On a recent sojourn in Paris the RCSI Heritage Collections decided to visit the Catacombs of Paris which lie deep below the busy city. The catacombs are 2 kms long and are filled with over 6 million skeletons dating from the early 1700s to the mid 1800s.
While in Paris a previous blog (Skeletons, Specimens and a Shekleton! 8th May) came to mind. In May we learnt about specimens that were collected, created, preserved and used in the College as teaching aids back in the 1800s and early 1900s. Another teaching aid that has fallen out of practise but still holds a macabre beauty is that of the wax anatomical model. And where was the place to go if one wanted such models? Paris!!
The problem facing medical school and students in the 1800s was the supply and preservation of cadavers long enough for detailed dissections to be carried out on them. A solution to this was the use of minutely detailed and quite graphic wax anatomical models.
In December 1829 a letter was read to the College board by the President, Sir Philip Crampton, stating that the Lord Lieutenant, Duke of Northumberland Hugh Percy, wanted to make a donation to the College and he felt that....
'..the most appropriate offering would be a collection of Anatomical Preparations in Wax and I am directed herewith to transmit to you the sum of £500 to be expended for that purpose, requesting you to take the trouble of procuring from Paris, or any other more celebrated School of Surgery, such a series of preparations as you may judge most likely to benefit the members of the institution and the scientific public in general'.
- RCSI/COL/07
It was decided that the Curator of the College Museum, John Houston, should make a trip to Paris to order a set of wax models. The College requested a set of 24 to begin with from a Mr. Schloss, a man who had advertised his skills at producing such models. But when the College received them they were not happy and in the College Committee minutes from July 1830
'the Curator be instructed to see Schloss to say that the College would prefer returning all the wax preparations at their expense as they object to keeping as much for their unwillingness to place such very inferior preparations in the museum'.
- RCSI/MUC/01
Houston set out again for Paris and this time made an appointment with Jacques Talrich, one of the most celebrated was modellers of the day. Talrich had been a surgeon in Napoleon's army before turning his hand to making wax models in 1823. His work was in museums around the world, including Germany, Russia and the United States. When Houston returned to the College with an example of Talrich's work, the board approved and an order for 19 wax models was placed.
The detail on these wax models is exceptional. They still retain all their colour and precision and are on display in the Department of Anatomy in the College. The College today has 11 models by Talrich, 9 by Schloss, one by Houston himself and 1 by another Parisian wax modeller, Dupont.
The College's collection of Talrich's exquisite work is the largest known in the world today.
For more details on the RCSI's collection of wax anatomical models read 'Anatomical wax modelling and the Northumberland museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland'; Clive Lee and Elizabeth Allen; Journal of the Irish Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons Vol. 21 No. 3 July 1992
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy
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| Crypt of the Sepulchral Lamp in the Catacombs of Paris |
While in Paris a previous blog (Skeletons, Specimens and a Shekleton! 8th May) came to mind. In May we learnt about specimens that were collected, created, preserved and used in the College as teaching aids back in the 1800s and early 1900s. Another teaching aid that has fallen out of practise but still holds a macabre beauty is that of the wax anatomical model. And where was the place to go if one wanted such models? Paris!!
The problem facing medical school and students in the 1800s was the supply and preservation of cadavers long enough for detailed dissections to be carried out on them. A solution to this was the use of minutely detailed and quite graphic wax anatomical models.
 |
| Duke of Northumberland Hugh Percy (1795-1847) |
In December 1829 a letter was read to the College board by the President, Sir Philip Crampton, stating that the Lord Lieutenant, Duke of Northumberland Hugh Percy, wanted to make a donation to the College and he felt that....
'..the most appropriate offering would be a collection of Anatomical Preparations in Wax and I am directed herewith to transmit to you the sum of £500 to be expended for that purpose, requesting you to take the trouble of procuring from Paris, or any other more celebrated School of Surgery, such a series of preparations as you may judge most likely to benefit the members of the institution and the scientific public in general'.
- RCSI/COL/07
It was decided that the Curator of the College Museum, John Houston, should make a trip to Paris to order a set of wax models. The College requested a set of 24 to begin with from a Mr. Schloss, a man who had advertised his skills at producing such models. But when the College received them they were not happy and in the College Committee minutes from July 1830
'the Curator be instructed to see Schloss to say that the College would prefer returning all the wax preparations at their expense as they object to keeping as much for their unwillingness to place such very inferior preparations in the museum'.
- RCSI/MUC/01
Houston set out again for Paris and this time made an appointment with Jacques Talrich, one of the most celebrated was modellers of the day. Talrich had been a surgeon in Napoleon's army before turning his hand to making wax models in 1823. His work was in museums around the world, including Germany, Russia and the United States. When Houston returned to the College with an example of Talrich's work, the board approved and an order for 19 wax models was placed.
 |
| Anterior view of head exhibiting muscles, blood vessels etc by Talrich |
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| Right lateral view of head exhibiting muscles, blood vessels etc by Talrich |
The detail on these wax models is exceptional. They still retain all their colour and precision and are on display in the Department of Anatomy in the College. The College today has 11 models by Talrich, 9 by Schloss, one by Houston himself and 1 by another Parisian wax modeller, Dupont.
 |
| Model of entire sympathetic nerve system by Talrich |
 |
| Detail of lymphatics of the head and neck by Talrich |
The College's collection of Talrich's exquisite work is the largest known in the world today.
For more details on the RCSI's collection of wax anatomical models read 'Anatomical wax modelling and the Northumberland museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland'; Clive Lee and Elizabeth Allen; Journal of the Irish Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons Vol. 21 No. 3 July 1992
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy