If you love scientific instruments, medical quackery, anatomical models, geologic models,weather models, planetary models and devices, The Whipple Museum of the History of Science is the place for you to visit. The breadth of the collection and the academic work done with them is amazing.
Dr. Auzoux's Models.
As a medical student in Paris, Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux
(1797-1880) noticed that there was often a shortage of human remains
available for doing human dissections. Dissections were an essential
part of studying medicine. However, even if a body was available, it
could only be used once before it began to decompose. To deal with the shortage of bodies, Auzoux began producing accurate anatomical models that could be taken apart piece by piece.
The models were sturdy and inexpensive, especially when made with the secret papier-mâché mixture that Auzoux had developed. The mixture contained cork and clay as well as paper and glue.
Introducing papier-mâché as a modelling material was a radical change from earlier modelling techniques. In previous centuries, anatomists and artists made their anatomical models using wax.
While wax models could reproduce anatomical details very
accurately, the material was very expensive and too fragile to be
handled frequently because the wax would lose its shape.
Papier-mâché, on the other hand, was sturdy enough to produce detachable models that could be used again and again, at less than a tenth of the price of similar wax models.
With financial support from the French state, Auzoux founded a factory for producing anatomical models in his small hometown of St. Aubin d'Ecrosville in France. After a few years, the models became a commercial success, and were used by schools, universities and hospitals, as well as by private individuals who could rent models at low costs. In 1828 Dr. Auzoux founded a factory to produce models in his small hometown St.Aubin d'Ecrosville in Normandy, France, where he employed 60-100 workers of all ages and both sexes, whose main tasks were the moulding and painting of the models.
After an initial prototype of a model was sculpted by Auzoux himself, moulds were taken that served as the basis for potentially unlimited numbers of casts. Casts were produced by inserting layers of a secret papier-mâché mixture, containing cork and clay as well as paper and glue. For the upright models of humans and large animals and plants, internal metal
structures were used to increase their stability.
The papier-mâché parts were joined on to this metal core and were then
painted, labelled, and varnished.
The human model in the Whipple Museum's collection is much smaller than life-size, standing 60cm high. Sold at a price of 250 francs, it was made to be affordable for smaller institutions and individuals. The model was made using Auzoux's secret papier-maché mixture, mounted upright on a metal rod.
Like all of Dr. Auzoux's models, the human can be taken apart and reassembled. The chest opens up to reveal the inner organs and parts of the head can be removed to show the skull.
The models' colour scheme is a combination of naturalistic colours and schematic colours that make certain features stand out. Veins and arteries were painted blue and red, whilst adjoining muscles were coloured in brighter and darker shades of red. Dr. Auzoux's vision, and that of his supporters, was that his models should be used to educate the public about health matters. The model-maker thought that physical and moral well-being were inseparable, and essential for a harmonious society. Auzoux claimed that with his models even beginners could learn anatomy and physiology without the help of a teacher.
Unlike earlier wax anatomical models, which were made by highly skilled craftsmen, the new papier-maché models could be produced in large numbers by unskilled workers.
Dr. Auzoux followed new ideas on workers' welfare and set up a
rigid set of rules and fines to ban vices like cursing and alcohol from
the factory floor. He also improved hygiene and health among his
employees providing them with a gymnasium and basic instruction in
anatomy. Auzoux believed that care for the body improved an individual's physical and moral wellbeing, as well their social progress. Responding to changing trends in education,
the company branched out into producing models of human embryos, animals, insects and plants.
Problems of Decay for 19th c. Anatomy:
Imagine that you are an anatomy student in the 19th century. Preservation techniques for corpses were not very advanced–mostly this consisted in keeping the body as cool as possible. Painstaking study took time, but tissue decomposed so rapidly that you could barely discern one organ, structure, or bone from another. To make things more complicated, bodies were not easy to come by, and sometimes anatomists resorted to resurrection men who “borrowed” from graves–or worse (see the post on the Burke and Hare murders). What was a student to do?
In the late 1820s, Louis Thomas Jerôme Auzoux (1797-1880) began
working on a solution. As a physician, Auzoux knew only too well the
difficulty of studying anatomy directly from a human cadaver and began
manufacturing anatomical figures from papier-mâché, a combination
of cork and clay as well as paper and glue. This was a true
innovation–earlier models were made from wax, and though incredibly
(even hauntingly) lifelike, they were expensive to produce. Affected by
temperature, the wax also deformed if handled too much. Anatomy teachers
and students could use the durable papier-mâché model over and over at a
fraction of the cost [1].
‘Paper’ People with Removable Parts:
The models incorporated virtually every anatomical feature and could be disassembled or “dissected” methodically at leisure. The individually numbered parts, all painted to resemble actual human anatomy, were keyed to an accompanying chart, so the student could positively identify and name each structure, muscle, bone, and organ. The Whipple Museum at the University of Cambridge has a number of these models–test your anatomy knowledge with their interactive body jigsaw!
Auzoux referred to instruction using his figures as Anatomie clastique (from the Greek Klastos: broken in pieces):
Medical students could study Auzoux models carefully in detail before embarking upon a human dissection, and secondary school students studied Auzoux models in lieu of performing actual dissections. It was a tidy, simple, and useful process that allowed the student to really understand the anatomical parts before tackling the whole.
On Display at the Dittrick:
The Auzoux model on display at the Dittrick Museum, donated by Dr. Don Blaufox, is a female figure dating from around 1850. Auzoux first made a full size male figure around 1830 composed of over 125 separate parts, with over 1100 numbered anatomical details. He later branched out to make models of individual anatomical structures (i.e. – the eye, or the female reproductive system), veterinary figures, and biological and botanical models. Compare them, in their size and application, to the ivory anatomical models of earlier centuries (also on display at the Dittrick Museum). Auzoux’s models became popular for teaching anatomy across the world and transformed the way many studied anatomy in the nineteenth century.
Dr. Auzoux's Models.
As a medical student in Paris, Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux
(1797-1880) noticed that there was often a shortage of human remains
available for doing human dissections. Dissections were an essential
part of studying medicine. However, even if a body was available, it
could only be used once before it began to decompose. To deal with the shortage of bodies, Auzoux began producing accurate anatomical models that could be taken apart piece by piece.The models were sturdy and inexpensive, especially when made with the secret papier-mâché mixture that Auzoux had developed. The mixture contained cork and clay as well as paper and glue.
Introducing papier-mâché as a modelling material was a radical change from earlier modelling techniques. In previous centuries, anatomists and artists made their anatomical models using wax.
Papier-mâché, on the other hand, was sturdy enough to produce detachable models that could be used again and again, at less than a tenth of the price of similar wax models.
With financial support from the French state, Auzoux founded a factory for producing anatomical models in his small hometown of St. Aubin d'Ecrosville in France. After a few years, the models became a commercial success, and were used by schools, universities and hospitals, as well as by private individuals who could rent models at low costs. In 1828 Dr. Auzoux founded a factory to produce models in his small hometown St.Aubin d'Ecrosville in Normandy, France, where he employed 60-100 workers of all ages and both sexes, whose main tasks were the moulding and painting of the models.
After an initial prototype of a model was sculpted by Auzoux himself, moulds were taken that served as the basis for potentially unlimited numbers of casts. Casts were produced by inserting layers of a secret papier-mâché mixture, containing cork and clay as well as paper and glue. For the upright models of humans and large animals and plants, internal metal
structures were used to increase their stability.
The papier-mâché parts were joined on to this metal core and were then
painted, labelled, and varnished.The human model in the Whipple Museum's collection is much smaller than life-size, standing 60cm high. Sold at a price of 250 francs, it was made to be affordable for smaller institutions and individuals. The model was made using Auzoux's secret papier-maché mixture, mounted upright on a metal rod.
Like all of Dr. Auzoux's models, the human can be taken apart and reassembled. The chest opens up to reveal the inner organs and parts of the head can be removed to show the skull.
The models' colour scheme is a combination of naturalistic colours and schematic colours that make certain features stand out. Veins and arteries were painted blue and red, whilst adjoining muscles were coloured in brighter and darker shades of red. Dr. Auzoux's vision, and that of his supporters, was that his models should be used to educate the public about health matters. The model-maker thought that physical and moral well-being were inseparable, and essential for a harmonious society. Auzoux claimed that with his models even beginners could learn anatomy and physiology without the help of a teacher.
Unlike earlier wax anatomical models, which were made by highly skilled craftsmen, the new papier-maché models could be produced in large numbers by unskilled workers.
Dr. Auzoux followed new ideas on workers' welfare and set up a
rigid set of rules and fines to ban vices like cursing and alcohol from
the factory floor. He also improved hygiene and health among his
employees providing them with a gymnasium and basic instruction in
anatomy. Auzoux believed that care for the body improved an individual's physical and moral wellbeing, as well their social progress. Responding to changing trends in education,
the company branched out into producing models of human embryos, animals, insects and plants.To read more about Dr Auzoux's Models read below. It is from the Dittrick Museum Blog.
Paper Woman: Auzoux’s Anatomical Models
Imagine that you are an anatomy student in the 19th century. Preservation techniques for corpses were not very advanced–mostly this consisted in keeping the body as cool as possible. Painstaking study took time, but tissue decomposed so rapidly that you could barely discern one organ, structure, or bone from another. To make things more complicated, bodies were not easy to come by, and sometimes anatomists resorted to resurrection men who “borrowed” from graves–or worse (see the post on the Burke and Hare murders). What was a student to do?
In the late 1820s, Louis Thomas Jerôme Auzoux (1797-1880) began
working on a solution. As a physician, Auzoux knew only too well the
difficulty of studying anatomy directly from a human cadaver and began
manufacturing anatomical figures from papier-mâché, a combination
of cork and clay as well as paper and glue. This was a true
innovation–earlier models were made from wax, and though incredibly
(even hauntingly) lifelike, they were expensive to produce. Affected by
temperature, the wax also deformed if handled too much. Anatomy teachers
and students could use the durable papier-mâché model over and over at a
fraction of the cost [1].‘Paper’ People with Removable Parts:
The models incorporated virtually every anatomical feature and could be disassembled or “dissected” methodically at leisure. The individually numbered parts, all painted to resemble actual human anatomy, were keyed to an accompanying chart, so the student could positively identify and name each structure, muscle, bone, and organ. The Whipple Museum at the University of Cambridge has a number of these models–test your anatomy knowledge with their interactive body jigsaw!
Auzoux referred to instruction using his figures as Anatomie clastique (from the Greek Klastos: broken in pieces):
“…in one single course, with the help of
the Anatomie clastique, we will show you the organs and their functions.
Our descriptions will be short; we will place the organ itself before
your eyes, and better than with anything that we could say, you will
thus appreciate the situation, the form, the color and the connections.”
(Leçons élémentaires d’anatomie et de physiologie, Paris 1839).
Medical students could study Auzoux models carefully in detail before embarking upon a human dissection, and secondary school students studied Auzoux models in lieu of performing actual dissections. It was a tidy, simple, and useful process that allowed the student to really understand the anatomical parts before tackling the whole.
On Display at the Dittrick:The Auzoux model on display at the Dittrick Museum, donated by Dr. Don Blaufox, is a female figure dating from around 1850. Auzoux first made a full size male figure around 1830 composed of over 125 separate parts, with over 1100 numbered anatomical details. He later branched out to make models of individual anatomical structures (i.e. – the eye, or the female reproductive system), veterinary figures, and biological and botanical models. Compare them, in their size and application, to the ivory anatomical models of earlier centuries (also on display at the Dittrick Museum). Auzoux’s models became popular for teaching anatomy across the world and transformed the way many studied anatomy in the nineteenth century.
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