The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library

"Orang-outangs" with anatomical diagrams of the brain

About This Item

Title

"Orang-outangs" with anatomical diagrams of the brain

Subject

Pongo--anatomy & histology
Pan troglodytes--anatomy & histology
Brain--anatomy & histology
Anatomy, Comparative
Book Illustrations

Description

Engraved by M. Van der Gucht.
After a drawing by William Cowper--Cf. Montagu, A. Edward Tyson, p. 225.
Diagram depicting the brain of an "orang-outang" (i.e., chimpanzee) seen from above (fig.13) and cut horizontally to reveal interior (fig. 14). The image also includes drawings of various "orang-outangs", including, "a copy of the figure that Nicholaus Tulpius gives of the orang-outang that was brought to Holland form Angola," (fig. 15)--Cf. Tulp, Nicolaas. Observationes medicae; "the figure that Jacob[us] Bontius gives the orang-outang in Piso," (fig. 16)--Cf. Piso, Willem. De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica; "[a figure] taken out of Gesner, which he tells us, he met with in a German Book, wrote about the Holy Land," (fig. 17)--Cf. Gessner, Conrad. Historia animalium.
Title supplied by cataloger.

Creator

Gucht, Michael van der, 1660-1725
Cowper, William, 1666-1709

Source

Original image in: Tyson, Edward, 1650-1708. Orang-outang (London : Printed for T. Bennett and D. Brown, and are to be had of Mr. Hunt, 1699). ZZAb 2 (Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia)
Orang-outang, Sive Homo Sylvestris, or the Anatomy of a Pygmie Compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man by Edward Tyson, was the first published anatomy of an ape. The animal that Tyson refers to as an "orang-outang" and "pygmie" is actually most likely an African chimpanzee. Tyson used the ape's anthropoid features to establish a hierarchical relationship between monkeys, apes, and humans, foreshadowing theories of evolution and first formulating the idea of the missing link. It contains 8 folded plates engraved by Michael van der Gucht after drawings by William Cowper.

Publisher

Digitized by the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Date

1699

Language

eng

Type

StillImage

Identifier

ZZAb_2.fig13-17

Original Format

1 print : engraving

Physical Dimensions

31 x 23

Citation

Gucht, Michael van der, 1660-1725 and Cowper, William, 1666-1709, “"Orang-outangs" with anatomical diagrams of the brain,” The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library, accessed March 29, 2024, https://cppdigitallibrary.org/items/show/258.