Fetal Development in Anatomical Preparations of Ruysch and the Meckels in Comparison

Oxana Kosenko (), Claudia Steinicke, Heike Kielstein and Florian Steger
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Oxana Kosenko: Institute of the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine at Ulm University, Parkstraße 11, 89073 Ulm, Germany
Claudia Steinicke: Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Große Steinstraße 52, 06108 Halle, Germany
Heike Kielstein: Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Große Steinstraße 52, 06108 Halle, Germany
Florian Steger: Institute of the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine at Ulm University, Parkstraße 11, 89073 Ulm, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: Anatomical collections have been used for centuries for research and teaching purposes. By the example of selected preparations of fetal development from the Ruysch collection (17th–18th centuries) and the Meckel collections (18th–19th century), this article aims to trace the changing purposes, specifics and methods of creating specimens as well as the development of anatomy during that period. The selected specimens are compared and analyzed implementing the historical-critical method. Regarding the appearance of the preparations, we see a transition from the visually aesthetic specimens (Ruysch) to exact ones (Meckel collections). If Ruysch’s preparations were compared in his time to works of art, specimens created by three anatomists of the Meckel dynasty were primarily created for teaching and research purposes. However, Ruysch’s preparations tracing fetal circulation were scientific discoveries of the time. As for preparations of fetal development from the Meckel collections, we see both specimens of physiological processes already known at that time and experimental ones. Regarding teratology, Ruysch and Meckel the Younger tried to explain malformations, but their anatomical preparations could hardly give answers to the cause of deviations from the norm. The differences between the collections can be explained by the different stages of development of anatomy of the time and by the research interests of the anatomists themselves.

Keywords: anatomical collection; anatomical specimen; history of anatomy; fetal development; teratology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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