Plate from Vesalius's De Fabrica

Vesalius Torso

Vesalius Intestine

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The creator of the site, when considering the topic of Anatomy in the Age of Enlightenemt, understands that many readers may wish for a thorough examination of anatomical practice in the 18th century. Such readers will be disappointed not due to the creator's neglect, but by the nature of anatomical practice across England and the continent from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

In fact, when considering Enlightenment anatomy, one must first look toward Andreas Vesalius, who in the 16th century espoused the belief that anatomy must be conducted by personal experimentation on human cadavers and the accumulation of first-hand "ocular evidence." In Vesalius, one finds an early manifestation of scientific practice typically attributed to Isaac Newton—not only did Vesalius dare to know (sapare aude) in the true sense of Enlightenment spirit, but he also dared to know through his own experiences.

Vesalius's method was adopted by William Harvey, the first significant English anatomist. Harvey's contribution to natural philosophy cannot be underestimated, for he applied Vesalian practice to the emergent disciplines of physics and chemisty in his practice. So doing, Harvey transformed anatomy and reinvigorated physiology from its 1,500 year slumber.

During the 18th century, anatomists such as Boerhaave and Stahle pressed Harveian practice further, but by adopting a reductionist, positivist practice, their discoveries tended toward the local. Anatomists in the 18th century narrowed their focus onto specific tissues and organs; while these investigations were useful, none had a transformative impact on the practice.

Until John Hunter. During the late 18th century, Hunter developed the anatomical series, advocated the importance of coordinate function as a link between species even if his purpose was not, like Darwin would claim a half-century later, that humans evolved from other mammals but that humans were the most perfect species on Earth.

Thus, reader, please forgive the creator's humble wish to discuss anatomy in the Age of Anatomy through the lens of a "long Enlightenment," and please consider the macroscopic treatment of anatomy as a necessary one, even if many anatomists of the 18th century worked with one eye glued to the microscope.

Works Cited

Roy Porter, Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

---, Flesh in the Age of Reason. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.

Benjamin Rifkin, Michael J. Ackerman, and Judith Folkenberg, Human Anatomy :From the Renaissance to the Digital Age. New York: Abrams, 2006.

Jonathan Sawday, The Body Emblazoned :Dissection and the Human Body in Renaissance Culture. London; New York: Routledge, 1995.

Charles Joseph Singer, A Short History of Anatomy from the Greeks to Harvey. New York: Dover Publications, 1957.

Luke Wilson, "William Harvey's Prelectiones: The Performance of the Body in the Renaissance Theater of Anatomy." Representations 17 (1987): 62-95.

Paul Youngquist, Monstrosities: Bodies and British Romanticism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

Special Thanks

All headings and the frontispiece lettering use Fell Types available as freeware. The Fell Types are digitally reproduced by Igino Marini.

Visit www.iginomarini.com.

Creator Heading

Joshua Kupetz
English 627: Enlightenment & Its Critics
Winter 2010
Dr. David Porter

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