In 1665, Robert Hooke published a book that introduced a whole new realm of the living world that was too small to see with the naked eye. His book Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses, with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon contained 38 copperplate illustrations of the specimens he examined, including an ant, moth, fly, louse, mold, flea, mite, seeds, cork, and sponge. Readers were fascinated with the details of life on such a small scale. Hooke had been a painter, and he closely oversaw the engraving of the plates so that they matched what he saw through the microscope lens. His engravings are surprisingly similar to images of the same specimens taken with modern microscopes. Many of the engravings are so large that they needed multiple folds to fit inside the book. For some of the illustrations, he included the circular shape of the eyepiece to make the image even more engaging.
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The Mothers of Psychoanalysis
One of the most influential women of this early period was Helene Deutsch (1884-1982). She was one of the first women to earn a medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1912. She was also the first female psychoanalyst to publish a book; it was the first book devoted to the psychology of women. She was the Director of the Training Institute of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Her second book, Psychoanalyse der Neurosen [Psychoanalysis of the Neuroses], was a collection of her lectures published in 1930. It became a standard teaching text for psychoanalysis. Also in the exhibit is her two-volume text The Psychology of Women (1943), which is a detailed collection of women’s lived psychological experiences from adolescence through menopause.
Connections from the History of Medicine Collection: Peter Panum’s Study of Measles, 1846
You may have heard people talking about measles in the news recently. The United States is experiencing a resurgence of measles cases even though endemic transmission was considered eliminated in 2000.
The History of Medicine collection has several items related to the early study and treatment of measles. One that caught my eye was a typed manuscript translation of Peter Panum’s report of a measles outbreak on the Danish islands of Faroe in 1846. This study greatly contributed to our modern understanding of the epidemiology of infectious disease. The unique copy at Falk Library is part of the “Uncovering the Mystery of Measles” exhibit on the Main Floor of the library with other books dating from 1676 to 1907.
Surgical Illustrations in Late Renaissance Europe
Surgery was generally something to be feared in Renaissance Europe. Without anesthesia, antiseptics, or antibiotics, it was dangerous, painful, and often deadly. Yet surgeons were also among the most populous and valued medical practitioners at the time, and they took their jobs seriously. On November 11, the C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society lecture, titled “The Skillful Surgeon: Expertise, Authority, and Surgical Illustrations in Late Renaissance Europe,” will examine surgeons’ efforts to highlight their skill and competency, focusing on illustrated writings by surgeons who conducted elective surgeries: couching for cataracts, removing bladder stones by lithotomy, and operating on inguinal hernias. In the German-speaking regions of the 16th and 17th centuries, several specialist surgeons compiled ornately illustrated documentation of their expertise. In a bid to raise the status of specialists, historian Alisha Rankin argues, these upwardly-mobile surgeons used both text and images to celebrate their significant skill and portray these elective surgical operations as reliable and routine. Continue reading