A Look Inside

The title pages include an impressive illustration full of animal skeletons and an inscription in the picture saying something like “which discovers the hidden nature.”  Dissection was very much considered the solving of mysteries, unlocking the truths behind nature.  During this time, the practice was gaining more repute, though early physicians who had worked on humans in particular had been highly criticized.  The right page informs the reader of all the important names and academies associated with the work.  It is also explained that in addition to the Natural History is an “Account of the Measure of a Degree of a great Circle of the Earth,” another published work of the Royal Academy.

The left page is a written order from two years prior to the publishing of this work, including the original instruction to translate the French work.  As if in response, Alexander Pitfeild addresses his book to the president of the Royal Society of London from which the order came.

The book contains pages of illustrations and supporting text that explain the animals presented as well as the parts of the anatomy that stand out.  These pages focus on the lion.  In most cases, an image of the animal as it would be seen alive is presented beside the dissected elements.

Here is a page on the bear.  The text explains that the two figures in the bottom image are a bear and that bear as seen without skin.  This is to better present the muscles and skeletal structure underneath the fur.

A table of the animals included in the work.  This gives an idea of the variety of animals dissected by the academy and presented in this volume.  Many of the unusual names, like the sea-fox, are in fact more common animals simply under their popular names during that time.

A page from the section discussing the measure of the earth.  This plate has the same spirit as the dissection images, as the tool has been taken apart and each element labeled.