JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 830

This busy and still beautifully designed woodcut from
Amrbose Pare’s Opera Chirurgica… was
printed in 1594 and holds special fascinations for me.  First of all it is a pioneering work on
artificial limbs, and secondly, and tritely, I like the floating ribbons and
ties (some of which seem to come from clouds). 
First on Pare (1510-1590):  this
was a revolutionary work of an extraordinary figure (even though there are some
who suspected that not all of this book was his own work) and was the greatest
surgeon of his era and the doctor to four kings. He was responsible for the
invention of numerous surgical instruments; he also re-introduced the ligature 
into surgical procedures for amputations, wrote on carbon monoxide poisoning,
introduced the introduction of induced labor, created the reimplantation of
teeth, was a pioneer of treating battlefield wounds and was one of the first to
write on medical ethics and jurisprudence, and much else.

 But I’m sorry to say that I am fixated on the artificial
leg-cloud.   And the floating bits. 

This brigs me back to a post here from just two days ago on
Antiquarian Dadaism and the emblems of Scarlattini…and which is probably the
only chance I’ll ever have to make  for
connections of feet-from-clouds.  Or near-feet
from clouds and the foot of God.  In any event, I would like to make it out to be the foot of the creator coming from the clouds to vanquish its squint-eyed and beaten foe.  “Triumphator” classically refers to the triumphal parades in ancient Rome, and I guess that this foot could belong to any victor, but since it is after all coming from the sky, I’d like to give that foot to God. 

Notes:

Pare’s Opera is
available in toto at the National
Library of Medicine’s superb pages here.