Editing Frederik Ruysch

{{Short description|17/18th-century Dutch botanist and anatomist}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Frederik Ruysch
|image             =Frederik Ruysch, by Jurriaen Pool.jpg
|image_size        = 
|caption           = Frederik Ruysch, by his son-in-law [[Juriaen Pool]]
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1638|03|28}}
|birth_place       = [[The Hague]]
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1731|02|22|1638|03|23}}
|death_place       = [[Amsterdam]]
|residence  = |citizenship = 
|nationality       = [[Netherlands|Dutch]]
|ethnicity         = 
|field             = [[botany]], [[anatomy]]
|work_institutions = 
|alma_mater        = [[University of Leiden]]
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = 
|author_abbrev_bot =|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = 
|spouse            = Maria Post (1643–1720)
|children          = [[Rachel Ruysch]] (*1664, painter)<br/>[[Anna Ruysch]] (*1666, painter)
|religion = |footnotes = |signature =
}}
[[File:De anatomische les van Dr. Frederick Ruysch.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Frederick Ruysch'' by [[Jan van Neck]] (1683). [[Amsterdam Museum]].]]

'''Frederik Ruysch''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈfreːdərɪk ˈrœys|lang}}; March 28, 1638 – February 22, 1731) was a Dutch [[botany|botanist]] and [[anatomy|anatomist]]. He is known for developing techniques for preserving anatomical specimens, which he used to create dioramas or scenes incorporating human parts.<ref>[http://www.zymoglyphic.org/exhibits/ruysch.html Frederik Ruysch's Anatomical Dioramas].</ref> His anatomical preparations included over 2,000 anatomical, pathological, zoological, and botanical specimens, which were preserved by either drying or [[embalming]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kooijmans|first1=L.|title=De doodskunstenaar, de anatomische lessen van Frederik Ruysch|date=2004|publisher=Bert Bakker|location=Amsterdam}}</ref> Ruysch is also known for his proof of [[valve]]s in the [[lymphatic system]], the [[vomeronasal organ]] in snakes, and ''arteria centralis oculi'' (the central [[artery]] of the eye). He was the first to describe the disease that is today known as [[Hirschsprung's disease]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-01-08|title=Hirschsprung Disease: Background, Pathophysiology, Epidemiology|url=http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/178493-overview}}</ref> as well as several pathological conditions, including intracranial [[teratoma]], [[enchondromatosis]], and [[Majewski's polydactyly syndrome|Majewski syndrome]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Boer|first1=Lucas|last2=Radziun|first2=Anna B.|last3=Oostra|first3=Roelof-Jan|title=Frederik Ruysch (1638–1731): Historical perspective and contemporary analysis of his teratological legacy|journal=American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A|volume=173|issue=1|pages=16–41|doi=10.1002/ajmg.a.37663|pmid=27126916|pmc=5215407|year=2017}}</ref>

==Life==
Frederik Ruysch was born in [[The Hague]] as the son of a government functionary and started as the pupil of a druggist. Fascinated by anatomy, he studied at the university of [[Leiden]], under [[Franciscus Sylvius]]. His fellow students were [[Jan Swammerdam]], [[Reinier de Graaf]] and [[Niels Stensen]]. The dissection of corpses was relatively expensive and [[cadavers]] were scarce, which led Ruysch to find alternative ways to prepare the organs. In 1661, he married Maria Post, daughter of the Dutch architect,
[[Pieter Post]]. He graduated in 1664 with a thesis on [[pleuritis]].<ref>Dohmen, J. (1982) Wetenschappelijke erediensten voor publiek. De anatomische lessen van Frederik Ruysch. In: 1632- 1982. 350 Jaar wetenschap in Amsterdam. Folia Civitatis, 9 januari 1982, nr. 19. p. 19.</ref>

Ruysch became ''praelector'' of the [[Amsterdam]] [[surgery|surgeon]]'s [[guild]] in 1667. In 1668, he was made the chief instructor to the city's [[Midwifery|midwives]]. They were no longer allowed to practice their profession until they had been examined by Ruysch. In 1679, he was appointed as a forensic advisor to the Amsterdam courts and in 1685 as a professor of [[botany]] in the [[Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam]], where he worked with [[Jan Commelin|Jan]] and [[Caspar Commelin]]. Ruysch specialized in indigenous plants.

==Embalming technique==
Ruysch researched many areas of human [[anatomy]], and physiology, using spirits to preserve organs, and assembled one of Europe's most famous anatomical collections.<ref>Israel, J.I (1995) The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477-1806, p. 907.</ref> His chief skill was the preparation and preservation of specimens in a secret ''liquor balsamicum'', and he is believed to be one of the first to use arterial [[embalming]] to this effect. He developed an injection from mercuric sulfide, which originated from cinnabar, a naturally occurring red-colored mineral. The injection gave many specimens a reddish, almost lively expression. Thanks to this technique, observers could visualize and dissect even the smallest blood vessels, which was a groundbreaking technique in the 17th century. Ruysch's revolutionary embalming techniques also allowed for the corpses to be preserved for a greater period of time. This not only extended the time allowed for each dissection presentation but also made it possible for these presentations to take place during the warmer months.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Julie V.|date=December 1996|title=Resurrecting Death: Anatomical Art in the Cabinet of Dr. Frederik Ruysch|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=78|issue=4|pages=663–679|doi=10.2307/3046214|jstor=3046214}}</ref>

==Ruysch's cabinet==
Frederik Ruysch was both the founder and creator of a museum of anatomy, which was located within his own private residence. The museum was a popular tourist attraction for Amsterdam and was known throughout the educated world. It was a private collection, but Ruysch opened it to the public. An admission was charged, and a guide headed tours throughout the five rooms.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=IJpma|first1=Frank F.A.|last2=Radziun|first2=Anna|last3=van Gulik|first3=Thomas M.|date=September 2013|title='The anatomy lesson of Dr. Frederik Ruysch' of 1683, a milestone in knowledge about obstetrics|url=https://www.ejog.org/article/S0301-2115(13)00270-4/fulltext|journal=European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology|language=en|volume=170|issue=1|pages=50–55|doi=10.1016/j.ejogrb.2013.05.028|pmid=23845171|issn=0301-2115}}</ref> The collection was separated into three different categories. Dry preparations included skeletons and dried organs, wet injection preparations included preservations in bottles with easily removable lids, and the last category was wet preparations in jugs with elaborate decorations. The last category could not be handled easily without risking damage to the preparation itself.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knoeff|first=Rina|date=February 2015|title=Touching anatomy: On the handling of preparations in the anatomical cabinets of Frederik Ruysch (1638–1731)|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences|language=en|volume=49|pages=32–44|doi=10.1016/j.shpsc.2014.11.002|pmid=25543883|issn=1369-8486}}</ref>

Unique to his collections were the inclusion of infant and fetal bodies, which composed approximately one-third of his entire collection. He purchased the majority of these specimens from midwives that worked under him, after the child died or when a pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. His still lifes and displays that contained the bodies of infants, or parts thereof, were typically displayed with clothing, bonnets, or even glass eyes. By adding these elements, Ruysch was able to cover the marks and stitches from the embalming process and give his displays a more lifelike appearance.<ref name=":0" /> While some of his displays had abnormalities and defects, the main goal of his collections was to create works of art that he believed showed the perfection of the human body.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kemp|first=Martin|date=1999|title=Babes in bottles: the anatomical art of Frederik Ruysch|journal=Nature|volume=399|issue=6731|pages=34|doi=10.1038/19906|s2cid=4417719|doi-access=free}}</ref> In her early years, his daughter [[Rachel Ruysch]], a painter of still lifes, had helped him to decorate the collection with flowers, fishes, seashells and the delicate body parts with [[lace]].<ref>Jay, Mike (December 8, 2022). "The Melancholy of Anatomy". ''The New York Review of Books'' '''69''' (19): 38–40.</ref>

By the time Ruysch was 24, his cabinet had become extremely popular and attracted the attention of many foreign dignitaries.<ref name=":0" /> In 1697, [[Peter the Great]] and [[Nicolaes Witsen]] visited Ruysch who had all the specimens exposed in five rooms, on two days during the week open for the public. He told Peter, who had a keen interest in science, how to catch [[butterfly|butterflies]] and how to preserve them. They also had a common interest in [[lizard]]s.<ref>Driessen, J. (1996) Tsaar Peter de Grote en zijn Amsterdamse vrienden, p. 8.</ref> Together they went to see patients. In 1717, during his second visit, Ruysch sold his "repository of curiosities" to [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]] for 30,000 [[guilder]]s, including the secret of the liquor: clotted pig's blood, [[Berlin blue]] and [[mercury oxide]].<ref>Driessen-Van het Reve, J.J. (2006) De ''Kunstkamera'' van Peter de Grote. De Hollandse inbreng, gereconstrueerd uit brieven van Albert Seba en Johann Daniel Schumacher uit de jaren 1711-1752. English summary, p. 338.</ref> Ruysch refused to help when everything had to be packed and labelled. It took [[Albertus Seba|Albert Seba]] more than a month. The 100 [[Packaging and labeling|colli]] were not sent immediately, but because of the [[Great Nordic War]] in the year after, divided over two ships. The collection was intact, and the rumours about the sailors that drunk the alcohol, are untrue.

Ruysch immediately began anew in his house on [[Bloemgracht]], in the [[Jordaan]]. After his death this collection was sold to [[August the Strong]].<ref>[http://www1.medizin.uni-halle.de/iaz/meckel/start.htm Kapitel 6] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611123307/http://www1.medizin.uni-halle.de/iaz/meckel/start.htm |date=2007-06-11 }}.</ref> While some of his preserved collections remain, none of his scenes have survived. They are only known through a number of engravings, notably those by [[Cornelis Huyberts]].

He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1715.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27ruysch%27%29|title = Fellows Details|publisher = Royal Society|access-date = 10 May 2014|archive-date = 29 March 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220329174135/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27ruysch%27%29|url-status = dead}}</ref> He was painted by his son-in-law [[Jurriaen Pool]]. Frederik Ruysch published together with [[Herman Boerhaave]].

In 1760 (30 years after his death), botanist [[Jacq.]] published ''[[Ruyschia]]'', a genus of [[flowering plant]]s from South America, belonging to the family [[Marcgraviaceae]] and named in Frederik Ruysch's honor.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Ruyschia'' Jacq. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30013822-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=20 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Acta Eruditorum - I fisiologia, 1704 – BEIC 13365677.jpg|thumb|Illustration of critique of ''Thesaurus anatomicus''... published in [[Acta Eruditorum]], 1704]]
* ''Disputatio medica inauguralis de pleuritide.'' Dissertation, Leiden, 1664.
* ''Dilucidatio valvularum in vasis lymphaticis et lacteis.'' Hagae-Comitiae, ex officina H. Gael, 1665; Leiden, 1667; Amsterdam, 1720. 2. Aufl. 1742.
* ''Museum anatomicum Ruyschianum, sive catalogus rariorum quae in Authoris aedibus asservantur.'' Amsterdam, 1691. 2. Aufl. 1721; 3. Aufl. 1737.
* ''Catalogus Musaei Ruyschiani. Praeparatorum Anatomicorum, variorum Animalium, Plantarum, aliarumque Rerum Naturalium.'' Amsterdam: Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1731.
* ''Observationum anatomico-chirurgicarum centuria.'' Amsterdam 1691; 2. Aufl. 1721: 3. Aufl. 1737.
* ''Epistolae anatomicae problematicae.'' 14 Bände. Amsterdam, 1696–1701.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724171901/http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=ruysch%3Bq1%3Druysch%3Brgn%3Dfull%3Bidno%3Druysch.001 ''Het eerste Anatomisch Cabinet''. Amsterdam, Johan Wolters, 1701]
* [http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=tekst;lang=en;c=ruysch;cc=ruysch ''Thesaurus anatomicus.'' 10 Delen. Amsterdam, Johan Wolters, 1701–1716.]
* ''Adversarium anatomico-medico-chirurgicorum decas prima.'' Amsterdam 1717.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724172038/http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=ruysch%3Bq1%3Druysch%3Brgn%3Dfull%3Bidno%3Druysch.011 ''Curae posteriores seu thesaurus anatomicus omnium precedentium maximus.'' Amsterdam, 1724.]
* ''Thesaurus animalium primus.'' Amsterdam, 1728. 18: Amsterdam, 1710, 1725.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724172131/http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=ruysch%3Bq1%3Druysch%3Brgn%3Dfull%3Bidno%3Druysch.012 ''Curae renovatae seu thesaurus anatomicus post curas posteriores novus.'' Amsterdam, 1728.]
* Samen met [[Herman Boerhaave]]: ''Opusculum anatomicum de fabrica glandularum in corpore humano.'' Leiden, 1722; Amsterdam, 1733.
* ''Tractatio anatomica de musculo in fundo uteri.'' Amsterdam, 1723.
* ''Opera omnia''. 4 Bände. Amsterdam, 1721.
* ''Opera omnia anatomico-medico-chirurgica huc usque edita.'' 5 Bände. Amsterdam, 1737.
* ''Herbarivm Rvyschianvm'', in Mvsei Imperialis Petropolitani, vol. 1, pars secvnda. Petropolitanae, 1745.

{{botanist|Ruysch|Ruysch, Frederik}}

==Modern Day==
Ruysch's collection can be seen at [[Kunstkamera|Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]] in [[Saint Petersburg]]. The collection contains more than 900 species from Ruysch's original collection.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Boer|first1=Lucas|last2=Radziun|first2=Anna B.|last3=Oostra|first3=Roelof-Jan|title=Frederik Ruysch (1638–1731): Historical perspective and contemporary analysis of his teratological legacy|journal=American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A|volume=173|issue=1|pages=16–41|doi=10.1002/ajmg.a.37663|pmid=27126916|pmc=5215407|year=2017}}</ref>

==Sources==
{{reflist|2}}
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This article needs to be expanded using a major new work
Kooijmans, Luuc (translated by Diane Webb) 2011 Death Defied. The Anatomy Lessons of Frederik Ruysch. Brill.
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==External links==
*[http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=ruysch-howto;c=ruysch;cc=ruysch;lang=en Wim Mulder, (2009) How to prepare an anatomical specimen?]
*[http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=ruysch-vroedvrouwen;c=ruysch;cc=ruysch;lang=en Otto P. Bleker, (2009) Frederik Ruysch as a teacher of midwives]
*[http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/1142.html Short biography], with a good bibliography
*[http://www.schnoepf.de/m/kukammer/geschichte.html On his collection, in German]
*[http://ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=ruysch-monsters;c=ruysch;cc=ruysch;lang=en The monstrosities of Ruysch]
*Ebenstein, Joanna (ed.), [https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262046039/frederik-ruysch-and-his-ithesaurus-anatomicusi/ ''Frederik Ruysch and His'' Thesaurus Anatomicus'': A Morbid Guide''] (The MIT Press, 2022). Translated by Richard Faulk.This is an illustrated guide to the Ruysch's magnum opus.
*[http://dare.uva.nl/document/144935 Jozien J. Driessen-Van het Reve,(2006) De ''Kunstkamera'' van Peter de Grote. De Hollandse inbreng, gereconstrueerd uit brieven van Albert Seba en Johann Daniel Schumacher uit de jaren 1711-1752. English summary p. 338]
* [http://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=contains&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ruysch%2C+Frederik%2C+1638-1731.+Thesaurus+anatomicus Selected images from ''Thesaurus Anatomicus''] From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library
* [http://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=contains&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ruysch%2C+Frederik%2C+1638-1731.+Thesaurus+animalium+primus Selected images from ''Thesaurus Animalium Primus''] From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library
* [http://link.library.utoronto.ca/anatomia/ Anatomia 1522–1867: Digitized Books and Anatomical Plates from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library]

{{Natural history}}

{{Authority control}}

Olga Tokarczuk author of Flights, story of Fredrick Ruysch

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruysch, Frederik}}
[[Category:1638 births]]
[[Category:1731 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch anatomists]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch botanists]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch physicians]]
[[Category:18th-century Dutch physicians]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Leiden University alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Scientists from The Hague]]
[[Category:Pre-Linnaean botanists]]