Anita Guerrini is a historian of science and medicineat Oregon State University, where she holds the history department’s emeritus chair. She recieved her PhD from Indiana University in History and Philosophy of Science and has produced and collaborated on numerous works concerning the history of science. Her 2015 work, The Courtiers’ Anatomists, was awarded the Pfizer Prize in 2018. She is currently researching the history of the human skeleton and the role of science in early modern European nationalism.
The Courtiers’ Anatomists concerns the intersection between animal dissection and vivisection and the developing experimental method in Paris from 1645 to 1715. Guerrini’s work explores the dissection efforts of academicians at the Academy of Sciences in Paris, in the process showing how anatomy and dissection were influenced by and a part of natural history in the 17th century. In particular, The Courtiers’ Anatomists highlights the vague distinction between ancients and modern in regards to scientific practice, showing how Parisian academicians straddled the worlds of ancient knowledge and groundbreaking anatomical discovery as they strove to learn the innerworkings of the human body and soul through the dissection and vivisection of common and exotic animals supplied from the menageries of the Sun King himself.
Guerrini organizes her 6 chapters chronologically, as she takes us from the fragmented dissection practices of surgeons, physicians, and anatomists in the beginning of the 17th century to the end of the 17th century, chronicling the rise of a royal institution dedicated to modern discovery and intimately situated in the cultural milieu of Parisian and courtly society. Chapter one introduces the reader to the anatomy scene in Paris in the early 17th century, particularly the thriving body economy. This chapter discusses the various places where anatomy and discussions regarding natural philosophy took place; from the salons and conferences of notable participants in the Republic of letters, to the Hotel Dieu and church of Saint-Come. In the early 17th century, various professions practiced anatomy for a multitude of reasons as they sought to break from what they believed to be the overly rigid philosophy of scholasticism.
Chapter two concerns the discourse in Paris surrounding William Harvey’s De Motu Cordis, and the overall break from ancient knowledge that anatomy and the new science of the 17th century was revealing. Guerrini consistently argues in this chapter that the dissection and vivisection that these courtiers performed merged with the descriptive-based method of natural history to form a new comparative anatomy, which combined natural history and anatomy and broke from scholasticism in the belief that historia was a better method for ascertaining cause than sciencia. Indeed, the founders of the Academy of sciences such as Jean Pecquet and Claude Perrault actively discouraged experimentation for reasons of sciencia and thought the enterprise of anatomy necessitated the treatment of animal subject or cadaver as purely individualistc, in the process foregoing the natural historians penchant for classification.
Chapter three of The Courtiers’ Anatomists concerns the early animal dissection and vivisection performed by the Academy and the conservative modernism and anti-cartesian positions adopted by the academy as they practiced their anatomy to further their own institutional beliefs and glorify their patron Louis XIV. Perrault features heavily in this chapter, as he develops his own theory that simultaneously countered and complemented Descartes mechanical philosophy and added to the widespread discourse about the nature of the soul. As Guerrini indicates, discourse abounded throughout the continent in the 17th century over the issue of animal souls, did they have them, where was the soul located, and could animals reason in manner akin (but never equal to) human beings. This chapter also briefly explores the self-imposed difficulties that the mid-century Academy endured regarding the printing of their findings. Much unlike the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions, the Parisian Academy initially only published collectively, which inevitably begs the question of provenance in the history of science, though this is not discussed by Guerrini.
Chapter four explores the exotic dissections and vivisections performed by anatomists at the Academy, made possible by their royal patron Louis XIV, and published in their notable work, Histoire des Animaux. This chapter explores the benefits enjoyed by the Academy, especially in regards to the availability of exotic animals thanks to their access to the royal menageries at Versailles and other royal estates. The portrayal of new knowledge was very important to the compagnie, as Guerrini describes: “but the compagnie also self-consciously aspired to make and display new knowledge of these animals gained from direct observation and careful dissection…” Histoire des Aniumaux indicates the self-scrutiny and importance the academicians poured into their anatomical practices, as well as the deference for experimentation rather than ancient reasoning, simultaneously ascribing to modern anatomy a certain moral economy that was lost on the ancient anatomy practiced by Galen and Aristotle.
Chapter 5 discusses the influence of court, royal menageries, and Louis XIV influence on Academy experimentation. Many of the exotic animals dissected by the anatomists at the academy were acquired from the menagerie at Versailles, such as Lions, Chameleons, and even an elephant. Guerrini explores the symbiotic relationship between Academy and royal patron, asserting that the dissections of the exotic and the findings of the Academy served to bolster the prestige and power of Louis XIV. This would have been an excellent chapter to discuss the relationship between science and state in the early modern period, but Guerrini does not broach this subject as much as some readers would like, instead positing Louis XIV patronage of science and culture as a means of acquiring continental recognition as a modern Alexander the great. However, Guerrini does describe in great detail how anatomists access to exotic animals helped dispel some ancient knowledge and how royal patronage allowed academicians the opportunity to tackle some of the most resounding anatomical questions of the 17th century such as vision and respiration.
Chapter 6 introduces the reader to the dissemination of anatomical experimentation through lectures, particularly those performed by Joseph-Guichard Duverney. This chapter is somewhat unique in Guerrini’s work because she explores the aspect of anatomy as a performace, positing that renowned figures such as Duverney, who was something of a Parisian rockstar, used the public dissection or vivisection as a method for disseminating their own experimentation. Culture under the Sun King was very much in vogue, far beyond fashion, courtiers were encouraged to make use of all aspects of the Sun King’s knowledge and benevolence, and this included the lectures and performances given by academicians.
Guerrini’s The Courtiers’ Anatomists does a remarkable job of exploring the coming of age of anatomy, dissection and vivisection in the early modern period. Her sources typically come from the anatomists themselves, in the form of correspondence and published folios which she combines to show the reader the entirety of the 17th century anatomical process from acquisition of a cadaver or diseased animal to the publication or performance of anatomical experimentation. Guerrini clearly demonstrates an intimate understanding of the science she writes about, and this comes through in her examples which illustrate dissection, vivisection, and comparative anatomy as a quintessentially humanistic endeavor.
While Guerrini’s knowledge is to be praised, her writing style could stand to learn from Duverney. While ostensibly for a popular audience, though one perhaps a bit more literate in early modern science, the excruciating detail by which she presents comparative anatomy and dissection at the Academy serves to diminish her overall arguments at several instances. If this was a monograph then these issues would be moot, but the introduction of historical figures numerous times is portrayed as vital to the narrative, but actually serve merely as evidence. While the overall structure of the book proceeds chronologically, there is an abundance of hopping from Perault, Pecquet, Duverney, etc., so much so that Guerrini risks losing her readership in the mountain of evidence she presents.
Regarding HIST 635, The Courtiers’ Anatomists is perhaps the most meticulously written work we have read so far for the class. It does much to broaden our understanding of the influence of humanism on early modern science, and also expands our understanding of what exactly comprised natural history during this era. Also, the distinction she illustrates between historia and sciencia is perhaps the best description of these new scientists belief in their new forms of experimentation. It was interesting to see anatomists such as Perrault rally against scholasticism while adopting a method of fact employed by the scholastics. In addition, the self-imposed restrictions by the Academy on the publications of their findings reinforce the importance of print culture to class discussions.
Overall, Anita Guerrini’s The Courtier’s Anatomists is thoroughly well researched and meticulous exploration of the importance of animals in the development of experimentation. In particular, the widespread practice of dissection and vivisection, as shown in the book, elucidate the widespread belief during this era of the importance of the development of new knowledge.
