Knowing Your Body
“When one understands the mechanisms of the digestive, respiratory, circulatory and nervous systems, one is necessarily, by that very knowledge, informed of how to monitor them, to direct the accomplishment of their functions.”
Figuier, Louis, Connais-toi toi-même (Know Thyself), foreword, p. 5
In the early 19th century, Dr. Louis Auzoux invented clastic anatomy (i.e. anatomical models that can be taken apart), by reproducing anatomical organs with a paper-based paste.
His very realistic models revolutionized anatomy classes for medical students.
The digestive and circulatory systems, in Physiologie pour les collèges et les gens du monde
(Physiology for Junior High Schools and Worldly People),
Achille Comte, 1834.
Blood circulation in the fetus, in Physiologie pour les collèges et les gens du monde
(Physiology for Junior High Schools and Worldly People),
Achille Comte, 1834.
In a similar spirit, in 1834, Achille Comte, a physiologist and natural-history teacher, wrote a book meant for his own middle-school pupils, as well as “to be useful to young people” in which the organs were revealed on unbound plates that could be removed.
Eye, frontal view, in Anatomie élémentaire du corps humain (Elementary Human Anatomy), Étienne Rabaud, 1899.
Muscles of the head and neck, in Le corps humain: structure et fonctions
(The Human Body: Structure and Functions),
Gustave-Adolphe Kuhff, 1879.
Eye, in profile, in Anatomie élémentaire du corps humain (Elementary Human Anatomy), Étienne Rabaud, 1899.
Le Corps de l'homme (The Male Body),
Edmond Perrier, [1903].
The idea of an anatomy book with removable figures had been around since the 17th century, but it was mostly thanks to Gustave-Joseph Witkowski that the concept really took off in 1873.
He would be followed by a great many authors whose purpose was educational. On a relatively small scale, people studied the head and the eyes. On a larger scale, the whole skeleton, or the circulatory system.
Views of a male body, in Le corps humain : structure et fonctions
(The Human Body: Structure and Functions),
Gustave-Adolphe Kuhff, 1879.
Arterial and venous systems, in
Connais-toi toi-même : notions de physiologie à l'usage de la jeunesse et des gens du monde (Know Thyself: Notions of Physiology for Youths and Worldly People),
Louis Figuier, 1886.
Poster for a book about diseases of the bladder,
the kidneys and urinary tract, [1883].
A few of the books reproduced the whole body; others, just the chest, allowing readers to discover the various organs.
These books were startlingly realistic, like Platen’s; the impressively large number of plates in his volume, with figures in movement and in full color, were intended to introduce anatomy to the general public.
Binding for Livre d'or de la santé (The Golden Book of Health),
M. Platen, 1903.
Female body, in Le Livre d'or de la santé (The Golden Book of Health),
M. Platen, 1903.
Female body, in Le Livre d'or de la santé (The Golden Book of Health),
M. Platen, 1903.
Le Livre d'or de la santé
His final volume described both the male and female genitals: the binding even included a small lock and key, to protect young eyes.
It included advice to readers on how to care for themselves. So it was also a book about personal hygiene.
