Evolution of Human Brain Atlases in Terms of Content, Applications, Functionality, and Availability

Human brain atlases have been evolving tremendously, propelled recently by brain big projects, and driven by sophisticated imaging techniques, advanced brain mapping methods, vast data, analytical strategies, and powerful computing. We overview here this evolution in four categories: content, applications, functionality, and availability, in contrast to other works limited mostly to content. Four atlas generations are distinguished: early cortical maps, print stereotactic atlases, early digital atlases, and advanced brain atlas platforms, and 5 avenues in electronic atlases spanning the last two generations. Content-wise, new electronic atlases are categorized into eight groups considering their scope, parcellation, modality, plurality, scale, ethnicity, abnormality, and a mixture of them. Atlas content developments in these groups are heading in 23 various directions. Application-wise, we overview atlases in neuroeducation, research, and clinics, including stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neurology, and stroke. Functionality-wise, tools and functionalities are addressed for atlas creation, navigation, individualization, enabling operations, and application-specific. Availability is discussed in media and platforms, ranging from mobile solutions to leading-edge supercomputers, with three accessibility levels. The major application-wise shift has been from research to clinical practice, particularly in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, although clinical applications are still lagging behind the atlas content progress. Atlas functionality also has been relatively neglected until recently, as the management of brain data explosion requires powerful tools. We suggest that the future human brain atlas-related research and development activities shall be founded on and benefit from a standard framework containing the core virtual brain model cum the brain atlas platform general architecture.

Photograph as Skin, Skin as Wax: Indexicality and the Visualisation of Syphilis in Fin-de-Siècle France The William Bynum Prize Essay

In early twentieth-century France, syphilis and its controversial status as a hereditary disease reigned as a chief concern for physicians and public health officials. As syphilis primarily presented visually on the surface of the skin, its study fell within the realms of both dermatologists and venereologists, who relied heavily on visual evidence in their detection, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. Thus, in educational textbooks, atlases, and medical models, accurately reproducing the visible signposts of syphilis - the colour, texture, and patterns of primary chancres or secondary rashes - was of preeminent importance. Photography, with its potential claims to mechanical objectivity, would seem to provide the logical tool for such representations. Yet photography's relationship to syphilographie warrants further unpacking. Despite the rise of a desire for mechanical objectivity charted in the late nineteenth century, artist-produced, three-dimensional, wax-cast moulages coexisted with photographs as significant educational tools for dermatologists; at times, these models were further mediated through photographic reproduction in texts. Additionally, the rise of phototherapy complicated this relationship by fostering the clinical equation of the light-sensitive photographic plate with the patient's skin, which became the photographic record of disease and successful treatment. This paper explores these complexities to delineate a more nuanced understanding of objectivity vis-à-vis photography and syphilis. Rather than a desire to produce an unbiased image, fin-de-siècle dermatologists marshalled the photographic to exploit the verbal and visual rhetoric of objectivity, authority, and persuasion inextricably linked to culturally constructed understandings of the photograph. This rhetoric was often couched in the Peircean concept of indexicality, which physicians formulated through the language of witness, testimony, and direct connection.

Figuring Things Out: Visualization in the Work of Swedish Anatomists Anders and Gustaf Retzius, 1829-1921

Swedish anatomists Anders and Gustaf Retzius, father and son, collaborated with artists, photographers, and printers to produce image plates for their many publications in normal, comparative, morbid, and microscopic anatomy. This article explores the role of images in their oeuvres, identifying impacts of changing scientific ideals, aesthetic sensibilities, and technologies of observation and visualization. It examines how the Retziuses mobilized historically contingent concepts of truth and beauty to support claims to authority. Anders Retzius, influenced by post-Kantian philosophy, viewed truth and beauty as inherent in natural phenomena, independent of the researcher. Scientific authority rested on abilities to observe and convey the truth and beauty of examined specimens, preferably aided by a skilled artist. For Gustaf Retzius, epistemic authority depended on his expertise as scientist, publisher, and illustrator of his own works. Like Santiago Ramón y Cajal he favored an “anti-aesthetic” style, while at the same time publishing sumptuous image plates.

A French interpretation of Galen's anatomy of the late Middle ages

The main objective of this research was,for the first time, to partially edit an anatomical text in middle french, the ms FR 19.991, a 15th century manuscript held by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. After restitution of the text (transcription, expansion of abbreviations and identification of rubricated sections) a glossary of all terms was compiled. The analysis of this anatomical treatise following the arabic galenic tradition revealed that it results from the assembly of at least three previous texts, the largest part of it (18 / 22 sections) following very closely the anatomia ricardi salertinani, translated from arabic to latin in the 12th century in the Salernitan school of medicine. The use of this treatise remains to be elucidated.

Justification of Anatomical Practice in Jessenius's Prague Anatomy

The physician and philosopher Johannes Jessenius (1565-1621), an enthusiastic anatomist in Wittenberg, often had to defend his anatomical practices against Lutheran orthodoxy as is apparent from the invitations he wrote concerning his dissections. His most systematic defence can be found in the introduction to his description of the dissection performed in Prague in 16oo, where he provides three different strategies for the justification of anatomical research. The first method traditionally builds on the use of the ancient dictum 'know thyself;' the second strategy is based on teleology, which Jessenius adopted from Vesalius' work; and the final method is derived from the philosophical tradition of the Renaissance.Jessenius makes use of the concept of the dignity of man in order to support the dignity of anatomical practice. The fundamental meaning of the philosophical framework ofJessenius's approach emerges from the comparison with both Andreas Vesalius, whose Fabric was one model forJessenius's anatomical work, and with the speech delivered by Adamus Zaluzanius a Zaluzaniis prior to Jessenius's Prague anatomical performance.

[Andreas Vesalius: his rich imagination and colorful detail account in his book: 'Research of the anatomical observations of Gabriel Falloppius']

In a long letter, Andreas Vesalius reacts to the comments made by Gabriel Falloppius to his work 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica'. In this letter, he proves Falloppius wrong in a number of assertions and corrects him on more than one occasion. In doing so, Vesalius as a renaissance humanist uses a classic Latin language with long elegant sentences in the style of the old Roman orator Cicero. Remarkably interesting is the fact that this whole argumentation is spiced with comparisons and examples from daily life. To make it clear to the reader what a certain part of the skeleton looks like, he compares this part with an object everybody knows. All parts of the human body are depicted in such an almost graphic way that even an interested reader without any medical or anatomic education can picture them. And Vesalius is very creative in doing so, an artist as it were with a very rich imagination. Moreover, it's remarkable how the famous anatomist manages to put himself on the level of any ordinary person, using comparative images on that level. This last work of Vesalius, which he himself considers to be a supplement to his De Humani Corporis Fabrica, deserves special attention, not only because it illustrates the scientific evolution of the anatomist Vesalius, but also because it offers an insight in the psychology of that fascinating scientist Andreas Vesalius.

The white matter of the human cerebrum: part I The occipital lobe by Heinrich Sachs

This is the first complete translation of Heinrich Sachs' outstanding white matter atlas dedicated to the occipital lobe. This work is accompanied by a prologue by Prof Carl Wernicke who for many years was Sachs' mentor in Breslau and enthusiastically supported his work.

The Rise of Pathological Illustrations: Baillie, Bleuland, and Their Collections

This essay examines the illustrated pathological works by Matthew Baillie (London, 1799-1803) and Jan Bleuland (Utrecht, 1826-28). Both works relied on extensive collections of specimens preserved in London and Utrecht, respectively. The essay discusses changing notions of disease, the erosion of the boundaries between surgeons and physicians, the role and significance of pathological collections, and the relations between preserved specimens and their representations.

The Illustrious Anatomist: Authorship, Patronage, and Illustrative Style in Anatomy Folios, 1700-1840

A number of anatomists working in the period 1700-1840 used expensive illustrated books to depict their greatest scientific work, establish priority of discovery for posterity, and enlist patrons. These anatomists drew on the grand traditions of anatomical illustration and asserted their right to a place within that history. But with artists mediating the expression of anatomists' vision, it was important that an anatomist assert his control over the illustrations commemorating his expertise. Anatomists used stylistic signatures to signal that a work was their own. Very different styles of illustration in the works of different anatomists, therefore, were made easily recognizable, and sometimes a single artist adopted notably different styles for different anatomists who employed him. Style became a marker of authorship, identifiable with the anatomist, even when he employed an artist to do the drawing and engraving, and it was also an important method of appealing to patrons.

21st century art of human anatomy

The Session looks at the contemporary role of the medical artist with strategies for the education of medical artists and medical students. The wider topic of medical art in forensics, research and literature is explored as a close look taken at European art and science courses and collaborations.

The art of human anatomy: Renaissance to 21st century

This session examines the relationship between the art and science of anatomy from the time of Vesalius to the present with particular emphasis on the role of the medical artist and the changing nature of anatomical illustration over the last five centuries. Pivotal changes in the art of anatomy will be examined including the evolution of media and brain imaging from Golgi to Geschwind.

"Meam de motu & usu cordis, & circuitu sanguinis sententiam": teleology in William Harvey's De motu cordis

I describe the place of teleology in William Harvey's understanding of anatomy, drawing especially on his lecture and working notes from (roughly) the decade leading up to the publication of De motu cordis. Harvey understands the goal of anatomy to be universal, final causal knowledge of the parts of animals and their variations, articulated in terms of their actiones and usus. I then carefully trace the role of teleology in the De motu cordis, distinguishing (with Harvey) between his opinion "de motu & usu cordis" and "de circuitu sanguinis". I argue that in the De motu cordis Harvey provides teleological explanations of features of the heart and arteries and their variations in terms of the circulation of the blood, understood as the actio of the heart. In this way the De motu cordis clearly embodies Harvey's understanding of the teleological character of anatomical knowledge.

Andreas Vesalius and his De humani corporis Fabrica libri septem

Andreas Vesalius of Brussels (1514-1564) was a Renaissance physician and surgeon whose most famous work was the De humani corporis fabrica libri septem a monograph describing human anatomy, first published in 1543. The Fabrica precipitated advances both anatomical and pedagogical, and its influence was such that Vesalius has since been described as the 'founder of modern anatomy'.

Andreas Vesalius--the work

This session focuses on the Fabrica (1543). Karger Publishers of Basel are producing a new English translation, by Daniel Garrison and Malcom Hast, to coincide with the quincentenary while Vivian Nutton's scholarly analysis of a newly discovered second edition indicates that the annotations are of Vesalius himself.

Iconography and provenance of versals in De humani corporis fabrica: Vesalius/Kalkar

The most well known feature of Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543) are the ecorches (Fr. flayed human body) striding in the environs of Padua, Italy. These illustrations are the apex of an unsurpassed achievement in anatomical illustration. Not as obvious, striking or well known and oft neglected are the versals (the ornate capital letters at the beginning of a paragraph) in De fabrica. Not as well crafted, artistically, as the ecorches the versals transcend the realm of anatomy and science into mythological and iconographic interpretation. Did Vesalius have the artistic talent and was well versed in humanities to execute such ecorches and meaningful versals? Almost certainly there were other artists involved, well versed in art and humanities--more probably Johannes Stephanus Kalkar (c. 1499-1546).

James L. Poppen and surgery of the "seat of the soul": a contemporary perspective

Dr. James Leonard Poppen (1903-1978) was one of the most renowned American neurosurgeons of the 20th century. The now eponymous Poppen approach to the pineal region is still used routinely in current neurosurgical practice. He was also one of the first to describe and practice the prefrontal lobotomy and appears to be one of the surgeons in the case of Eva Peron in 1952. Poppen was born in a Dutch family on February 28, 1903, in the town of Drenthe, Michigan. Poppen described the occipital transtentorial approach to the pineal region, this operative technique to access a deep-seated area was novel and effective, and now bears his name. His other well-known contribution includes the description of a tacking suture to prevent the formation of postoperative extradural hematomas (Poppen's stitch). Besides these, he described many novel procedures including bilateral lumbar sympathectomy, cervical rhizotomy for torticollis, and thoracolumbar sympathectomy and splanchnicectomy through small incisions. He was the first to advocate wrapping of an aneurysm neck with muscle or plastic rather than sacrificing the parent artery in difficult-to-clip aneurysms. His famous atlas on neurosurgical techniques was published in 1960. He retired from this post in 1970; however, he continued his practice of neurosurgery until his death. This historical vignette aims to highlight the work of James L. Poppen and the evolution of the surgery of the "Seat of the Soul." His work has had a lasting influence on neurosurgeons and neuroscientists over the years.

Bidloo's and De Lairesse's early illustrations of the anatomy of the arm (1690): a successful collaboration between a prominent physician and a talented artist

Govard Bidloo (1649-1713) was trained as a surgeon at the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons, and later in his career, he became a professor of anatomy in The Hague and Leiden. At the end of the 17th century, he performed dissections on the corpses of executed criminals to teach and study anatomy. Based on his findings, he published a magnificent anatomical atlas in 1690, entitled Ontleding des Menschelijken Lichaams (Dissection of the Human Body). The talented painter Gerard De Lairesse, a pupil of Rembrandt, made the drawings of the anatomical dissections for the atlas in close collaboration with the dissector. The drawings of Bidloo and De Lairesse represent, in a unique and artistic way, an early series of anatomical preparations of the arm and hand from more than 300 years ago.

[An analytical visualization practice. The pathological-anatomical illustrations of Jean Cruveilhier in relation to clinical observations]

The article examines the meaning and function of medical illustrations in the famous Atlas Anatomie pathologique, published by the French surgeon Jean Cruveilhier (1791-1874). By tracing the complex representation of pathological entities both back to the visual tradition of anatomy and the semiotic tradition of case descriptions and case histories, the article identifies the visualization technique of Cruveilhier as an analytical practice. The illustration of pathological anatomy gains a functional diagnostic quality when bound to case descriptions and clinical histories. The Atlas serves thereby as a sample to trace the genealogies of a clinical visualization practice in characteristic images that is both engaged with an individual case and classificational tasks.

Collecting, comparing, and computing sequences: the making of Margaret O. Dayhoff's Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure, 1954-1965

Collecting, comparing, and computing molecular sequences are among the most prevalent practices in contemporary biological research. They represent a specific way of producing knowledge. This paper explores the historical development of these practices, focusing on the work of Margaret O. Dayhoff, Richard V. Eck, and Robert S. Ledley, who produced the first computer-based collection of protein sequences, published in book format in 1965 as the Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure. While these practices are generally associated with the rise of molecular evolution in the 1960s, this paper shows that they grew out of research agendas from the previous decade, including the biochemical investigation of the relations between the structures and function of proteins and the theoretical attempt to decipher the genetic code. It also shows how computers became essential for the handling and analysis of sequence data. Finally, this paper reflects on the relationships between experimenting and collecting as two distinct "ways of knowing" that were essential for the transformation of the life sciences in the twentieth century.

Collecting, comparing, and computing sequences: the making of Margaret O. Dayhoff's Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure, 1954-1965

Collecting, comparing, and computing molecular sequences are among the most prevalent practices in contemporary biological research. They represent a specific way of producing knowledge. This paper explores the historical development of these practices, focusing on the work of Margaret O. Dayhoff, Richard V. Eck, and Robert S. Ledley, who produced the first computer-based collection of protein sequences, published in book format in 1965 as the Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure. While these practices are generally associated with the rise of molecular evolution in the 1960s, this paper shows that they grew out of research agendas from the previous decade, including the biochemical investigation of the relations between the structures and function of proteins and the theoretical attempt to decipher the genetic code. It also shows how computers became essential for the handling and analysis of sequence data. Finally, this paper reflects on the relationships between experimenting and collecting as two distinct "ways of knowing" that were essential for the transformation of the life sciences in the twentieth century.

Small parts: Crisóstomo Martínez (1638-1694), bone histology, and the visual making of body wholeness

The Valencian engraver Crisóstomo Martínez (ca. 1638-1694) arrived in Paris in July 1687, commissioned to create an anatomical atlas. Impressed by Govard Bidloo's Anatomia humani corporis (1685), Martínez decided to make a comparable work on osteology. His unpublished atlas of anatomy was exceptional in its choice of topic, its quality, and its overall visual approach. Martínez's work revolves around the dissolving effects of microscopic study on the traditional understanding of the connections between parts and whole. Underlying his investigation into the most effective composition of an anatomical atlas was the idea of the self-organizing and complex nature of the body as itself a composition, an idea rooted in the way observation and judgment, the seen and the unseen, and notions about collections and communities were connected in the vanitas culture. This essay explores the links between Martínez's work and the cultures of a time in which observation and interpretation of the processes of death, decay, and fragmentation played a primary role in defining a common human nature around which notions of destiny could be articulated.

Robert Carswell: the first illustrator of MS

The first illustration of multiple sclerosis (MS) was by a young Scottish physician and artist, Dr Robert Carswell. Recognized as a talented illustrator by his teachers, he was encouraged to create an anatomy and pathology atlas. He spent years in the hospitals and mortuaries of Paris and Lyon painting watercolours and pen and ink drawings of patients and post mortem preparations. Of the 1034 paintings, 99 are of the brain and spinal cord and Plate 4, figure 4.4 in the atlas (Figure 2), is of MS. Carswell indicated he saw two examples of this pathology, but had not examined either patient, but illustrated one of them. We know little about the clinical history other than that the patient was paralyzed. About 200 of the atlases were printed, and it is still regarded as one of the greatest and most beautiful of all medical books. Carswell was appointed as the first Professor of Anatomy at the North London Hospital, later renamed the University College Hospital UK, where the original copy of his great atlas is archived. Due to ill health he resigned after a few years to reside in the healthier air outside Brussels, Belgium. He was appointed physician to King Leopold, but was also noted for his care of the poor. Queen Victoria knighted him for his care of King Louis Philippe of France when he was in exile. Although English journals did not note his passing at the age of 64 years, his great atlas remains as his memorial.

[Regarding the Manuscript D " Dell' occhio " of Leonardo da Vinci]

Leonardo da Vinci's Manuscript D consists of five double pages sheets, which, folded in two, comprise ten folios. This document, in the old Tuscan dialect and mirror writing, reveals the ideas of Leonardo on the anatomy of the eye in relation to the formation of images and visual perception. Leonardo explains in particular the behavior of the rays in the eye in terms of refraction and reflection, and is very mechanistic in his conception of the eye and of the visual process. The most significant innovations found in these folios are the concept of the eye as a camera obscura and the intersection of light rays in the interior of the eye. His texts nevertheless show hesitation, doubts and a troubled confusion, reflecting the ideas and uncertainties of his era. He did not share his results in his lifetime, despite both printing and etching being readily available to him.

[Prof. Dr. Michiharu Matsuoka, founder of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kyoto University, and his achievements. Part 3: books written by prof. Dr. M. Matsuoka]

In addition to articles written by Prof. Dr. M. Matsuoka previously reported in Part 2, books written by him are presented as Part 3 of the articles regarding his academic achievements. He published four text books, including the first textbook of orthopaedic surgery in Japan that was written by a Japanese doctor and a monograph on the x-ray atlas of congenital dislocation of the hip that was written in German and published in Germany. He was also invited to submit articles to three books as co-author. Furthermore, his five educational lectures given to the public were published in two books.

[Georges Schaltenbrand (26. 11. 1897 24. 10. 1979)]

Georges Schaltenbrand was one of the most prodigious and internationally renowned neurologists in post war Germany. Trained by Max Nonne in Hamburg, he early gained international experience during stays in The Netherlands, the United States, and China. In 1935 quarrels with Nazi representatives forced him to go to Würzburg, where he built an own neurological service. This unit subsequently grew up to an internationally recognized center. Schaltenbrand scientifically contributed to the organization and diagnostics of the motor system, to the physiology and pathology of the cerebrospinal fluid system, and to multiple sclerosis. His textbook and atlas on stereotaxy, authored with his American friend Percival Bailey in 1959, remained a standard reference in stereotactic surgery until recent years. Only late after his death his unethical scientific activities during wartime came to common public knowledge. In an attempt to confirm his hypothesis of an infectious aetiology of multiple sclerosis, he had inoculated mentally handicapped and other severely ill patients with cerebrospinal fluid of apes putatively suffering from multiple sclerosis and also of patients with verified multiple sclerosis. He explicitly accepted the risk of causing some morbidity and even mortality in his study persons. He published his experiments in several articles and oral presentations since 1940, and, comprehensively, in a monograph 1943. Although commented as early as 1949, his dubious studies were widely ignored until a critical review appeared in an American journal in 1994. Since then, the studies are frequently cited as a typical example of Nazi medical science. However, with due regard to the historical background and the personality of Schaltenbrand his experiments should rather be brought into line with a worldwide practice at that time of using patients as study objects without asking for their consent. As a response to this practice several laws had been adopted, beginning in 1900, carried on in 1931 and culminating 1947 in the Nuremberg code. As a historical fact, not only before but also after World War II these legal acts were widely ignored and became only gradually accepted.

Physique as destiny: William H. Sheldon, Barbara Honeyman Heath and the struggle for hegemony in the science of somatotyping

When Ron Rosenbaum unveiled his explosive journalistic report on the "Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal" in 1995 it was a story that revealed the uneven evolution of attitudes toward body, race, and gender in the last half century. His intention was to highlight how easily ideas about the body have been taken up by scientists and sustained in elite institutions of higher education well beyond the bounds of common sense. The villain of his story was William H. Sheldon, a constitutional psychologist who appropriated the ritual of taking posture photos for his scientific study of somatotypes, a system built upon the relationship of body type to character. Sheldon's toxic eugenic views and equation of physique with destiny in the years following World War II made him increasingly unpopular. And while Rosenbaum concluded that Sheldon's downfall was due to the anger of women students over the taking of nude photos, the deathknell of his career was dealt by his former female assistant, Barbara Honeyman Heath. Publicly denouncing his methods as fraudulent and his somatotypes inaccurate she went on to build a successful career modifying somatotyping techniques and participating in projects all over the world.

[On the artful, yet pernicious body. A cultural-historical interpretation of Bidloo's anatomical atlas]

Among historians of science and medicine it is well known that early modern anatomical representations, in addition to illustrating ideas on the body, also teach a moral lesson. The anatomical cabinets of Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731) are exemplary. His exhibits show 1) the divine design of the body and 2) the fragility of life and man's dependence on God for his existence. Govard Bidloo (1649-1713), in his anatomical atlas, the Anatomia humani corporis (1685), does not seem to answer this standard view on the 'moral teaching' of anatomy. It has been argued that his depictions of dead and mutilated (parts of) bodies indicate a more realistic way of representation, devoid of metaphor and morality. Yet, taking the fierce controversy between Bidloo and Ruysch as my starting point, I show that in fact there is a moral lesson in Bidloo's anatomy. It reflects two important aspects of Bidloo's Mennonite faith, i.e. the aversion against beautiful decoration and the fascination with suffering and death found in martyr stories.

[Presentation of pyoderma gangraenosum in a dermatologic atlas of the early 19th century]

Pyoderma gangrenosum was first described in 1930 by Brunsting, Goeckermann and O'Leary. Nevertheless we found some illustrations in an atlas on dermatology, published by Marie-Nicolas Devergie in the first half of the 19th century, which appear to be pyoderma gangrenosum. In addition to discussions of typical syphilitic affections of the skin, Devergie's "Clinique de la Maladie Syphilitique" includes illustrations of gangrenous ulcers, which appeared unexpectedly after local and systemic therapy with mercury. Devergie interpreted those enlarging ulcers as a side effect of mercury therapy. Thus we were able to find evidence of pyoderma gangrenosum more than 100 years before first description in 1930. The etiology of this clinical picture is still unsettled. The favorite postulate has been a bacterial genesis which was the subject of numerous publications until the 1960s.

The development of the series of U.S. cancer atlases: implications for future epidemiologic research

An historic perspective on the development of the National Cancer Institute's series of cancer atlases is provided. Emphasis is placed on the role which emergent questions concerning environmental determinants of cancer played in the acquisition and utilization of data resources. Studies which were fielded as a consequence of the atlases are highlighted. The legacy of the collective effort of many persons who worked on the development of the cancer atlases-the facilitation of many current epidemiologic investigations-is discussed.