Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Seeing in 3-D, Circa 1905

One of the most interesting things in our collection is a number of boxes of photographs from "Edinburgh Anatomy" which contain hundreds of slides. 

In 1905, David Waterston edited "The Edinburgh Stereoscopic Atlas of Anatomy", which consisted of 250 stereograms, mounted on cards, and housed in five volumes. 
The "Edinburgh Atlas" was prepared under the control of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. In 1908-1909, the general anatomy was followed by the more specialized Edinburgh Stereoscopic Atlas of Obstetrics in four volumes. 
At the same auction where I found the Yardley map of Johns Hopkins, I also found one of the devices used to view the stereograms. 
Although we already have one of the stereoscopes, it's in another cabinet, in another part of the building.
Now the viewer is with the images. 

2 comments:

  1. Hello Meg, These stereoviews are a little gross, but fascinating. They were meant for serious anatomical study and show the dissection of actual cadavers. I had part of this set, which is quite a large one, but I gave it away to someone who was interested in medical school (I now kind of regret my generosity!).
    --Jim

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    1. NO!!! Oh, that's too bad. They are a really amazing resource.

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