The_Resurrectionist_The_Lost_Work_of_Dr

IN 1908, FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF Gray’s Anatomy, DR. SPENCER
BLACK ARRANGED FOR THE PUBLICATION OF HIS Codex Extinct Animalia. JUST
SIX COPIES WERE PRINTED BEFOREDR. BLACK WITHDREW THE PROJECT AND
DISAPPEARED; THE BOOK WAS NEVER DISTRIBUTED, AND THE PHILADELPHIA
MUSEUM OF MEDICAL ANTIQUITIES HAS THE ONLY KNOWN EXISTING COPY
WHY DR. BLACK STOPPED PRINTING SO ABRUPTLY(AND THEN VANISHED)
REMAINS UNKNOWN.
THE BOOK IS AN ANATOMICAL REFERENCE MANUAL, A COMMON ENDEAVOR
AMONG NATURALISTS AT THE TIME. IT HIGHLIGHTS THE ANATOMIES OF ELEVEN
DIFFERENT SPECIES THAT ARE, AS INDICATED BY THE TITLE PAGE, PROPOSED TO BE
EXTINCT. AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH CHAPTER, DR. BLACK DISCUSSES KEY
POINTS OF INTEREST REGARDING THE RESPECTIVE SPECIES . ALTHOUGH HE
SOMETIMES MENTIONS FINDING SPECIMENS (OR THE PARTIAL REMAINS OF A
SPECIMEN) IN HIS TRAVELS, IT IS GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT BLACK FABRICATED
ALL THESE CREATURES BY HAND. THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE SPECIMENS REMAINS
UNKNOWN; MOST WERE LIKELY DESTROYED, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME ARE IN
THE COLLECTIONS OF AS-YET-UNKNOWN INDIVIDUALS.
AT TIMES DR. BLACK’S WRITING IS SCATTERED AND DIFFICULT TO
UNDERSTAND. THERE IS A CERTAIN HYSTERICAL TONE TO HIS DESCRIPTIONS THAT
WAS CHARACTERISTIC OF BLACK IN HIS LATER YEARS.
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