INTRODUCTION<br > ~ " When Andreas Vesalins， the great anatomist of the Italian Renaissance， broke with<br > "=，~ ~ ~ f~L-~， g， tg，~"~ ~-"~ {~-~ medieval tradition and taboo by systematically dissecting the human body， peeling back<br > ~ ~ ~~a~.~ ~ ~" P ?~ ~ ~e，~~ in mollon a train of discoveries and inventions which would culminate 450 years later in<br > } :" "~~i tl llous imagery to be found on the pages of this book.<br > Vesalius would have been astounded at the sight of this spectacular interior cosmos.<br > "5 " J for which nothing in his experience could have prepared him. He would equally have<br > ~: " ; been amazed to discover that these wonders had not been revealed by the surgeon s<br > scalpel but by superhuman， though man-made， eyes - eyes so powerful that they could<br > actually scmtlblze individual cells， their nuclei， and even single atoms. Just as astonish-<br > ing， some of these disembodied eyes could probe the body s innermost secrets while it<br > was alive and in good health without so much as physically touching it， let alone pene-<br > trating its surface.<br > Today， with the array of scientifically derived knowledge of the body available to<br > us， it is still difficult to believe that these fascinating pictures are not out-takes from<br > some popular science-fiction film like Fantastic Voyage， in which a team of down-<br > sized human beings pilot their minute craft on a perilous mission through the human<br > body， but are instead the fruits of painstaking scientific investigation coupled with<br > ingenious technology.<br >A 15th~century Astmlogi~l Man ， with For all their hi-tech aura， however， they are in one fundamental way a continuation<br >zodiacal signs. From Heymandus de Veterd of a long and venerable tradition dating back to the Renaissance: that of picturing the<br >Busco， Ars computisHca， 1488 body and its parts precisely and accurately with the use of naturalistic techniques.<br >l]covch~ figure* attributed to the circle Before the Renaissance， which saw the first of this new style of representation， depic~<br >of Baaolomeo Passarotti， Bologna，<br >mid-16th century tions of the body had done little to elucidate its structures and functions. During the<br >~， ~.~! .._ ~ ~i~5 =~ ~... Middle Ages， dissecti forbidd dpfi d physicians tumed to th liac<br > ~:~"，m"Y~ ~ to illuminate the mysteries of the body s interior.<br > jr i Durng~eena in istsbegn ec~gcosein~er<br >7~; 7 .~ own studios in the belief that a proper understanding of human anatomy was essential<br > ( if the exterior of the body were to be correctly depicted. In their knowledge of the body<br > they were often in advance of the physicians， who were still dissecting animals and<br > relying unquestioningly on the received wisdom of ancient texts. The accuracy， of the<br > new naturalistic techniques would prove so useful to medical men and scientists that it<br > !i~ ~ would eventuaUy win over all but the most stubborn of their fellows.<br > ， From the beginning of the sixteenth century， with the growing power of the printing<br > I!~ press， illustration played an ever more important role in communicating information<br > r ~ t about the body. Artists and scientists along with their publishers， were constantly think-<br >: "~rg ~ ~ 7V ing up inventive ways of presenting their findings. The plates in Vesalius great text De<br >i~ : bunmni corporisfabHca (1543)， for example， were so designed as to enable the reader<br > i to follow the dissection procedure step-by-step， with each of the plates revealing a<br >;~ " "~ti .~ deeper level right down to the skeleton. Another ingenious device of the period was an<br > ::~ instructional sheet which had superimposed flaps that could be folded back to reveal<br > ，~p，..~ the internal organs.<br > Over the following centuries the inner terrain of the I>ody and charted.<br > ~- ~ [.S : Yet there seemed no end to the finer and finer structures theWaSprobingmappedrevealed， in this<br >