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Lecture - Eyes, Hands, Hearts: Anatomy, Aesthetics, and the Organization of Life in the Hunterian Museums

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Venue: Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street

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Eyes, Hands, Hearts: Anatomy, Aesthetics, and the Organization of Life in the Hunterian Museums – Lecture by Dahlia Porter, University of Glasgow

What is the place of aesthetics in the foundations of science? A visit to the Hunterian Museums in London or Glasgow will certainly involve gazing upon eerily back-lit glass bottles holding anatomical preparations. This talk examined the work of William Hunter and his younger brother John, two of the most important anatomists of the eighteenth century. Dahlia Porter assessed museum displays of preserved organs alongside manuscript catalogues and plans, plaster casts, chalk drawings, and engravings – visual resources which contributed to the emergence of comparative anatomy.

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