their title-pages, portraits and certain illustrations have not been incorporated, in spite of their importance in the history of anatomical dissection; this point is also valid for Portuguese dissectors. There are several other areas where the authors should have extended their research: Oriental cultures are represented only by a copy of a watercolour; and in respect of the American continent, Spanish-America is entirely ignored. Anatomical dissection in humans was carried out in Mexico City at least one century earlier than those at Cambridge, Mass., reported by Wolf-Heidegger; a chair of anatomy with dissection compulsory for medical students was established in Mexico City in 1578, with a programme following very closely the lectures and work on cadavers carried out at Salamanca, and Coimbra. It is also regrettable that Wolf-Heidegger has ignored the strong movement in favour of human dissections and the building of anatomical theatres during the eighteenth century in Spain and Spanish America by Virgili, Gimbernat and Hunter's pupils, which led to a great upsurge of surgical training. Finally, no history of human dissection can be written without a proper study of the Lima School under Unanue at the beginning of the nineteenth century. His anatomical dissection and the emphasis he placed on this training during the process of medical education compared very favourably with any European school during the same period.