Gobelin's History of Medicine and Science

Abstract

The acquisition of a modern Gobelin tapestry (see cover picture) by the University of British Columbia has caused some excitement among members of our profession addicted to history. One of Canada's best-known philanthropists, P. A. Woodward, the prime mover in the Health Science Centre in Vancouver, has recently presented to the Memorial Room of his Bio-Medical Library a colorful Gobelin measuring 16 feet by 11 feet, depicting some forty figures famous in the annals of medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and philosophy (Figure). The tapestry which has just arrived in Canada was produced by the head of the Gobelin house, Monsieur J. Cochery, in Paris in 1948, and is the artist's proof for one commissioned for the Thesis Room of the Sorbonne. Of particular interest to medical readers will be those depicted in the tapestry, who were connected with the clinical and basic medical sciences. One might commence a brief