biomedicalephemera:

Dissection to show the superficial muscles of the back

This engraving by the anatomist John Bell displays the trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles of the back. These opposing muscles connect to the vertebral column and contribute to the strength of the upper extremity.

Engravings of the bones, muscles, and joints: illustrating the first volume of the Anatomy of the human body. John Bell, 1817.

biomedicalephemera:

Black Piranha - Serrasalmus rhombus

The black piranha (also known as the redeye or rhombeus piranha) has recently been discovered to have a bite force as strong as the estimated force of the extinct Megapiranha.

Though the negative stigma towards piranhas is largely undeserved, the mature black piranha is one of the most aggressive fish. This is especially true recently, with the over-fishing of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, depleting the food sources of the adult fish.

Most species of juvenile piranhas feed on the scales and fins of others fish. Yes, they will swim up to, and rip the fins off of big fish, especially as they near maturity, but are not yet large enough to reliably hunt down other fish.

Despite their huge size (up to 1 m long, four times longer than adult black piranhas) and extremely strong bite force, the Megapiranha of the Pleistocene era (8-10 mya) wasn’t believed to have a solely carnivorous diet. Their saw-shaped teeth bear similarities to the Serrasalmus genus, but also to the teeth of the Pacu, or “vegetarian piranha”.

Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amérique du Sud, de Rio de Janeiro à Lima et de Lima au Para. Under direction of  Le Comte Francis de Castelnau, 1856.

biomedicalephemera:

Hasselet’s Dendrobium - Dendrobium hasseletii

This orchid lives high in the hills and mossy, montane forests of the Malaysian peninsula, as well as in Sumatra and Java. It has sparse, thin leaves, on a sturdy bamboo-like stalk. The flowers bloom from the apex of the stalk, in late summer and early fall. Despite its elegance, this orchid is one of the more difficult keepers, and as such is not widespread in the gardening and botanical circles.

Collection d’orchidées: aquarelles originales. Unknown German author/artist, late 1800s.

odditiesoflife:

The Bestiarium of Aloys Zötl (1831-1887)

These beautiful watercolours come from the Austrian painter Aloys Zötl’s Bestiarium, a series of exquisite paintings of various animals undertaken from 1831 through until his death in 1887. He was relatively unknown until, decades after his death, his work was “re-discovered” by surrealist André Breton who was taken by the surrealist aesthetic he saw present in the images – as he writes: “Lacking any biographical details about the artist, one can only indulge one’s fantasies in imagining the reasons which might have induced this workman from Upper Austria, a dyer by profession, to undertake so zealously between 1832 and 1887 the elaboration of the most sumptuous bestiary ever seen.”

(via biomedicalephemera)

oddmanoutphx:

“The Bertillon System of Criminal Identification, invented by French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879, was a technique for describing individuals on the basis of a catalogue of physical measurements, including standing height, sitting height (length of trunk and head), distance between fingertips with arms outstretched, and size of head, right ear, left foot, digits, and forearm. In addition, distinctive personal features, such as eye colour, scars, and deformities, were noted. The system was used to identify criminals in the later years of the nineteenth century, but was soon displaced by the more reliable and easily-recorded fingerprints.”

theoddmentemporium:

Earnst Haeckel’s Christmas Cards

All the sweet things that the squiddies,
Twittering in the dewy spray,
Wish each other in the springtime,
I wish you this happy day. 

Marine themed Christmas cards from Earnst Haeckel, the eminent German biologist, naturalist,  philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and the kingdom Protista. [Wikipedia]

Advent Calendar of Oddments 2012: December 16th

anitramm:

For sale through Brissonneau

biomedicalephemera:

Anatomical Teaching Models

It’s believed that anatomical models have been used for teaching purposes (as opposed to ritualistic or religious purposes) since some point between 100 BCE - 300 CE, since dissection of the dead was a taboo and crime in the Late Greek and  Roman empire, and paper or vellum for illustration was much more fragile than, say, carved wooden figures.

However, most of our evidence for anatomical models comes from the late Medieval era and later, when materials such as ivory and sealed papier-mâché were used for many anatomical carvings. Later, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, wax sculptures were common in medical schools, as much finer detail was attainable with such a pliable substance.

Today, most models used for teaching both lay persons and students are made from thermoplastics and texturing agents, and can range from highly detailed micro-premature babies, to fully-removable models of life-sized animals with every layer of tissue and organs, to huge versions of virions not normally visible except under an electron microscope. Given that the majority of students show greatly increased memory of a subject when able to physically manipulate a representation of it, the use of anatomical teaching models is here to stay.

For more on anatomical models and tons more on the history of medicine, visit the Science Museum: Brought to Life!

Images:

Top: Anatomical structure of reclining woman in early pregnancy. Florence, Italy, ca. 1770.
Center left: Wax model of the human brain, with skin, skull, and meninges removed. Intended for medical students. Western Europe, ca. 1700-1900. Date uncertain.
Center right: Papier-mache model of acupuncture meridians. Japan, ca. 1601-1700.
Bottom left: Sculpture of male black infant, 22-23 weeks development. Created for exhibit on how micro-preemies are kept alive in the modern era. England, 1998.
Bottom right: Model of an adenovirus, magnified 3,000,000x, from electron microscope images. London, England, 1985.

biomedicalephemera:

Glaucus atlanticus - The Blue Glaucus

Top: Comparison for size - the Blue Glaucus does not exceed 5-7 cm long, but that’s huge compared to its nearest relative, Glaucilla marginata, which generally doesn’t exceed 18 mm.
Bottom left: Method of locomotion - Blue Glaucus float on the top of the ocean thanks to a gas sac in their abdomen, with their “head” facing upwards, and their cerata (those feathery appendages) dangling down.
Bottom right: Blue Glaucus from above. Note the numerous finger-like collections of cerata - in a full-grown adult, each of these can contain a concentrated dose of nematocyst venom.

Have you met my favorite nudibranch yet? I’m sure you have, and it’s totally cliche to love it, but whatever! I am a nudibranch hipster; I loved the blue sea swallow before the internet even caught wind of its awesomeness. JUST SAYIN’.

These seafaring drifters will float along with the current for days or weeks without feeding, using very little energy, until they sense a suitable prey within range - as these guys don’t move terribly well in the open ocean, “within range” is never much more than a few feet away. Favorite meals of the blue glaucus include the sailor by-the-wind (Velella velella) and the Portuguese man-o-war (Physalia physalis), the latter of which is particularly venomous. However, the blue glaucus is not only immune to the nematocyst venom, but possesses the ability to actually determine which stingers are the most venomous, and concentrate the venom of many meals into each “fingertip”, along with the stinging mechanism.

While they are unlikely to put anyone’s life in danger because of its tiny size, the blue glaucus can be found with venom two-to-twelve times stronger than that of each nematocyst on a Portuguese man-o-war, and is extremely painful when agitated. Though stings to humans are relatively rare, they apparently feel much like a bad hornet sting, with radiating burning pain, and both localized and generalized symptoms.

Images:
Taxonomy of Glaucus atlanticus. Natural History Museum of Britain.
Voyage dans l’Amerique meridionale. Alcide d’Orbigny, 1837.

aubade:

Constantine S. Rafinesque’s Notes N. 17, pages 64 and 65, 1818 (by Smithsonian Institution)