406 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1424 



committee, Dr. J. Playfair MeMurrich and 

 Dr. G. S. Brett, appointed by Dr. Burton E. 

 Livingston, permanent secretary. To this com- 

 mittee great credit is due for the courtesies 

 shown, in the matter of room selection and 

 accommodations, lanterns, etc. 



The program committee adhered to the policy 

 adopted last year, by extending invitations to 

 representative scholars to present papers, each 

 paper illustrative of research in the field of 

 some particular historical problem — technical 

 and cultural. 



The meeting was called to order by Dr. 

 William A. Locy, chairman of the interim com- 

 mittee. Dr. Walter Libby acting as secretary 

 pro tempore. The first paper on the program, 

 "Leonardo da Vinci — Artist or Anatomist?" 

 was given by Dr. J. Playfair MeMurrich, of 

 the department of anatomy. University of 

 Toronto. Dr. MeMurrich proved by reference 

 to Leonardo's masters that Leonardo's initial 

 interest in anatomy was that of the scientific 

 artist. In discussing the address of Dr. Mc- 

 Mui'rich it was suggested that there was an 

 analogy between the relation of Leonardo to 

 the science of anatomy and the relation of 

 Shakespeare to the science of psychology. In 

 answer to a question. Dr. McMunich expressed 

 the view that Leonardo did not anticipate 

 Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the 

 blood. Continuing, Dr. McMun'ich further 

 remarked : 



"Attention was called to the rapid improve- 

 ment in anatomical illustration in the first half 

 of the sixteenth eentui-y after a prolonged 

 reign of crude conventionalism, and the attempt 

 was made to connect this with the art renais- 

 sance which preceded that of science. The 

 endeavors of the artists of the Renaissance to 

 delineate accurately the human form led to 

 better standards of observation, without which 

 accurate drawing was impossible, and this re- 

 acted on the anatomists. 



The great interest of the fifteenth century 

 artists such as Pollajuolo, Verrocchio and 

 Michelangelo in anatomy was noted and it was 

 pointed out how great was the probability that 

 Leonardo received his initiation into anatom- 

 ical studies during his apprenticeship to Ver- 

 rocchio. He approached anatomy from the 

 standpoint of the artist, but his genius quickly 



led him to inquiries into the conditions under- 

 lying and determining surface form, and the 

 artist became an anatomist. 



The second paper was by Dr. Walter Libby, 

 of the University of Pittsburgh, "History as 

 the Record of Human Possessions." Dr. Libby 

 pointed out the value of taking stock of the 

 paraphernalia of civilization — such as metals, 

 buildings, books, musical instruments, machines 

 — in the succeeding historical epochs. A study 

 of cultural equipment enables one to view the 

 history of the race as a progressive develop- 

 ment. The Greeks passed from barbarism to 

 the highest civilization when they came in con- 

 tact with the cultured accrmiulations of the 

 Egyptians, Babylonians and Cretans. Simi- 

 larly, the Arabs ceased to be a rude, uncivilized 

 people only when they gained possession of the 

 books, buildings, etc., of the Mediterranean 

 basin and of Mesopotamia. 



Dr. William A. Locy, Northwestern Univer- 

 sity, followed with the third paper entitled 

 "The Hortus Sanitatis (1491) and Related 

 Books." Dr. Locy's address was splendidly 

 illustrated. He not only used the lantern to 

 show pictures of plants and animals taken from 

 the Hortiis Sanitatis of 1491 and similar works, 

 but he displayed photostat reproductions of 

 selected pages of this famous work. 



"The Hortus Sanitatis is a famous knowledge 

 book on natural history and popular medicine, 

 printed for the first time in 1491 and in many 

 editions thereafter. It was widely circulated 

 and of immense popularity. It appeared in 

 that interesting period of intellectual develop- 

 ment just preceding the fuU bloom of the 

 Renaissance and it throws light upon the re- 

 birth of the scientific attitude of mind. Repre- 

 senting a phase in the struggle of the human 

 spirit to get away from the mystical and sub- 

 jective method of thinking, which had pre- 

 vailed for centuries, it is an important human 

 document and is not to be looked on as merely 

 a curiosity of antiquarian interest. A mental 

 revolution was coming on, destined in the fol- 

 lowing half-century to establish observation in 

 place of dependence on authority as a method 

 of advancing knowledge, and books like the 

 Hortus Sanitatis were harbingers of this revo- 

 lution. 



"Other related books such as the Book of 



