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. 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 anatomic...