Abstract
The Limits of Seeing and Knowing: Early Modern Anatomy and the Uterine Membranes
Highlights
Alittle child sits, encircled by a translucent, egg-shaped container
The cord emerging from his navel, which seems to twist and twine in invisible currents, indicates that this figure, depicted in a little engraving measuring 6 cm high and first printed as a book illustration in 1668, is a fetus in amniotic fluid.[2]. We peer into his world through the protective, veiling, yet fragile, almost-not-there uterine membranes
To us, both accessible and at an absolute remove, both exposed and veiled. This image was produced for a midwifery manual by François Mauriceau, and it seemed to me, on first sight, to be an innovation – a strange new view of the fetus, not technically in utero, but ‘in membranes’
Summary
Alittle child sits, encircled by a translucent, egg-shaped container. His knees are drawn up and gently clasped by his hands, his gaze is cast down, and a small, knowing smile is on his lips (1668, figure 1).[1].
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