Deyrolle’s famous anatomy charts have just been republished in a work supplemented by practical explanations from Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician. A great “health” gift idea for anyone interested in the composition and functioning of the human body.
– Why Doctor: You participated in the creation of a book which brings together Deyrolle’s anatomy plates. Is it a medicine book or an art book?
Dr Gérald Kierzek : It’s not a medical book in the sense that it’s really for everyone, it’s not a professional work, even if it will interest doctors and create vocations. It’s not an art book either because they are scientific anatomical plates. So let’s say instead that it’s scientific art!
– These plates which present the entire anatomy of the human body have a history. Can you remind us of it?
Deyrolle is a scientific house which equipped the National Education on everything that was natural, what was long called the natural sciences. These are the large boards that were hung on the walls of school classrooms. It was Louis Albert de Broglie, owner of Deyrolle, who had the idea of selecting them and compiling them into a work.
“Boards dating from the 19th century and which have not aged a bit”
They date from the end of the 21st – beginning of the 20th century, they were created by anatomists and we can see that they have not aged a bit, the muscles are detailed down to the small fibrils, we can clearly see that even without electron microscopy , they had good macroscopic vision from the dissection.
– Dissection is a way of discovering anatomy and which has sparked controversy…
Yes, and then this controversy continues with the affair of the mass grave of Descartes (these are facts dating from 2019 and concerning the remains of hundreds of people who had donated their bodies to science and which, before being used for the training of anatomy students, were preserved at the faculty of medicine of Descartes, in conditions “not respecting any hygiene or ethical standards”, to the point that we spoke at the time of a real “mass grave”, Editor’s note). But there have always been dissections to learn, since antiquity!
– This work, beyond the boards, also offers explanations that you provide on the functioning of the human body. What insight do they shed on health?
My contribution since I am neither an anatomist nor designer, was to provide prevention advice so that everyone can find information, anecdotes: why the stomach makes noise when you are hungry, what is the length of the bone the largest in the body, what happens when a heart attack occurs… and then how do I maintain the machine!
“We haven’t learned anything about organ mechanics since”
Because the idea is that the general public, from 3 years old to 99 years old, better understand how the human body works! My ambition was to contextualize, comment, modernize.
– Exactly, what more have we learned about anatomy since the creation of the Deyrolle plates?
What we have learned since then is molecular and genetics, we did not have the tools at the time. But we haven’t learned anything more about organ mechanics. We don’t have any more details, except in fact on genetics, on the infinitely small, the why and how. Imaging has made it possible to achieve even greater precision… without doing the dissection!
– According to the editor’s note, these boards have been important tools for decades in the training of doctors. Is this still the case?
No, they are no longer intended to be used by medical students. They have other books. This is more of a popular science book. But it can create vocations for medical students, there are retired nurses or doctors who are passionate about these images, it is a beautiful book in very accessible language. We are really in something a bit encyclopedic but not a medical book.
“You have to know the body to understand it and take care of it”
On the other hand, for high school students, middle school students and even primary school children, some can spend hours on these boards. Myself, even before studying medicine, I was already passionate about anatomy by watching them.
– You mention the interest that these boards can have for the youngest. But at a time when we deplore a certain lack of general knowledge among these generations, in health as in other areas, can this work arouse their curiosity?
These boards are the opposite of social networks, of immediacy! We have some beautiful drawings to look at. This is missing from generations who no longer have natural science courses, nothing that allows them to know the human body. But you have to know this body to understand it and take care of it.
– And can they also be additional information for all those, more and more numerous, who consult the internet for answers about their body and their health?
Of course, this can also apply to hypochondriacs! But above all, I have colleagues who tell me that this will allow them, in consultation, to show things to patients. This is also the purpose of this work, which can be a tool for relationships and mediation between patients and doctors. This is popularization in the good sense of the term. It offers a journey to the heart of the human body. This is not a professional book. From children to the elderly, this concerns everyone, the human body always fascinates!
* Deyrolle, anatomy lessons – Editions Albin Michel
