The Body in History summer school

A group of young women from a number of local schools recently attended 'The Body in History' summer school, run by the Wellcome Library and UCL Museums and Collections.

During the week , students experienced a range of activites exploring the human body from scientific, historical, ethical and artistic viewpoints. These included:

• an osteoarchaeology session with staff and specimens from the Museum of London


• a demonstration of Renaissance surgery - complete with leeches and 'wound' make-up


• a visit to the Medicine Man gallery in Wellcome Collection


• a crash course in the history of anatomy, drawing on the resources of the Wellcome Library, followed by an animation workshop at the South Camden City Learning Centre


• comparative anatomy and the secrets of digestion at the Grant Museum


• an exploration of ethical issues surrounding transplants, DNA and truth in medicine


• talks about reading faces, and about perception and the brain


• a visit to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons - including a surgical skills workshop


• an anatomical art session

The animation below is one of four created in one day by the students. This group were particularly interested in Van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of sperm and his theory about miniature babies being ready-formed within each, ready to be transplanted into the mother.

16th century anatomical sheets - images and animations now online

The Library’s rare and important collection of printed anatomical sheets dating from the 16th century are now freely available online via Wellcome Images. These intriguing prints depict the human body through labelled illustrations, often using a three-dimensional 'pop-up' device of superimposed flaps, which can be raised in sequence to display the internal anatomy of the male or female figure. The fugitive sheet thus mimics the act of dissection.

They were a popular instructional aid in the 16th century and many were produced in vernacular languages which could be read by a lay audience interested in the workings of the human body. The earliest recorded sheets were printed in Strasbourg by Heinrich Vogtherr in 1538. They were probably produced in great numbers but only a very few survive today. There are 19 sheets in our collection, many in pairs of male and female figures and one set of three with a skeleton sheet. This is the largest single collection in any institution. The surviving examples represent only a fraction of a much larger number most of which are now lost for ever, but there is always the hope of fresh discoveries in unexpected places.

Images have been created showing each flap in sequence. Animated versions are also available from the catalogue records, showing the flaps raised and lowered in sequence.

Image is Interiorum corporis humani partium viva delineatio, Paris, 1539.

Biomedical images animated

For anyone interested in creative use of biomedical images, take a look at Drew Barry's work using animation: an article in CGSociety, Society of Digital Arts, and on The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.