Figure 5. A comparison of the earliest medical illustration from China and Greece. (A) Han period 206 B.C. - A.D.220?; (B) Hellenistic period 323 B.C. – 146 B.C.? The Frog Classic of Huang Di (A), originated from the legend of Chang E, who stole a drug for immortality and transformed into a toad after escaping to the moon (Werner, 1958, 1969). It shows similarities to the oldest example of medical illustration in Europe, the Five Picture Series of Hellenistic Greece (B). Here, the term ‘frog pose’ describes the position of these figures awaiting an autopsy or dissection. (A) Adapted from the Frog Classic of Huang Di (Huang Di hamajing); (B) Adapted from the Series of Five Pictures in Manuscript Ashmole 399, Bodleian Library, Oxford. |