Coronal cross-sections of Caucasian female, age 33.
Proceedings of the Aberdeen University Anatomical and Anthropological Society. 1902-1904.
Sagittal cross-sections of the head of Caucasian female subject, age 63.
Dissection done as a part of studies to scientifically determine typical characteristics for genders/racial descent. For centuries, people have known that people descended from different races "typically" had different characteristics from others. However, it wasn't until the turn of the 20th century that the first big studies were done to determine exactly how different characteristics manifested themselves, and what differences were significant enough to use in identification. Though it's still far from an exact science, those studies were the first major steps forward in working off of evidence rather than stereotypes and supposition when identifying the "race" of anthropological remains.
Proceedings of the Aberdeen University Anatomical and Anthropological Society. 1902-1904.
Hummingbirds are exclusive to the Americas, and when Europeans first saw them, they thought they were seeing a cross between an insect and a bird. One of the first American naturalists, Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, described them in 1782:
The humming-bird.
It's bill is long and sharp as a coarse sewing-needle: like the bee, nature has taught it to find out in the calyx of flowers and blossoms those mellifluous particles that can serve it for sufficient food; and yet it seems to leave them untouched, undeprived of anything that our eyes can possibly distinguish. When it feeds it appears as if immovable, though continually on the wing... they are the most irascible of the feathered tribe. Where do passions find room in so diminutive a body: They often fight with the fury of lions... When fatigued, it has often perched within a few feet of me, and on such favorable of opportunities I have surveyed it with the most minute attention. Its little eyes appear like diamonds, reflecting light on every side; most elegantly finished in all parts, it is a miniature work of our great parent, who seems to have formed it smallest and at the same time the most beautiful of the winged species.
By the middle of the 19th century, hummingbirds were caught and shipped off by the boatload, to sell to the clamoring aristocratic Europeans desirous of their uniquely prismatic feathers, that John James Audubon described as "the glistening garments of the rainbow".
Fortunately, hummingbirds didn't end up being hunted to extinction or becoming extremely endangered, like so many other species during the 18th and 19th century.
Today, the primary threats to hummingbirds are habitat destruction and large-scale interruption of flyways needed for migration. Though the numbers of many South American and Central American species are still on a downward trend, the recent efforts of local organizations to establish hummingbird-friendly gardens and feeding stations in the paths of traditional migratory flyways have helped in bolstering the populations of all 18 North American hummingbird species.
Hummingbird illustrations:
A Monograph of the Trochilidae or Humming Bird. John Gould, 1861.
Book of Birds Common to North America. National Geographic Society, 1918.
Humming-birds. Mary and Elizabeth Kirby, 1874.
The Naturalist's Library: Ornithology - Hummingbirds. Sir William Jardine, ca. 1880s.
So, can YOU tell the difference between eared pinnipeds by muzzle alone?
1. Stellar Sea Lion - Head
2. Southern Fur Seal - Head
3. Hooker's Sea Lion - Head
4. Stellar Sea Lion - Nose/Mouth
5. Southern Fur Seal - Nose/Mouth
6. Hooker's Sea Lion - Nose/Mouth
Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, Vol XII. 1890.
Aye-aye skeleton and behavior.
Aye-ayes fill the same ecological niche as woodpeckers do, thanks to their loooong and skinny middle fingers that serve the same role as a woodpecker's long tongue. In addition to their long, bug-picking fingers, they also have constantly-growing teeth. This led to early naturalists to classify them as "Rodentia". They're now considered relatives of the lemur, but that classification is still not certain; some species of aye-aye have rodent-like bone structures, and even though molecular genetics shows lemurs and aye-ayes having a relatively recent common ancestor, its classification is still challenged.
Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 1872.
Cure your hysteria today!
"Mechanical vibration, which properly includes two forms of application -- spinal stimulation and vibra-massage - has established an important place in therapeutics which it is certain to fill to the advantage of suffering humanity."
From Catalogue No. 3 of Electro-Theraputic Apparatus from the Friedlander Co., 1905
Some of my favorite things: The interpretations of sea life by old mariners, and the legends they wrought.
The walrus was once known as the Morse, and the Sea Horse. They're massive beasts; the males can be nearly two tons and highly aggressive during mating season. Only the orca and polar bear dare attack it, and even those predators would rather find a less dangerous meal.
In Canada, it's estimated that almost 50% of polar bear attacks on walruses end in the death or serious injury of the polar bear - they are a food of desperation, and the (rare) opportunity when there's an injured or young walrus separated from the herd.
Legend and mythology of the Laplanders and Inuit often features the prized animal. The tusks and bones of the caught walruses were carved into beautiful designs, and the oosiks (baculum/penis bones) were given to newly-married couples as gifts to bless them with fertility.
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax -- Of cabbages -- and kings - And why the sea is boiling hot -- And whether pigs have wings."
-Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
Walrus interpretations from Proceedings of the General Meeting of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London. 1921.
How do you want YOUR tonsils out?
Skull and facial structure components illustrated.
The history of medicine in Japan is a very interesting one, highly influenced by an isolationist stance taken by the Edo government. In the middle of the 16th century, Portuguese traders brought the first beginnings of medicine in Europe over to Japan, and there was a good deal of interest around the scholarly community. However, the Tokugawa family established a cultural stance of distrust of anything western, even when it was better than what they had prior to its arrival.
Diseases were thought to be caused by evil spirits, and the dead body was an impure substance that would contaminate whomever touched it, so it was uncommon that people were willing to undertake even limited dissections.
Personally, I find it amazing and fascinating that Japan started into the age of modern medicine so slowly and yet progressed so quickly, to the point that it now has some of the most innovative therapies and research out there.
From Kaibo Zonshinzu anatomy scrolls by Yasukazu Minagaki, 1819. In Keio University Archives.
Cuvier Day extra plates - All illustrations from publications by Baron Georges Cuvier
Parrots. Many parrots. You like parrots, right? Here are some parrots.
Layers of the human hand.
Principles of Anatomy, as Shown in the Hand. Frederic James Wood, 1920.
Whooper Swan, Black Swan, Bewick's Swan.
Tits: Great Tit, Sultan Tit, Elegant Tit, Yellow-Cheeked Tit, Black-Crested Tit, Grey-Crested Tit, Red-Capped Tit, Varied Tit
Early on in the blog, some anon messaged me "tits or gtfo". I assume this is what they meant.