Mystery and music in the anatomy museum Anneliese Milk

Jauntily posed on a wooden baluster, amount of mobility, traversing the limbs encased in fish scales. While the small, rickety skeleton holds a distance between the cathedral’s gate this half-human, half-fish creature recorder in both hands, head tilted and wherever it was he laid his head is a mythological construct, it finds to one side as though anticipating at night. a counterpart in the rare congenital the merry jig he is about to play. The poignant narrative of the disorder, sirenomelia. Named after He is something of an anomaly skeleton proffers a voice after death: the mythical Greek sirens and sitting in a display case in the Harry a sense of agency for the perpetually commonly referred to as ‘mermaid Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy silenced. At the same time, it syndrome’, sirenomelia is a gross and Pathology at the University of gives one an opportunity to reflect malformation of the lower limbs, and Melbourne. A pathological specimen, upon one’s own corporeality, in the is associated with severe anomalies it’s true, and yet one brimming memento mori tradition. Beseeching including renal agenesis (undeveloped with a perverse humour as he clasps us to remember that we too must die, kidneys), and urogenital and the wooden recorder between the the Latin dictum resounds in this gastrointestinal defects.4 carefully articulated bones of his peculiar specimen—the articulated Since sirenomelia was first fingers. skeleton forever poised to play on the described in 1542,5 there have been He was a beggar, we have been instrument he was said to have played several permutations of the disorder told, who played his recorder at the in life. recorded. Yet as we will see, the two gates of Notre Dame Cathedral But what if the recorder player femurs and single lower leg exhibited in Paris,1 probably during the never existed, and his personal in this skeleton are not a combination French Revolution.2 Living until narrative was conceived by a that has been encountered before approximately 18 years of age, he preparator as part of a sales pitch along the spectrum of sirenomelia. was apparently well known to the or private amusement? Was he just people of Paris. 3And yet it would not another anonymous corpse dragged The professor have been his music that captured out of the River Seine? And was his The University of Melbourne was their attention, but rather the single, left leg damaged or missing, inspiring already in its eighth year by the time symmetrical lower leg that had the preparator to construct the it employed 38-year-old George supported him from birth. unusual pathology we see before us? Britton Halford as its first professor Evoking the curved tail of the Consider the teratological of anatomy, physiology and pathology mythical mermaid, the skeleton’s woodcut illustrations of Ulisse in 1862. Described as ‘one of the lower limbs comprise two apparently Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum historia most distinguished experimental normal femurs (thigh bones) joined cum Paralipomenis historiae physiologists of the day’,6 Halford by a single patella (kneecap) which, omnium animalium of 1642, where had been physician at the Royal in turn, connects one tibia and fibula imagination and pathology collide. Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, (shinbones) and right foot. With Amongst Aldrovandi’s ‘monsters’ can London; lecturer in anatomy at the the aid of crutches, one supposes, be found the mermaid and merman, Grosvenor Place School of Medicine; he would have achieved a certain with their characteristic fused lower and he also ran a private practice.

Anneliese Milk, ‘Mystery and music in the anatomy museum’ 3 Skeleton with rickets and unusual pathology of the lower limbs, preparation attributed to Jean-Joseph Sue père, Paris, late 18th century; bone, wood, wire, paint, resin and horsehair; 80.0 × 41.5 × 32.5 cm. Accession no. 531-008091, purchased 1862, Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, University of Melbourne.

Following Halford’s appointment, Frenchmen’.10 According to Halford’s of a disappointment in terms of his the University of Melbourne sent notes, Raginel & Co. bought the limited output, and had a ‘research him a cheque for £500 to buy books skeleton for him in Paris, and told reputation less than stellar’.15 for a library and specimens for the him it was a preparation by the For reasons unknown, it was not establishment of a museum.7 Halford French surgeon Dr Jean-Joseph until 1868 that Halford brought the and his family arrived in Melbourne Sue fils (1760–1830).11 Surely this skeleton of the recorder player to the on 23 December 1862. Among the detail would have resonated with the attention of the public, presenting a specimens he brought with him professor, adding value and credibility talk to the Royal Society of Victoria, was the mysterious skeleton of the to the unusual specimen. which formed the basis of his essay, recorder player. Sue’s illustrious career included ‘On a remarkable, symmetrically Although the receipt has not roles as médecin-en-chef of the deformed skeleton’. Although he survived, we know from Halford’s Imperial Guard from 1800; expressed unequivocal interest in writings that he bought the skeleton professor of anatomy at the School the skeleton, his understanding of in 1862 through the osteology and of Fine Arts, Paris, from 1819; and its pathology was limited, following medical equipment suppliers Messrs membership of the Académie de unsuccessful attempts to locate a Raginel & Co. in London. The firm’s Médecine from 1821.12 He was also similar example in other anatomical advertisements, often distinguished the father of the popular novelist collections before leaving England. by an illustration of an articulated Eugène Sue. He was descended from ‘Short of sawing through and spoiling skeleton, appeared regularly in a long line of eminent surgeons: his the preparation’, he wrote, ‘I have reputable medical publications. father was Dr Jean-Joseph Sue père examined it as thoroughly as possible, Boasting fine-quality French human (1710–1792), professor of anatomy and see no reason to believe it other osteology, one advertisement from at the Royal Academy of Painting than a natural deformity, and not an 1857 explains that all of Raginel’s and Sculpture, Paris, who ‘made a artificially prepared specimen’.16 pieces were ‘prepared in [the firm’s] large collection of anatomical and Halford attributed the general Dissection-room of Paris, by scientific pathological specimens, which his son deformity of the skeleton to rickets men’.8 Another proudly announces afterwards continued’,13 although it of childhood (which the individual the firm’s patronage by the Royal was destroyed by fire in 1830.14 had outgrown), citing ‘the compressed College of Surgeons.9 In April 1863 Halford announced thorax, curved spine, diminutive In the 19th century it was illegal his intention to devote ‘the best years pelvis and curved extremities’ as to keep an Englishman’s bones. As of his life to the promulgation and evidence of this. Halford reasoned a result, skeletons were sought from teaching of the sciences of anatomy that the individual most likely France, and came at a reasonable and physiology’. It was his ambition relied on crutches to move around, price. An 1876 article in the British that ‘the medical school of Victoria evidenced by the forward curve of Medical Journal quipped that ‘the should be second to none in Europe’. the fibula and tibia, and by what foundation of every man’s knowledge Yet despite this clarity of vision, he interpreted as ‘large muscular of the human frame is gained from Halford would prove to be somewhat impressions on the bowed humeri’.17

4 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 14, June 2014 Is it possible that Halford was so immersed in the prescribed narrative of the skeleton, that he detected trauma otherwise imperceptible? In his presentation to the Royal Society, Halford reiterated the skeleton’s captivating biography, and anticipated the interest, particularly internationally, it would garner. The presentation was widely reported in Australian newspapers, revealing additional details surrounding the purchase of the skeleton, as well as further biographical speculation, not included in Halford’s published paper. The Ballarat Star reported that Halford ‘had been assured (the skeleton) was put up by Sue, the father of Eugène Sue, the French author’, and that it had been hidden away during the elder Sue’s political troubles, ‘and ultimately fell into the hands of a poor servant girl’.18 A case of sirenomelia? Although Halford was unable to find a specimen exhibiting a similar pathology, he expressed a general interest in deformity and found value pathology of the skeleton. In Vrolik’s lower extremity’.19 Front and rear in Willem Vrolik’s teratology atlas atlas, there are entries on sirenomelia, views of the skeleton of a miscarried of 1849, Tabulae ad illustrandam which is arguably the congenital foetus bear, at first glance, a striking embryogenesin hominis et mammalium, disorder most closely related to resemblance to the Halford skeleton tam naturalem quam abnormem. As the Halford skeleton’s pathology. with its single, symmetrical leg. But indicated by the brevity of Halford’s Plate 64 presents a discussion on the illustration has only one femur, essay, he resisted speculation and Monopodia sireniform, described by one tibia and two toes. Moreover, did not give a name to the peculiar Vrolik as the ‘existence of only one this foetus did not survive birth,

Anneliese Milk, ‘Mystery and music in the anatomy museum’ 5 due to severe visceral anomalies. Sirenomelia has also been features of the disorder, which can The Halford skeleton lived until classified into three types according include, but are not limited to, approximately 18, suggesting he did to the number of feet. Vrolik’s an imperforate anus, unilateral or not have any of sirenomelia’s severe example is most consistent with bilateral renal agenesis, and absent complications. sympus apus (the most common form external genitalia. Although Halford was advised of the disorder), which lacks both the skeleton had reached 28 years feet, or has a rudimentary presence of Sirenomelia in museums of age at the time of death, a recent feet (in the Vrolik example, the foetus While the search for a specimen analysis of X-rays by Associate has only two toes). It is characterised similar to the Halford skeleton in Professor Chris Briggs, consultant by a completely fused single lower other museum collections has proved forensic anthropologist for the extremity with one femur, no fibulae futile, it has not been difficult to find Victorian Institute of Forensic and one or two tibia.25 Again, this examples of sirenomelia. Significantly, Medicine, has determined the corresponds with the Vrolik example. all recorded specimens are of foetuses, skeleton to be around 18 years of age The Halford skeleton’s lower limb which have been preserved as wet and of Caucasian origin.20 is consistent with that of a ‘normal’ specimens. Sirenomelia is a rare right leg, featuring a right foot with The Musée Testut Latarjet malformation sequence involving five toes. Yet while the lower limb of d’Anatomie et d’Histoire Naturelle the partial or complete fusion of the Halford skeleton does not neatly Médicale, Lyon, holds a number of the lower limbs, and is associated fit any of the scientific classifications, foetal ‘sirens’. One specimen from with serious urogenital, anal, lower variations on these subtypes have also 1909 features a colostomy, indicating spine, and other anomalies.21 It been identified in other studies, such severe visceral anomalies.28 Wet occurs at a rate of 0.98 per 100,000 as a case with one femur, no fibula, specimen sirenomelia foetuses in births,22 with more than half of partially fused tibias, and two distinct the Berliner Medizinhistorisches all cases resulting in stillbirth.23 feet.26 Museum der Charité suggest sympus There are seven subtypes of the What remain problematic in apus, being without feet or external disorder, classified according to diagnosing the Halford skeleton genitalia. the fusion of bones.24 While the with sirenomelia are the severe The Medical Museion at the foetus represented in Vrolik’s text gastrointestinal and urogenital University of Copenhagen also has is consistent with Type VI (a single malformations commonly associated sirenomelia specimens. The museum’s femur and tibia), the Halford with the disorder.27 As there is 1950 catalogue describes one dating skeleton does not find a counterpart. no description of the Halford from 1898, which was X-rayed in The characteristics of Type IV skeleton prior to its preparation, it is 1940: (partially fused femur and a single impossible to know the condition of fibula) are the most consistent with its viscera. But because he lived into Sirenomelus; mother was 30-years his form, yet he also has a single adulthood, it is extremely unlikely old and gave birth in 17 hours; tibia and a well-developed right foot. that he had any of the severe clinical incomplete positioning of feet;

6 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 14, June 2014 2600 g of indeterminate sex. a certain “rearrangement” after death recognised the significance of Radius missing on both sides; and maceration’.32 aesthetics in the presentation of right half of the pelvis and lower What is evident is that the specimens. Fastidiously displayed extremity missing. The flipper is a Halford skeleton is not like anything specimens would also function as malformed foot with three toes.29 seen by curators currently working in ‘memorials of (the anatomist’s) international anatomical museums. industry’, whereby ‘ornate platforms The Wellcome Museum of But while the skeleton is without were intended to display prized Anatomy and Pathology, London, has comparison, the possibility remains corroded or dried preparations’. a wet specimen of the lower body of a for it to be a variation on one of According to Cindy Stelmackowich, sirenomelia neonate. It shows a typical the published classifications of ‘the elegant style of these pedestals presentation of the condition, having sirenomelia. However, I will now speaks volumes about the bourgeois two femurs and tibias, and complete argue that it is closer to a decorative tastes, expectations, desires, and fusion of the centrally placed fibulas: art piece than to a pedagogical aid. interests of the early nineteenth- century medical profession’.34 the bones of the feet are very On a pedestal The pedestal upon which the defective. There is a pronounced The famous skeleton from 1783 of Halford skeleton rests is a heavy anal dimple, but the rectum ends Charles Byrne, the so-called ‘Irish wooden baluster featuring a three- blindly and the colon was grossly Giant’, at London’s Hunterian sided, circular-shaped centrepiece. dilated in consequence. The Museum at the Royal College of According to the chairman of external genitalia are rudimentary, Surgeons is displayed un-posed, Bonhams Australia, Mark Fraser, the but well-developed testes are supported by a steel rod on a flat, baluster is baroque in style, favouring present in the inguinal canals.30 unadorned base, and without form over function, and therefore accoutrement. Prepared by the more consistent with furniture of William Edwards, curator of the distinguished surgeon John Hunter, the mid-18th, as opposed to 19th, Gordon Museum, London, recognises Byrne’s skeleton was mounted and century.35 The baluster may not that the Halford skeleton displays articulated to show his remarkable have been made specifically for this clear symptoms of rickets, and believes height (approximately 2.31 metres). skeleton. The heavy patina is not that, while not a typical example, the Although ethical issues surround consistent with its use as part of an skeleton ‘probably does fit somewhere its display (Byrne’s corpse was sold anatomical display, regardless of its along the “spectrum” of Sirenomelia’.31 to Hunter against Byrne’s wishes), age, but rather suggests a former life. On the other hand, Laurens de the skeleton remains an important Distinctly ecclesiastical in style, the Rooy, curator of Museum Vrolik, specimen, and a powerful teaching aid baluster may have formed part of an Amsterdam, questions whether the for understanding growth disorders.33 altar or pew. Moreover, the flat back Halford skeleton might be a forgery: Thomas Pole’s anatomical suggests the baluster was originally ‘The bones in individuals with rickets preservation and preparation manual flush with a wall. An additional often get so malformed that they allow of 1790, The anatomic illustrator, wedge of wood between its cornice

Anneliese Milk, ‘Mystery and music in the anatomy museum’ 7 and the skeleton’s posterior suggests can be seen in the drawings he Among them were memento-mori the baluster was not made for his commissioned for his collection inspired pieces whose aesthetic frame. catalogues. One such illustration was judged by some museum depicts a tableau of concretions directors to be too macabre or At the intersection of art removed from kidneys, bladders, whimsical to fit the pedagogical and medicine uteruses, breasts and bones, objectives, collecting imperatives, ‘Medical museums today’, opines mounded up and adorned with or institutional and public tastes Kathryn Hoffmann, ‘would be prepared vessels and tiny foetal of the twentieth or twenty-first enriched by breaking more of the skeletons.39 The central skeleton centuries. Many of the preparations boundaries between objects and holds a piece of damaged thighbone, of the French anatomist Jean- words, bodies and narratives’.36 The which, by the sorrowful tilt of his Joseph Sue (père) were destroyed.43 Halford skeleton, with its animated head and articulation of his arms, pose and musical resonance, achieves is transmuted into a tiny violin.40 Hoffmann notes that in 18th- this balance on its own. Although He is accompanied by the phrase century France, Sue’s collection today it is less common to encounter ‘Ah Fata, ah aspera Fata!’ (Ah Fate, included memento mori anatomical staged skeletons in a medical museum ah bitter Fate!).41 Mounted on an pieces inspired by Ruysch’s context, they are part of a rich, ornate walnut pedestal, Ruysch’s preparations. While one such piece macabre history, popular in the 17th diorama invites the viewer to at still exists in the École Nationale and 18th centuries. once reflect upon mortality and Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, it Frederik Ruysch (1638–1731) was laugh bitterly. For Ruysch, artist is not certain whether it was prepared a Dutch anatomist and botanist who and scientist were not incompatible, by Sue, or acquired by him. Titled pioneered embellished anatomical ‘but rather as forming two modes Macabre altar, it was probably created preparations and miniature tableaux. of a single practice, in which the by Jean-Joseph Sue père in the second Incorporating emblematic attributes gracefulness of the human arts half of the 18th century.44 Although we and vanitas symbols, Ruysch’s gradually took over to embellish the know that Sue’s collection was carried work gave the beholder ‘engaging godly artwork’.42 on by Sue fils, I would argue that and comforting commentaries that Hoffmann has had a long the similarity of the age of materials would make the site of death less fascination with the intersection used in Macabre altar indicate that distressing’.37 Ruysch displayed his between art and medicine. She the Halford skeleton was either a preparations in cabinets, and at the laments the tendency of medical preparation by, or from the original centrepiece of each cabinet was a museums in the 20th and 21st collection of, Sue père, as opposed to still-life tableau, in order to give the centuries to shift away from Sue fils. Indeed, the altar resonates collection an overall aesthetic and the macabre in favour of more with preparation of the Halford an evocation of memento mori.38 pedagogical specimens. ‘Some of skeleton in its baroque fashion, and Although Ruysch’s exquisite, ornate the objects in anatomical collections attempt to bring to life the mummy tableaux have not survived, they were destroyed’, Hoffmann explains: and the three tiny skeletons that

8 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 14, June 2014 adorn it, in a humorous yet thought- professor of anatomy, one would advertisements in medical gazettes, provoking way. expect Sue’s preparations to be precise he maintained his connection to Superficially, the Halford skeleton and scientifically accurate. France following his departure. Given is an aesthetic and arresting piece, yet Was Sue’s name used by the his revolutionary past, and that he radiography readings suggest that its preparator to add value to the was a preparator of osteology in Paris, preparator was less than skilled: skeleton? This is a reasonable it seems possible that he crossed paths assumption, yet research into the with the writer Eugène Sue. The metal work showing in the preparator, Messrs Raginel & Co., Eugène Sue’s birth in Paris in x-rays is normal, however there reveals a radical intellectual named 1804, the year Napoléon became may be slightly more than would Pierre Alfred Raginel, and a complex emperor of France, was witnessed be expected in the head. Usually history set against the backdrop of the and attested by Joséphine Bonaparte. the metal rod which goes through years following the French Revolution. This attestation came about following the spine to hold the skeleton Moreover, a possible connection to the Sue’s father’s appointment in 1800 upright would go up through the Sue family via Sue père’s grandson, the as médecin-en-chef of the Imperial skull to the top. It looks like the writer Eugène Sue, begins to emerge. Guard. Despite expectations that rod in this skeleton is too short Eugène would become a surgeon like and so other metal rods have been A revolutionary skeleton his forebears, he stubbornly pursued inserted to try and keep the skull Born in 1813, Raginel was the a writing career. His success with from moving around.45 author of socialist publications, a Mysteries of Paris (1842–3) reportedly purveyor of medical equipment and inspired his friend Victor Hugo to According to conservators from French osteology, and a preparator of proceed with Les miserables.49 Both the Royal College of Surgeons of osteology. In 1852 he emigrated from works critique the social institutions England, the preparatory work Paris to London, where he established of the day and seek to give a voice is slipshod, suggesting that the the medical supply firm Raginel, to the disadvantaged and the lower preparator was not highly skilled, Domenge & Co., which dissolved in classes. or was unfamiliar with procedures. 1855. Raginel continued the business Following his father’s death in At the same time, if the pathology in his own name. 1830, Eugène lived extravagantly and of the skeleton were faked, it would Before leaving France, Raginel unapologetically, earning a reputation not seem credible to have been was a dynamic force in the Second as a flaneur and dandy. Eight years prepared by a surgeon as respected Republic. Known as ‘le citoyen later, he was brought to near financial as Sue. Indeed, despite a tradition Raginel’, he was the author of The ruin and was forced to sell off his of posed skeletons adorned with Social Purpose, a ‘journal of positive houses, carriages, horses, furniture, symbolic accoutrements, pathological philosophy and transitional means’.47 books and objects of art.50 At such preparations should be accurate and One journal dubbed him ‘the a moment, was the skeleton of the authentic for pedagogical purposes. father and the author of the 1848 recorder player taken out of storage As a highly skilled surgeon and Republic’.48 According to Raginel’s and sold?

Anneliese Milk, ‘Mystery and music in the anatomy museum’ 9 Propelled by his experiences when with important orders for the new engraving of a merry band of musical researching Mysteries of Paris, Eugène Museums in Hyderabad, Melbourne skeletons. In the centre sits the flautist, became increasingly political, driven etc.’ 53 cross-legged—almost giving the by socialist ideals. In December 1851, impression of a single, symmetrical leg. opposing the coup d’état staged by An anatomist’s trick? Leaning pensively to one side as he Napoléon III, Eugène went into As we have seen, it was popular in rests from his performance, Gamelin’s voluntary exile. Because of Eugène’s the 17th and 18th centuries to adorn flautist wonders, O‘ quanto ci deve dare family connection to Napoléon and anatomical preparations with elements pensiere?’ (How much must we think Joséphine Bonaparte, the emperor evoking a strangely beautiful, yet about it?) Like Gamelin’s flautist, the did not include his name on the list disturbing, display of memento mori. Halford skeleton serves as a gentle of exiles (which included Hugo).51 I argue that the recorder is not only reminder of our own corporeality, Raginel, conversely, stayed until a signifier of biography, but also the transience of life, and its many the end of the Second Republic, something of an anatomist’s trick. mysteries. describing himself on his British The skeleton is missing a tibia and The skeleton is currently immigration document as ‘a man of fibula, and the Latin word ‘tibia’ undergoing computed tomography letters’.52 means ‘flute’ or ‘pipe’. The missing (CT) scanning at the Victorian Is it possible that Eugène Sue sold tibia, in this case, becomes the tibia Institute of Forensic Medicine, in the skeleton to Raginel? We have in the skeleton’s hands. an effort to deduce whether or not been told that it was sold during a At the same time, is the recorder this remarkable specimen is indeed a time of political crisis for Dr Jean- also a phallic symbol? Surely this genuine example of sirenomelia. But for Joseph Sue fils, but is it more likely was not lost on the beholder. People now it remains as much of a mystery as that the skeleton was bequeathed to with sirenomelia often lack external it was to Halford over 150 years ago. his son Eugène? genitalia. If the preparator was Raginel died in 1860, but Halford wishing to reference or hint at such a Anneliese Milk is in her final year of a Master of Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne. purchased the skeleton in 1862. The disorder, this particular characteristic Her area of interest is the intersection between art firm Raginel & Co. continued after would have been known to him. and medicine. Raginel’s death, probably to get rid of A further thought relates to the ‘the very large stock’ remaining. It ran ecclesiastical style of the pedestal, The Harry Brookes Allen Museum of advertisements in medical gazettes evoking the biographical reference to Anatomy and Pathology is primarily for until at least 1863. One advertisement Notre Dame Cathedral. It is possible the use of students studying anatomy, pathology and related subjects. Access from this year is written from the that the mounting of the skeleton for other students or researchers perspective of Raginel and boasts of a on such a pedestal was contrived to may be available upon request. The sale to the University of Melbourne: reinforce this story. museum is open to the public on the university’s annual Open Day in August. ‘M. Raginel begs respectfully to In Jacques Gamelin’s Nouveau See http://mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/ inform the Medical Profession recueil d’ostéologie et de myologie: harrybrookesallenmuseum for details. . . . he has already been favoured dessiné d’après nature (1779) is an

10 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 14, June 2014 1 ‘The medical institutions and prevailing 21 Harold Chen, ‘Sirenomelia’, Atlas of genetic 36 Kathryn A. Hoffmann, ‘The theatrical cadaver: diseases of Victoria’, British Medical Journal, diagnosis and counseling, Totowa, N.J.: Staging death in the seventeenth century’, vol. 2, no. 563, 14 October 1871, p. 447. Humana Press, pp. 1907–8. Calendrier électronique des spectacles sous 2 ‘Royal Society of Victoria’, Argus, 22 M. Pillay and others, ‘Sirenomelia: Case l’Ancien Régime (CESAR) 2008, p. 154, 25 September 1868, p. 5. reports and current concepts of pathogenesis’, www.cesar.org.uk/cesar2/conferences/ 3 ‘The medical institutions . . .’ Pediatric and Developmental Pathology, no. conference_2008/hoffmann_08.html. 4 Zahid Gul and others, ‘Sirenomelia: The 15, 1 September 2012, p. 403. 37 Gijsbert van de Roemer, ‘From vanitas mermaid syndrome’, Gomal Journal of Medical 23 Chen, ‘Sirenomelia’. to veneration: The embellishments in the Sciences, vol. 11, no. 1, January–June 2013, p. 114. 24 Chen, ‘Sirenomelia’. anatomical cabinet of Frederik Ruysch’, 5 Gul and others, ‘Sirenomelia’, p. 114. 25 Chen, ‘Sirenomelia’. Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 22, 6 R.J.W. Selleck, The Shop: The University of 26 Chih-Ping Chen and others, ‘Sirenomelia no. 2, 2010, p. 172. Melbourne 1850–1939, Melbourne University with an uncommon osseous fusion associated 38 Luuc Kooijmans, Death defied: The anatomy Press, 2003, p. 74. with a neural tube defect’, Pediatric lessons of Frederik Ruysch, Boston: Brill, 2011, 7 K.F. Russell, ‘Halford, George Britton Radiology, no. 28, 1998, pp. 293–6. p. 269. (1824–1910)’, Australian dictionary of biography, 27 Gabriele Tonni and Gianpaolo Grisolia, 39 van de Roemer, ‘From vanitas to veneration’, vol. 4, 1972. ‘Sirenomelia: A review on embryogenic p. 171. 8 Medical Times and Gazette Advertiser, environmental theories . . .’, Archives of 40 Kooijmans, Death defied, p. 274. 7 November 1857, p. 492. Gynecology and Obstetrics, vol. 288, no. 1, 41 van de Roemer, ‘From vanitas to veneration’, 9 Medical Times and Gazette Advertiser, 27 April 2013, pp. 3–11. p. 171 31 January 1863, p. 101. 28 Website of the Musée Testut Latarjet 42 van de Roemer, ‘From vanitas to veneration’, 10 ‘Dr. Wilks, F.R.S., on the importance of d’Anatomie et d’Histoire Naturelle Médicale, p. 183 studying temperaments’, British Medical Lyon, http://museetl.univ-lyon1.fr/. 43 Hoffmann, ‘The theatrical cadaver’, p. 59. Journal, 30 December 1876, p. 868. 29 Translated by Karin Tybjerg (associate 44 Comar, Figures du corps, p. 174. 11 George Britton Halford, ‘On a remarkable, professor, Medical Museion, Copenhagen), 45 Carina Phillips, Personal communication, symmetrically deformed skeleton’, Transactions Personal communication, 12 July 2013. 16 August 2013, describing analysis by and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 30 Carina Phillips (curator, Wellcome Museum Martyn Cooke (conservator, Royal College part 1, vol. 9, July 1868, p. 108. of Anatomy and Pathology, London), of Surgeons of England), of X-rays of the 12 Arthur MacNalty, ‘The Sües: An illustrious Personal communication, 15 July 2013. Halford skeleton. family of French surgeons’, British Journal of 31 William Edwards (curator, Gordon Museum, 46 Phillips, Personal communication, 16 August Surgery, vol. 45, issue 193, March 1958, p. 403. London), Personal communication, 12 July 2013. 13 MacNalty, ‘The Sües’, p. 406. 2013. 47 Author’s translation from Curiosités 14 Philippe Comar, Figures du corps. Une leçon 32 Laurens de Rooy (curator, Museum Vrolik, révolutionnaires: Les journaux rouges, histoire d’anatomie à l’école des beaux-arts, Paris: Amsterdam), Personal communication, critique de tous les journaux ultra-républicains Academy Editions, 2008, p. 174 (author’s 18 June 2013. publiés à Paris depuis le 24 fevrier jusqu’au translation). 33 Vivienne Parry, ‘How an Irish giant and an 1èr octobre 1848 . . ., Paris: Giraud et Cie, 1848, 15 Juliet Flesch, Life’s logic: 150 years of physiology 18th-century surgeon could help people p. 100. at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne: with growth disorders’, Guardian, 11 January 48 Revue des Deux Mondes, 1849, tome 4, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2012, pp. 9–10. 2011. p. 1117. 16 Halford, ‘On a remarkable . . . skeleton’, p. 111. 34 Cindy Stelmackowich, ‘The instructive 49 MacNalty, ‘The Sües’, p. 411. 17 Halford, ‘On a remarkable . . . skeleton’, p. 111. corpse: Dissection, anatomical specimens, 50 MacNalty, ‘The Sües’, p. 410. 18 ‘A remarkable skeleton’, Ballarat Star, and illustration in early nineteenth-century 51 MacNalty, ‘The Sües’, p. 411. 28 September 1868, p. 4. medical education’, Spontaneous Generations: 52 England, Alien arrivals, 1810–11, 1826–69 19 Author’s translation. A Journal for the History and Philosophy of for Pierre Alfred Raginel, Certificate of arrival, 20 ‘Chris Briggs (consultant forensic anthropologist, Science, vol. 6, no. 1, 2012, pp. 61–2. no. 335. Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine), 35 Mark Fraser (chairman, Bonhams Australia), 53 Medical Times and Gazette, 31 January 1863, Personal communication, 5 December 2013. Personal communication, 6 September 2013. p. 101.54

Anneliese Milk, ‘Mystery and music in the anatomy museum’ 11