INTRODUCTION
~ \" When Andreas Vesalins， the great anatomist of the Italian Renaissance， broke with
\"=，~ ~ ~ f~L-~， g， tg，~\"~ ~-\"~ {~-~ medieval tradition and taboo by systematically dissecting the human body， peeling back
~ ~ ~~a~.~ ~ ~\" P ?~ ~ ~e，~~ in mollon a train of discoveries and inventions which would culminate 450 years later in
} :\" \"~~i tl llous imagery to be found on the pages of this book.
Vesalius would have been astounded at the sight of this spectacular interior cosmos.
\"5 \" J for which nothing in his experience could have prepared him. He would equally have
~: \" ; been amazed to discover that these wonders had not been revealed by the surgeon s
scalpel but by superhuman， though man-made， eyes - eyes so powerful that they could
actually scmtlblze individual cells， their nuclei， and even single atoms. Just as astonish-
ing， some of these disembodied eyes could probe the body s innermost secrets while it
was alive and in good health without so much as physically touching it， let alone pene-
trating its surface.
Today， with the array of scientifically derived knowledge of the body available to
us， it is still difficult to believe that these fascinating pictures are not out-takes from
some popular science-fiction film like Fantastic Voyage， in which a team of down-
sized human beings pilot their minute craft on a perilous mission through the human
body， but are instead the fruits of painstaking scientific investigation coupled with
ingenious technology.
A 15th~century Astmlogi~l Man ， with For all their hi-tech aura， however， they are in one fundamental way a continuation
zodiacal signs. From Heymandus de Veterd of a long and venerable tradition dating back to the Renaissance: that of picturing the
Busco， Ars computisHca， 1488 body and its parts precisely and accurately with the use of naturalistic techniques.
l]covch~ figure* attributed to the circle Before the Renaissance， which saw the first of this new style of representation， depic~
of Baaolomeo Passarotti， Bologna，
mid-16th century tions of the body had done little to elucidate its structures and functions. During the
~， ~.~! .._ ~ ~i~5 =~ ~... Middle Ages， dissecti forbidd dpfi d physicians tumed to th liac
~:~\"，m\"Y~ ~ to illuminate the mysteries of the body s interior.
jr i Durng~eena in istsbegn ec~gcosein~er
7~; 7 .~ own studios in the belief that a proper understanding of human anatomy was essential
( if the exterior of the body were to be correctly depicted. In their knowledge of the body
they were often in advance of the physicians， who were still dissecting animals and
relying unquestioningly on the received wisdom of ancient texts. The accuracy， of the
new naturalistic techniques would prove so useful to medical men and scientists that it
!i~ ~ would eventuaUy win over all but the most stubborn of their fellows.
， From the beginning of the sixteenth century， with the growing power of the printing
I!~ press， illustration played an ever more important role in communicating information
r ~ t about the body. Artists and scientists along with their publishers， were constantly think-
: \"~rg ~ ~ 7V ing up inventive ways of presenting their findings. The plates in Vesalius great text De
i~ : bunmni corporisfabHca (1543)， for example， were so designed as to enable the reader
i to follow the dissection procedure step-by-step， with each of the plates revealing a
;~ \" \"~ti .~ deeper level right down to the skeleton. Another ingenious device of the period was an
::~ instructional sheet which had superimposed flaps that could be folded back to reveal
，~p，..~ the internal organs.
Over the following centuries the inner terrain of the I>ody and charted.
~- ~ [.S : Yet there seemed no end to the finer and finer structures theWaSprobingmappedrevealed， in this
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