Dark Banquet - Bill Schutt [109]
Return to text.
†39 For example, many anatomical papers published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were purely descriptive in nature. They were full of exquisite illustrations (many of them hand-colored), but the accompanying text was often straightforward and generally interesting only to other anatomists. Nowadays, anatomy done for the sake of description is exceedingly rare. Far more frequently, researchers study the form of an organism (or its parts) as a way to propose and then answer an array of questions on topics ranging from evolution and ecology to biomechanics, paleontology, and behavior.
Return to text.
*40The word primitive should not be used to describe whole organisms but rather only the specific characteristics of that organism not thought to have undergone relatively recent evolutionary change. For example, five digits is a primitive characteristic in humans since all primates share that trait (i.e., it hasn’t evolved since the first primates). On the other hand (literally), a single-digit limb (like that found in horses) is considered to be a derived trait since it has undergone considerable evolutionary change from the multidigit condition seen in protohorses.
Return to text.
*41Ronzoni No. 9 is actually perfect for this test.
Return to text.
*42Perhaps the lack of a tail membrane is yet another trade-off, this time between flight efficiency and quadrupedal locomotion. It’s easy to imagine how the presence of an expanse of skin between the hind limbs might hamper a vampire bat’s movement on the ground or among the branches.
Return to text.
*43This was a type of baking powder, also known as baker’s ammonia or ammonium carbonate.
Return to text.
*44Cantharides is a preparation made from the dried, crushed bodies of blister beetles (family Meloidae). Applied externally, cantharides is a natural irritant and raises serum-filled blisters, once thought to draw sickness out of the patient’s body. Also known as Spanish fly, these smashed beetle bits have been touted as an aphrodisiac since the time of ancient Rome. In reality, ingesting even small amounts of this material can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, kidney failure, and death.
Return to text.
*45This mixture of antimony and potassium tartrate was commonly used to induce vomiting.
Return to text.
*46During this procedure, a small midline incision was made in the throat at a level just below the larynx. Next, a half-inch-long horizontal incision was made in the trachea at the level of the third tracheal ring. Following this, a small, hollow cannula was inserted into the severed airway and secured in place by ribbons, which were tied around the neck. This arrangement allowed the patient to breathe, even in the presence of an obstructed larynx. Once the patient had recovered, the cannula was removed and the wounds from the tracheotomy were sutured closed.
Return to text.
*47The ban on consuming blood appears elsewhere in the Bible, such as Leviticus 7:26–27: “Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwellings. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.”
Return to text.
*48We know now, of course, that in many instances it is the presence or absence of pathogens (i.e., disease-causing organisms) in the blood and elsewhere that determine one’s health.
Return to text.
*49Commodus was portrayed by actor Joaquin Phoenix in Ridley Scott’s film Gladiator.
Return to text.
†50 One function of the liver was thought to be the conversion of tiny particles of food into blood.
Return to text.
*51Black bile was supposedly produced by the spleen and was thought to be responsible, among other things, for the dark coloration of bodily substances, like blood and feces. Differing levels of black bile were also used to explain why some people had darker skin than others.
Return to text.
†52 In 1462, a bloodletting calendar was the second medical