William Cowper (anatomist)
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William Cowper
Cowper was born in
Some have called Cowper's Anatomy of the Humane Bodies one of the greatest acts of
version was later printed in 1690, entitled Ontleding des Menschelyken Lichaams, but when sales went poorly, Bidloo's publishers sold 300 copies of the unbound plates to William Cowper (or his publishers).Cowper proceeded to write a new English text to accompany the plates, many of them showing a great deal of original research and fresh new insights. He also commissioned nine new plates drawn by
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A number of vitriolic exchanges took place between Bidloo and Cowper, including several pamphlets published in each anatomist's defence. Cowper claimed, without much evidence presented, that the plates were not Bidloo's at all, but that they were commissioned by Jan Swammerdam (1637–1680) and that after his death Swammerdam's widow had sold them to Bidloo. Whatever the truth may be, it is undeniable that Cowper was a great anatomist and surgeon in his own right – and that he clearly did not give Govard Bidloo proper credit for his involvement in this work.
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References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
- ^ de Lairesse, Gérard (1685). "Anatomia plates". Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Libraries. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- Bidloo, Govard. Anatomia humani corporis, centum & quinque tabulis, per artificiossis. (Sumptibus viduæ J. a Someren, 1685.) Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. University of Toronto Libraries.
- Dictionary of National Biography. (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1887). Vol. 12, pp. 388–389.
- Morton's Medical Bibliography (Garrison and Morton). Ed. By Jeremy Norman. 5th ed. (Aldershot, Hants., England : Scolar Press; Brookfield, Vt., USA : Gower Pub. Co., 1991). No. 385.1.
- Russell, K. F. British anatomy, 1525-1800: a bibliography of works published in Britain, America and on the Continent. 2nd ed. (Winchester, Hampshire: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1987). Introduction and nos. 211-214.
- Adapted from public domain text at William Cowper Biography. Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
External links
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Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Cowper, William (1666-1709)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Cowper, William. The anatomy of human bodies,... containing many new anatomical discoveries and chirurgical observations, 1698