SUMMARY In Modern Age’s time the human body became one of the most interesting and generally accepted spectacles underlying changes in mentality. At the same time the problem of preservation of human bodies became a fundamental instrument used by many scholars to improve knowledge in human anatomy. People overcame anthropological taboos and religious resistance providing dissection and exhibition of the body in all its manifestations, normal or pathologic. Segato’s experience became part of this atmosphere in which scientific research was combined with a strong desire for the rare, morbid and marvellous: the descriptive human congenital malformations attracted special attention. We report the case of an anencephalic foetus petrified by Gerolamo Segato in the course of his experiments on body conservation. The specimen has been studied applying non-invasive methods. Digital radiography and computed tomography (CT) alogside more advanced techniques such as three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction and virtual endoscopy (VE) have been used to investigate anatomic morphology and to perform hypotheses about Segato’s method of petrification which is still unknown.
AN ANENCEPHALIC FOETUS PETRIFIED BY GIROLAMO SEGATO (1792-1836): MORPHO-RADIOLOGICAL STUDY AND HYPHOTESES ABOUT THE METHOD
CIRANNI, ROSALBA;NARDINI, VINCENZO;FORNACIARI, GINO;CARAMELLA, DAVIDE
2008-01-01
Abstract
SUMMARY In Modern Age’s time the human body became one of the most interesting and generally accepted spectacles underlying changes in mentality. At the same time the problem of preservation of human bodies became a fundamental instrument used by many scholars to improve knowledge in human anatomy. People overcame anthropological taboos and religious resistance providing dissection and exhibition of the body in all its manifestations, normal or pathologic. Segato’s experience became part of this atmosphere in which scientific research was combined with a strong desire for the rare, morbid and marvellous: the descriptive human congenital malformations attracted special attention. We report the case of an anencephalic foetus petrified by Gerolamo Segato in the course of his experiments on body conservation. The specimen has been studied applying non-invasive methods. Digital radiography and computed tomography (CT) alogside more advanced techniques such as three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction and virtual endoscopy (VE) have been used to investigate anatomic morphology and to perform hypotheses about Segato’s method of petrification which is still unknown.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
