Official journal of the International Society Revue officielle de la ...

Vesalius, VI, 2, 130-132, 2000Places the medical historian should visitEndroits a visiter par les historiens de la medecineWhen you visit a strange city it is not always easy to find the way to sites of medical historicalinterest, or even to learn whetherthere are any. How often has one regretted not knowing whereto go, and learned about what you have missed after your return home. To help minimise thisrisk we have asked a number of members to contribute urban itineraries to cover short visits ofone or two days in towns throughout the world.If you would like to offer a short medical historical itinerary for your own town we should behappy to consider it for publication in the series.Lorsque l'on visite une ville qui n'est pas la sienne, il n'est pas toujours facile de repérer cequi est susceptible d'intéresser l'historien de la médecine. Combien de fois ne l'a-t-on pasregretté et surtout d'apprendre, à son retour, ce qu'on a manqué. Afin de pallier cette difficulté,nous avons demandé à plusieurs membres de notre Société de proposer un itinéraire médicohistoriqued'un ou deux jours, chacun dans sa ville.Si vous disposez d'un itinéraire d'une ville - la vôtre ou une autre - susceptible d'intéressernos lecteurs, n'hésitez pas à nous l'envoyer, nous serons heureux de le publier dans cette série.Florence - "La Specola"Perhaps very few of our readers have notvisited the Renaissance City and marvelled atthe magnitude and multitude of art work inFlorence. During the visit, when the art of themasters and the beauty of paintings in the PittiPalace have brought one to exhaustion, it is timeto visit a refreshingly tranquil and interestingmuseum. The Museum of Natural History of theUniversity of Florence, located two blocks southof the Pitti Palace at 17 Via Romana, houses alittle-known gem of medical history, the anatomicalwax models from the late 18th century. Itcame to be known to the general public as «l_aSpecola» because in 1780, five years after itsinaugural, a telescope was installed on top of thebuilding for astronomical observations.Anatomical teaching models have existedat least since Babylonian times, as is evidentfrom the bronze liverfrom Piacenza (Italy), datingfrom the fifth century B.C. With the founding of«La Specola» the anatomical wax modelsreached a peak of excellence and have neverbeen surpassed. «La Specola» models are uniquenot only in their scientific accuracy but alsoin their superior life-like appearance. Apart fromslight darkening over the two centuries, theoverall appearance is startlingly true to life. Theosteological specimens, to the unwary, look asif actual bones were given a light coat of varnish.The detailed history of «l_a Specola» isavailable (1-5). The Museum was inauguratedon February 22,1775, and was called the Royaland Imperial Museum of Physics and NaturalHistory. It was founded under the aegis of theGrand Duke Peter Leopold of Lorraine whofollowed the last of the Medici. The Grand Dukewas averse to the idea of dissection of thehuman body. Felice Fontana, the founder and130