Anatomizing the Trade: Designing and Marketing Anatomical Models as Medical Technologies, ca. 1700-1900

Models of the body were made for a wide range of purposes, from anatomical study to obstetric training, public education, and fine art. This paper develops an understanding of anatomical models as medical technologies, using a definition of technologies as both combinations of objects with purposive human activities and embodiments of expertise. The analysis investigates the wide range of strategies employed by European modelling enterprises in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to establish their models as medical technologies. The paper shows that in the nineteenth century, new marketing and distribution methods enabled by cheap printing and transportation complemented continuing traditional measures such as attempts to configure users, appeals to notions of public utility, and support from noble or academic patrons. However, models' claims to the status of medical technologies remained contested throughout the period.