what looks suspiciously like hunger in his eyes

...but only for knowledge. This is Dutch anatomist Philippe Verheyen dissecting his own amputated leg sometime around 1711. You wont be surprised to learn that it was painted posthumously. The really freaky thing here is the fact that his arm is in shadow, so you have the man's disembodied hand taking forceps to his separated leg. From this fascinating blog.

Comments

[belle le triste]

I would put socks on if I were dissecting someone's leg.

[Barry Freed]

So I'm sitting down to lunch and thinking let's see what's new to read over at B&T and so I click on that link. Gee, thanks (yeah I know it's my own damn fault given the name of that blog but I just couldn't help myself).

[Charlie]

I do understand this. I found a video of the procedure that happened to me earlier in the week. It's interesting! And here it is. Not to be watched if gory tendons and stuff make you puke.

And don't forget about the Russian doctor on an Antarctic mission who did his own appendectomy.

[bert]

I always liked the Wellcome Collection on the Euston Road.
The woman who runs that blog has a Flickr stream that includes this. Just out of frame is Wile E Coyote's estranged brother Goatse, shrugging off despair in his never-ending fruitless hunt for cock.

[jamie]

Barry, my only regret is that someone took down the 'Richard Speck as transvestite prison prostitute' video or I'd have shared years ago. A perfect addition to a family Sunday.

[Alex]

I found a video of the procedure that happened to me earlier in the week

I hope you're all right?

[Chris Williams]

Get well soon, Charlie. All this anatomy reminds me of the anatomical fugitive sheets of Vesalius et al. I can take them or leave them alone, which is rather a shame because a few years ago I had to write a teaching unit on them, which involved rather a lot browsing through the Wellcome Library's online image collection. Best done if you're dieting.

[Charlie W]

Alex, thanks. I wasn't fishing for sympathy, honest. And there's far worse than a broken arm, which is something that's impressively fixable; the methods are pretty much straight from carpentry. The best part is getting to stay in hospital when you're not terribly sick yourself; so much better than watching Holby City. Scene after scene. Cast of hundreds. Such as the hopeless case in bed 3 spitting his pills out and the pretty student nurse trying to put them back in again. Or the guy with the broken leg who refuses to try to start walking again, no matter how cross the physio gets. You can divide hospital patients into two; those who want to mend, and those who are pretty much ambivalent about the whole recovery business.

[Barry Freed]

Jesus, I didn't know that existed (and I'm sure it can be found somewhere), still I'd be far less perturbed watching that for lunch time viewing than, say, police photos of Ed Gein's home decor.