Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

Osteomyeltis of the femur, as a result of scarlet fever

Osteomyelitis is an intensely painful, often disastrous infection of the bone, which can have grave consequences. This case was the sequelae of a case of scarlet fever (a body-wide rash caused by strep throat), and resulted in amputation of the limb. This patient survived, but a large percentage of patients did not. Prior to antibiotics, many who contracted osteomyelitis (due to scarlet fever or other reasons) developed severe bacteremia (bacteria in the bloodstream), which often progressed to sepsis and death.

Think you have strep throat? See a doctor!

An American Text-Book of Surgery, for Practitioners and Students. Ed. William W. Keen & J. William White, 1899.

Bones and Muscles of the Thigh and Leg

“Clorion” appears to have been Martha Chase Owen, the wife of Richard Owen, who was the son of the founder of the settlement of Harmonie/New Harmony, Indiana. She first arrived in the settlement with her first husband, Dr. Thomas Chase, who was an artist and a chemist.

After a year of turmoil and being turned out of her own house, Dr. Chase confronted his wife’s friend Richard Owen, who’d been walking around town with Martha....

[Anatomical Illustrations taken from The Domestic Physician]. Clorion, 1830. Via Historical Anatomies on the Web.

Bones and muscles of the thigh and leg

For decades, the illustrations of “Clorion” had no definitive artist. Many accomplished medical artists had resided in New Harmony/Harmonie, Indiana, during the period where the illustrations were made, but it was unclear who had truly authored them.

However, after more than 1.5 centuries, we may know the answer to the mystery.

[Anatomical Illustrations taken from The Domestic Physician]. Clorion, 1830. Via Historical Anatomies on the Web.

Inevitabile Fatum - “Inescapable End”

These figures display the major bones of the human skull and cervical spine.

Though Andreas Vesalius was known as the first European physician to disregard the Galenic model of anatomy (based largely upon the bodies of other primates and not humans) and revolutionize our knowledge of the human form, Johann Dryander had already dissected and illustrated the human skull and brain twice, before Vesalius even came out with his first publication.

Vesalius performed most of his work in Padua, Italy, while Dryander lived and practiced in Marburg, Germany.

Anatomiae, hoc est, corporis humani dissectionis pars prior. Johann Dryander, 1537.

My favorite creatures have some beautiful bones.

Die/Das Skelete [series]. Dr. E. D’Alton, 1821.

Bones of the human hand and wrist

At birth, the human infant typically has 270 bones, and many bones fuse together to reach a total of 207 bones in adulthood. However, some bones aren’t even formed yet in babies, when they’re born.

Included among those bones is the eight carpals, or wrist-bones. They begin to ossify (solidify) around 2 months of age, and continue to form through the beginning of puberty.

The last wrist bone to form (the pisiform) is a sesamoid bone, which forms part of the the ulnar border (near the pinky finger as opposed to the thumb) of the wrist.

Being a sesamoid bone means that it is a bone embedded within a tendon or muscle, and most often formed in response to strain. Unlike the other wrist bones, it doesn’t contribute to the rotation of the wrist, and is not an anchor for any major tendons or muscles.

Atlas and Text-Book of Human Anatomy. Dr. Johannes Sobotta, 1914.

The Effects of a Cannonball on the Tibia and Fibula

General Daniel Sickles' amputated leg bones with similar cannonball to the one that hit him in 1863. Daniel Sickles' leg was removed after he was struck by a cannonball at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Prior to the Civil War, Gen. Sickles had murdered the son of Francis Scott Key (who was having an affair with his young wife), and had been put on trial, but had been acquitted.

When he was struck during the war, he was, in effect, removed from his post, but he resented that. After being removed, he ran a campaign against both Gen. George Meade and Ulysses S. Grant, which attacked them both for not allowing him back to the field.

After the war, he served as ambassador to Spain, and survived until 1914.

Ecchondroma of the ilium

Chondromas are benign cartilaginous tumors, which are formed by errant chondrocytes (cartilage-creating cells) creating encapsulated lobular growths either within bones (enchondromas), or outward from the bones (ecchondromas). Ecchondromas are much more uncommon than cartilage tumors which grow from within the bone.

American Text-Book of Surgery. Edited by J. William White and William W. Keen, 1894.