Fotoreproductie van een tekening, voorstellende een dwarsdoorsnede van een menselijk hart before 1870

This photogravure of a drawing of a human heart cross-section was made by Schmidt & Wegener. As an image nestled within the pages of a larger book, the primary function of this image is to illustrate. But that institutional history is not the limit of its meaning. This sort of drawing was most likely made for pedagogical use. It is not a window onto a specific heart, but rather a generalized diagram that indicates the location and construction of the heart's chambers, valves, and other key anatomical features. It offers a view into the medical understanding of the heart at the time it was made. It presents the interior of the human body as an intelligible space open to exploration and manipulation. Visual and textual materials such as this one allow historians to trace changes in our understanding of the human body, and in the professionalization of the medical fields.