Bones

Bone itself, and the study of it. Pathological specimens, museum jars, dissection and the anatomy theatres, Vesalius in 1543 and the centuries of engravings made after him, the Persian and Arabic anatomical manuscripts, and a trepanned skull from about 3300 BC that shows the patient survived. This is where the field keeps its evidence, and much of it is older than the specialty that claims it.

Part of Orthopedics

92 moments in this segment.

  1. - Trepanned skull, found at Börnecke Schützenholz, c. 3300 BC, human skull - Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. Exhibit in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Braunschweig, Germany. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  2. - Traction apparatus, Italy, 1501-1550. Traction was a common form of treatment for bone fractures. Traction apparatus is among the oldest continuous ideas in the field, described in the Hippocratic texts and still recognisable in nineteenth century extension beds.
  3. - A skeleton leaning on a spade. Line engraving by J. Tinney, 1743, after A. Vesalius, 1543.. A skeleton leaning on a spade. Line engraving by J. Tinney, 1743, after. Vesalius, 1543. Andreas Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica in 1543.
  4. - A human skeleton, seen from the front, resting the bones of his left forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Engraving by Benard, 1779, after a woodcut, 1543.. 1543.
  5. - A human skeleton, seen from the front, resting the bones of his left forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Engraving by Benard, late 18th century, after a woodcut, 1543.. 1543.
  6. - A human skeleton, seen from the front, resting the bones of his right forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Engraving 1778, after an engraving by Prevost, 1762, after a woodcut, 1543.. 1543.
  7. - A human skeleton, leaning against a tomb, after Vesalius: lateral view. Engraving by Benard, 1779, after a woodcut, 1543.. 1543.
  8. - A human skeleton, seen from the front, resting the bones of his left forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Engraving 1769, after Prevost, 1762, after a woodcut, 1543.. 1543.
  9. - Tashrih-e Mansuri (Mansur's Anatomy), Mansur b. Iliyas (d. 1420s), Iran, mid 17th century AD, ink and watercolor on paper - Aga Khan Museum - Toronto, Canada. Exhibit in the Aga Khan Museum - Toronto, Canada. The Tashrih-i Mansuri, the anatomy of Mansur ibn Ilyas, is a Persian illustrated anatomical treatise of the late fourteenth century whose full-page skeletal and vascular figures were copied for centuries.
  10. - Spiegel: <i>Tabulae anatomicae LXXXIIX</i>, 1632: title page. Spiegel: Tabulae anatomicae LXXXIIX, 1632: title page. Engraving featuring illustration's related to Vesalius' De Fabrica, 1543 published as the title page to Spiegel, Adriaan van: De humani corporis fabrica libri decem, also known as Tabulae anatomicae LXXXIIX, Francofurti : Impensis & Caelo Matthaei Meriani, 1632. Andreas Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica in 1543.
  11. - ACM-Tashrih-i Mansuri (Mansur's Anatomy)-03636. Tashrih-i Mansuri (Mansur's Anatomy). The Tashrih-i Mansuri, the anatomy of Mansur ibn Ilyas, is a Persian illustrated anatomical treatise of the late fourteenth century whose full-page skeletal and vascular figures were copied for centuries.
  12. - An anatomy theatre with statues of the anatomists Vesalius and Spigelius; a corpse on a table in the background. Engraving, 1672.. 's book De humani corporis fabrica. Andreas Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica in 1543.
  13. - Anatomy of the principal parts of the human body. Engraving by J. Blanchin after J. Dumoulin, 1679.. (the latter cropped mid-thigh). Andreas Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica in 1543.
  14. - Illustration of a human skeleton in a kneeling posture, 1733. Illustration published in Cheselden, William: Osteographia, or the anatomy of the bones, London, 1733. William Cheselden published Osteographia, an atlas of the human skeleton.
  15. - Illustration of the spine from Cheselden, <i>Osteographia</i>, 1733. Illustration of the spine from Cheselden, Osteographia, 1733. Plate 13 from Cheselden, William: Osteographia, or the anatomy of the bones, London, 1733. William Cheselden published Osteographia, an atlas of the human skeleton.
  16. - Cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Engraving after G. de Lairesse, 1739.. 1-2 are of the first cervical vertebra, the atlas, seen from below and above. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  17. - The scapula (figures 1-2) and the clavicle (figures 3-4) and the sternum seen from the front (figure 5). Engraving after G. de Lairesse, 1739.
  18. - The bones of the arm. Engraving after G. de Lairesse, 1739.. (figures 1-2), the ulna (figures 3-4), and the radius (figures 5-6). Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  19. - A human skeleton, seen from the back, resting the bones of its right forearm on a spade handle, after Vesalius. Etching by I. Basire, 1743.. 1543.
  20. - A rachitic skeleton, measuring two feet two inches in length, seen from the front and the back. Engraving, 1749.. "intendant" of the Jardin du Roi in 1736 and his Histoire naturelle has, as its base, his descriptive catalogue of the specimens of the "cabinet du roi". Rickets, nutritional vitamin D deficiency causing bone deformity, was historically associated with industrial cities, smoke and lack of sunlight and was known in Britain as the English disease.
  21. - An ankylosis of the bones of the fractured right femur (thigh-bone) and tibia (lower leg bone) (figs 1-2) and the radius and ulna (bones of the forearm) joined by a flexible callus (figs 3-4) Engravin. 1749. Splinting and bandaging to immobilise a fracture is attested for at least three thousand years, in Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese practice alike, long before the word orthopaedics existed.
  22. - A false ankylosis of the right femur (thigh-bone), seen from the front and back (figs 1-2) and divided for an interior view (fig. 3) Engraving, 1749.. 1-2 show the same example in two views, as do figures 4-5. Pathological bone specimens in museum collections are the physical record of conditions that antibiotics and vaccines later made rare in wealthy countries.
  23. - Five figures of exostoses (tumours) on the left femur (thigh-bone) Engraving, 1749.. 1-2 show the same example in two views, as do figures 4-5. Pathological bone specimens in museum collections are the physical record of conditions that antibiotics and vaccines later made rare in wealthy countries.
  24. - The name "H. Cline"; the outline of a femur; and studs. Relief etchings by Henry Cline, 1784/1811.. "H. Cline", the outline of a femur, and studs. Anatomical atlases established the normal against which skeletal deformity was defined, and the great ones were as much publishing achievements as medical ones.
  25. - Standing skeleton, seen from the side, resting right elbow on a pedestal, with left hand resting on a skull. Pen and ink wash drawing by J. Mallcott after A. Vesalius, 1796.. Standing skeleton, seen from the side, resting right elbow on a pedestal, with left hand resting on a skull. Pen and ink wash drawing by J. Mallcott after. Vesalius, 1796. Andreas Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica in 1543.
  26. - A compendium of the anatomy of the human body - intended principally for the use of students (1801). Plate from A compendium of the anatomy of the human body : intended principally for the use of students, 1801 by Fyfe, Andrew (Edinburgh : Printed by J. Pillans & sons, and sold. Gut). Anatomical atlases established the normal against which skeletal deformity was defined, and the great ones were as much publishing achievements as medical ones.
  27. - Chinese C19 woodcut: Forensic chart of the skeleton (front). Woodcut showing frontal view of skeleton from Shangke buyao (Supplement to Traumatology) by Qian Xiuchang, published in 1818 (23rd year of the Jiaqing reign period of the Qing dynasty). Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  28. - Chinese C19 woodcut: Forensic chart of the skeleton (back). Forensic chart of the skeleton from Shangke buyao (Supplement to Traumatology) by Qian Xiuchang, published in 1818 (23rd year of the Jiaqing reign period of the Qing dynasty). Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  29. - The circulatory system: dissections of the knee joint, with arteries and veins indicated in red and blue. Coloured lithograph by J. Maclise, 1841/1844.
  30. - Pvt. Julius Fabry (SCDV 05684A), National Museum of Health and Medicine. Pathological bone specimens in museum collections are the physical record of conditions that antibiotics and vaccines later made rare in wealthy countries.
  31. - Photographs of surgical cases and specimens (1865). A collection of foreign bodies retrieved from the bladder, including stones with foreign bodies as nuclei, all formed as a result of gunshot wounds: Left upper: stone formed around a bullet lodged in the bladder, which then healed Middle upper: half of a urinary calculus formed after gunshot wound to... Pathological bone specimens in museum collections are the physical record of conditions that antibiotics and vaccines later made rare in wealthy countries.
  32. - Alfred A. Stratton. Alfred. Stratton. Alfred. Stratton lost both his arms at age 19 on 18 June 1864 by a cannon shot in the American Civil War. The Army Medical Museum was founded in 1862 and the resulting Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, published 1870 to 1888, is one of the great medical documentation projects.
  33. - Pirogoff-Amputation 1. Pirogov amputation, performed by Thomas George Morton (1835-1903). Nikolai Pirogov used plaster casts, triage and women nurses on the Russian side in the Crimean War.
  34. - SP310 Cranium with an Iron Arrow-Head impacted in the left Temporal Bone. Private Martin W____, Troop E, 4th Cavalry, was killed by Indians on September 30, 1870, twenty miles from Fort Concho, Texas, while on duty as one of the mail-stage guard from Fort Chadbourne. The Army Medical Museum was founded in 1862 and the resulting Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, published 1870 to 1888, is one of the great medical documentation projects.
  35. - A dislocated femur bone: dissection of the thigh, showing the bone and surrounding muscles. Coloured stipple engraving by Debray after Bion, ca. 1870?.
  36. - The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. Part III, Volume II. (3rd Surgical volume) (1883). Plate from The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. The Army Medical Museum was founded in 1862 and the resulting Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, published 1870 to 1888, is one of the great medical documentation projects.
  37. - Evolution and disease (1890). Plate from Evolution and disease, 1890 by Bland-Sutton, John, Sir (New York : Scribner & Welford). Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  38. - Human body, arteries and viscera, Persian, 1893. Anatomical illustration showing the arterial system and viscera. Anatomical atlases established the normal against which skeletal deformity was defined, and the great ones were as much publishing achievements as medical ones.
  39. - Bulletin of the Warren Anatomical Museum (1910). Plate from Bulletin of the Warren Anatomical Museum, 1910 by Harvard Medical School Whitney, William F (Boston : (Harvard Medical School)). Anatomical atlases established the normal against which skeletal deformity was defined, and the great ones were as much publishing achievements as medical ones.
  40. - Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1916, Volume 2, Plate 0124. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  41. - Annals of medical history (1917). Plate from Annals of medical history, 1917 by Packard, Francis R. (Francis Randolph) (New York P.B. Hoeber). Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  42. - Vertebrae from a skeleton showing spondylitis deformans, from Ruffer: <i>Studies in the Palaeopathology of Egypt</i> (1921). Vertebrae from a skeleton showing spondylitis deformans, from Ruffer: Studies in the Palaeopathology of Egypt (1921). Reproduction of a photograph of vertebrae from a skeleton of the 3rd Dynasty showing spondylitis deformans, published in Ruffer, Sir Marc Armand: Studies in the Palaeopathology of Egypt, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1921. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  43. - Human left femur, Tell Fara, Palestine, 100 BCE-200 CE. عظم الفخذ هو العظم الذي يصل مفاصل الورك والركبة. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  44. - Skulls from Tel el Duweir. One of the group of 500 skulls from the late 8th Century deposit of human remains which filled the 18th dynasty chamber. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  45. - Kuntscher. Küntscherův nitrodřeňový hřeb historicky používaný pro syntézu fraktur femuru. Gerhard Kuntscher introduced intramedullary nailing in Germany from around 1939 to 1940.
  46. - Hunterian Collection. This photo was taken by me, Paul Dean (StoneColdCrazy), in September 2007, and shows a part of the Hunterian Collections on display at The Royal College of Surgeons of England. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  47. - Bones. Wellcome Collection film on bone. Skeletal material is the oldest evidence orthopedics has, because healed and malunited fractures are visible in the archaeological record long before any written text.
  48. - RightFemurIII. Upper right femur is taken out(along with a tumor and the rectus femoris muscle). Long wards of children in frames are the characteristic institutional image of orthopedics for the first two thirds of the twentieth century, when the caseload was polio and skeletal tuberculosis.
  49. - RightFemurV. A upper right femur Bone-allograft with associated tissues around the hip joint. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  50. - College of Physicians 2. National Historic Landmark since October 2008, College of Physicians in Philadelphia. The National Joint Registry of England and Wales showed revision rates around 12 to 13 percent at five years against an expected 5 to 6 percent, and the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry independently reported 9.3 percent at five years.
  51. - Anatomy of the human body. The Tashrih-i Mansuri, the anatomy of Mansur ibn Ilyas, is a Persian illustrated anatomical treatise of the late fourteenth century whose full-page skeletal and vascular figures were copied for centuries.
  52. - Hunterian Museum Bicentenary - with subtitles. Royal College of Surgeons film marking the Hunterian Museum bicentenary. The museum's specimens are the surviving evidence base of British surgical teaching from the eighteenth century onward.
  53. - Mutter 0751. Mutter Museum Plaque by the College of Physicians on 22nd Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, as seen in 2013. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  54. - Trepanned skull, New Britain. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards. It is a foundational subject in palaeopathology rather than a procedure this archive describes.
  55. - Top of a skull and instrument.
  56. - A.H. Hassall, The Microscopic Anatomy of the Human Body...
  57. - W. Cheselden, The anatomy of the human body.. (detail), Cheselden using a camera obscura. William Cheselden published Osteographia, an atlas of the human skeleton.
  58. - The arteries of the human body with a foetus in the womb.
  59. - Pathological conditions found in bones of Ancient Egyptians.
  60. - Femur of large adult cave bear which shows healed fracture. Femur of a large adult cave bear, Ursus Spelaeus, which shows a healed fracture somewhat below the middle etc. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  61. - Digitised Diseases: 3D digital documentation of bone change in cases of chronic disease. Lecture on the Digitised Diseases project, which produced three dimensional records of bone change in chronic disease from archaeological and museum collections. Palaeopathology is a photographable discipline in its own right and predates every orthopedic text.
  62. - Cannibals and Saints: Bones as Medicine in Early Modern Europe. Lecture on bones used as medicine in early modern Europe. Human remains circulated as materia medica, which is part of the collecting history behind museum skeletal holdings.
  63. - Dilophosaurus pathologies. Pathological features in the forelimbs and left scapula of UCMP 37302 (Dilophosaurus wetherilli). Pathological bone specimens in museum collections are the physical record of conditions that antibiotics and vaccines later made rare in wealthy countries.
  64. - Poynter Lecture - "Finding Patients in the Medical Museum". Poynter Lecture on finding patients in the medical museum. Specimens were taken from people, and recovering who those people were is now a standard curatorial question.
  65. - Trepaned skull, prehistoric times, City of Prague Museum, 175924. Trepaned skull from prehistoric times. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  66. - Double trepanation on the skull, The Celts, NM Prague, 188008. Double trepanation on the skull of an old man. Trepanation, the cutting of an opening in the skull, is among the oldest operations for which there is physical evidence, and trepanned skulls with healed margins survive in museum collections worldwide, showing that people lived afterwards.
  67. - Evolutionary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Osteoporosis | Jonathan Stieglitz. Jonathan Stieglitz on evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives on osteoporosis. Bone loss patterns differ between populations with very different activity and diet.
  68. - Orthopedics -- Smart-Servier. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  69. - Fracture repair -- Smart-Servier (cropped). Bone fractures - Fracture repair. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  70. - Tales from Surgeons' Hall: The Culloden Skull. Surgeons' Hall Museums on the Culloden skull. Battle casualties in museum collections carry a dignity question, because the dead did not consent to display.
  71. - Key Concepts for Paleopathology Lecture. Lecture on key concepts in palaeopathology. Distinguishing perimortem from postmortem fracture is a basic problem of the discipline.
  72. - Mini Lectures | Our Lovely Bones: Unlocking the Secrets of Skeletons. Rutgers mini-lecture on what skeletons reveal. Bone records disease, injury, nutrition and occupation, which is why palaeopathology reads it as evidence rather than as illustration.
  73. - Tales from Surgeons' Hall: The Case of Robert Penman. Surgeons' Hall Museums on the case of Robert Penman, a patient whose facial tumour was removed in 1828. The museum names him, which is the correct standard for identifiable historical patients.
  74. - Anna Dhody - The Mütter Research Institute: Looking to the Past to Improve Our Future. Anna Dhody on the Mütter Research Institute in Philadelphia. The Mütter holds one of the largest pathological collections in the United States, including extensive skeletal material.
  75. - Tales from Surgeons' Hall: Broken Femur. Surgeons' Hall Museums on a broken femur in its collection. A healed or malunited femur is direct evidence of what fracture treatment achieved before internal fixation.
  76. - The History of Trepanning. On the history of trepanning. Trepanned skulls showing bone regrowth are evidence that patients survived the procedure, and they are among the oldest surgical evidence that exists.
  77. - Museum Vrolik - Anatomy Stories 3: Anatomical Atlas. Museum Vrolik on anatomical atlases in its collection. The printed atlas and the preserved specimen were complementary teaching tools before photography.
  78. - Post Lateral Tibial Plateau Fracture Repair Surgical Incision Site 2. Osteological atlases and articulated skeletons are the reference against which every deformity and fracture in this archive was read.
  79. - Thackray Museum of Medicine: Virtual Launch. Virtual launch of the redeveloped Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds. The museum occupies a former workhouse building next to Leeds General Infirmary.
  80. - The Wellcome Collection of Egyptology at the Oriental Museum, Durham University. On the Wellcome collection of Egyptology at Durham. Henry Wellcome's collecting was vast and was dispersed to many institutions after his death in 1936.
  81. - Museum Vrolik - Anatomy Stories 4: On Birth Defects & Superstition. Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam on birth defects and superstition in its anatomical collection. Congenital skeletal difference is heavily represented in nineteenth century museum material, and the register in which it was collected was often frankly objectifying.
  82. - Paleoradiology meets Archaeology 3 - Fabrice Dedouit (lecture 1/7). Fabrice Dedouit lectures at the Archaeological Museum of Istria on paleoradiology. Imaging archaeological remains lets skeletal trauma and disease be read without destroying the specimen.
  83. - Cat Irving on “Things in Jars!” The history of human remains in medical museums. Cat Irving of Surgeons' Hall Museums on the history of human remains in medical museums. Much anatomical and pathological material was taken from people who could not consent, which is a live question for every collection that holds it.
  84. - Cut it off! An Amputation Demonstration. National Museum of Civil War Medicine museum programme on amputation in the period. Presented here as a historical account of what was done and with what instruments, not as guidance.
  85. - “Museums and Medical Knowledge: past, present, and future,” by Sam Alberti, PhD, March 17, 2022. Sam Alberti at McGill on museums and medical knowledge, past, present and future. Alberti has written on how medical museums acquired and displayed human remains, much of it without consent.
  86. - Hunterian Museum puts weird and wonderful anatomical curiosities back on display. New Scientist on the Hunterian Museum reopening its displays in 2023. The redisplay followed a reassessment of how the museum presents human remains taken without consent.
  87. - London's Grisliest Museum? A Guided Tour of The Hunterian Surgical Museum. Guided tour of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, built on the collection of John Hunter. The Hunterian holds bone specimens and pathological preparations that document skeletal disease before radiography existed.
  88. - Kristy Henson: Biocultural Variables and vitamin D deficiency in the recent historic past.. Kristy Henson at Leicester on vitamin D deficiency in the historic past. Rickets leaves clear skeletal signatures and is readable directly from archaeological bone.
  89. - Trepanning in Prehistory: Ancient Surgery Unveiled. On trepanation in prehistory. The practice is documented across widely separated cultures with no contact between them.
  90. - August 2024 - Chris Smith - The W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum: Almost 150 years of teaching support. Chris Smith on the W. D. Trotter Anatomy Museum in Dunedin and its century and a half of teaching collections. Anatomy museums preserve the skeletal material on which surgical teaching was built before imaging existed.
  91. - 20251102 Rachitisches Skelett Medizinhistorisches Museum Charité Berlin anagoria. Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité: Rachitic Skeleton. Rickets, nutritional vitamin D deficiency causing bone deformity, was historically associated with industrial cities, smoke and lack of sunlight and was known in Britain as the English disease.
  92. - Toulouse’s Medical History Unveiled: Musée de l'Histoire de la Médecine. The Musée d'Histoire de la Médecine in Toulouse. French medical museums hold anatomical and instrument collections comparable to the British and American ones.
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