New Exhibit: The Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the Renaissance

This exhibition, hosted by the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and the University of Michigan Library, explores the early history of Western medicine as illustrated by a broad selection of archaeological artifacts, papyri, medieval manuscripts, and early printed books. It includes five major themes: Religion, Magic, and Healing; Graeco-Roman Medicine; Islamic Medicine; Medieval Medicine; and Renaissance Medicine. Among the earliest objects on display is a second-century AD papyrus with a text from the Greek botanist Disocorides' On Materia Medica, while the latest exhibit is the first edition of William Harvey's Anatomical Treatise on the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals (1628).

Amulet on a Bracelet, probably containing a magical spell against illness.  Karanis, Egypt; 3rd-4th c.AD. Lead, string; 220 x 80 mm. KM 24255. University of Michigan Excavations, 1928

Gilles de Corbeil (ca. 1140–ca. 1224)

De urinis (Com. Gentile da Foligno [d. 1348])

Italy; 14th c.

Manuscript codex on paper; 303 x 205 mm

Mich. Ms. 204

The Le Roy Crummer Collection

Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564)

De humani corporis fabrica libri septem

Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1543

The Lewis Stephen Pilcher Collection

Location: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology & Audubon Room (Hatcher Graduate Library)

Dates: February 10th to April 30th 2017