Saturday, January 30, 2010

Great Moment # 101


The oldest surviving diagram of the interior organ arrangement of the human body dates from approximately 800 B.C. It was found in a remote part of Papua New Guinea. The drawing is rather primitive, etched with ochre and mud onto some sort of hide. Sadly, the ancient people of this region were cannibalistic. The diagram was not made for medical purposes, but rather as the equivalent of a butcher's chart. It denotes the choicest morsels and describes which organs are better suited for stew.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Great Moment #342


On this day in 1674, Johannes Gruber performed the first modern cataract surgery with a cutlass, a snuff-box, and a wooden mallet. The operation was considered successful as the patient lived, though both eyes had to be replaced with petrified grapes.