Tag Archives: Mexico

Cuerpos y construcción del conocimiento: Colecciones anatómicas en México del siglo XIX

Par Ariadna Cecilia Casimiro Reyes, UAM

En 1873 el director de la Escuela Nacional de Medicina, en la Ciudad de México, Leopoldo Río de la Loza, hizo un encargo de modelos anatómicos de cera al prestigioso taller francés de T. Vasseur, uno de los más importantes a finales del siglo XIX -responsable de iniciar la colección del Hospital de Saint Louis-, y que ofrecía este tipo de piezas internacionalmente a través de catálogos. La adquisición de estas ceras anatómicas respondía al interés de aquella época de mejorar las colecciones de los museos de anatomía, asunto de interés para instituciones públicas y coleccionistas privados como médicos y estudiantes de medicina. Pero ¿Por qué se volvió necesario este tipo de coleccionismo? ¿Cómo se construyeron estas colecciones de anatomía? y ¿A qué tipo de factores científicos, políticos y sociales responden cada una de ellas?

Cera anatómica del taller de T. Vasseur. Muestra el rostro de un niño con prurigo en el rostro, actualmente exhibida en el Museo de Medicina Mexicana de la UNAM, Ciudad de México.

A lo largo del siglo XIX, tras la inestabilidad producida por la guerra de independencia de México (1810-1821), comienza un proceso de institucionalización y reorganización de la medicina. Paulatinamente, los médicos adquirieron mayor relevancia política y social, en especial durante el gobierno de Porfirio Díaz, -conocido como Porfiriato (1876-1911)-, cuando consolidan su autoridad al amparo de su conocimiento científico.

Cera fabricada en el taller de Vasseur que muestra parte de los músculos y órganos internos de la parte superior del cuerpo humano. Museo de Medicina Mexica de la UNAM, Ciudad de México.

En ese momento el conocimiento médico se sustentaba en el método clínico: es decir, para aproximarse a las enfermedades, se usaban todos los sentidos para buscar en los cuerpos los signos de enfermedad, las alteraciones que provocaban en determinados tejidos y posibles soluciones. Para dar continuidad a la observación clínica y con propósitos de enseñanza, se empezaron a coleccionar piezas anatómicas de casos que los médicos consideraran de interés. En general, las colecciones institucionales incrementaban su acervo a través de intercambios y compras en el contexto de redes nacionales e internacionales y gracias a gestiones propias y a donaciones de coleccionistas particulares.  Por ejemplo, en 1872 el médico Manuel S. Soriano donaría 67 piezas anatómicas al Museo Anatómico de la Escuela Nacional de Medicina, lo que le valdría el reconocimiento público de esta institución. Los objetos que conformaban las colecciones eran elaborados con diversos materiales y técnicas: preparaciones de órganos y tejidos naturales, momias, fotografías, dibujos y figuras realistas de cera, yeso y papel maché, si bien había una marcada preferencia por los especímenes naturales. De hecho, en México, en su mayoría, las colecciones anatómicas eran compuestas de material orgánico y, en este sentido, la colección de ceras adquirida en París era una excepción, posiblemente por tratarse de un objeto de prestigio que, en ese momento, se anexaba a los museos más importantes de anatomía del mundo.

Dr. Manuel S. Soriano, tarjeta de visita, 1880. Fototeca INAH. https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A391275

Finalmente, hay que destacar el hecho de que la mayoría de las anatomías naturales eran obtenidas de los cadáveres de los hospitales de beneficencia pública, en los que se atendían a los sectores marginados de la población. Es posible identificar que los médicos hacían distinciones entre cuerpos, produciendo la objetivación de algunos de ellos, principalmente de los estratos bajos de la sociedad, quienes eran utilizados en la elaboración de piezas anatómicas y, de esta manera, los médicos daban continuidad a las distinciones sociales aún después de la muerte.

Dr. Leopoldo Río de la Loza, retrato, 1864. Fuente: Fototeca INAH. https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A392411

Bodies and the construction of knowledge: Anatomical collections in nineteenth-century Mexico

By Ariadna Cecilia Casimiro Reyes, UAM

In 1873, Leopoldo Río de la Loza, the director of the Escuela Nacional de Medicina, in Mexico City, bought anatomical wax models from the prestigious French workshop of T. Vasseur, one of the most important at the end of the 19th century -responsible for starting the collection of the Hospital de Saint Louis-, which sold this type of pieces internationally through catalogs. The acquisition of this collection of anatomical waxes responded to an increasing interest in improving the collections of anatomy museums, a matter of interest to public institutions and private collectors alike. But why did this type of collecting become necessary? How were these anatomy collections built? And what kind of scientific, political, and social factors shaped the collection of anatomical objects?

Anatomical wax from the workshop of T. Vasseur. It shows the face of a child with prurigo on his face, currently exhibited at the UNAM Museum of Mexican Medicine, Mexico City.

Throughout the 19th century, after the instability produced by the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821), a process of institutionalization and reorganization of medicine began. Gradually, doctors acquired greater political and social relevance, especially during the government of Porfirio Díaz, -known as Porfiriato (1876-1911)-, when they consolidated their authority based on their scientific knowledge.

Wax model made in the Vasseur workshop showing part of the muscles and internal organs of the upper part of the human body. Museum of Mexican Medicine of the UNAM, Mexico City.

At that time, medical knowledge was based on the clinical method: that is, to approach diseases, all the senses were used to search bodies for signs of disease, the alterations they caused in certain tissues, and possible solutions. To give continuity to clinical observation, and for teaching purposes, doctors collected anatomical pieces they considered of interest. In general, the institutional collections increased their holdings through exchanges and purchases in the context of national and international networks and thanks to the efforts of and donations from private collectors. For example, in 1872 doctor Manuel S. Soriano donated 67 anatomical specimens to the Museo Anatómico of the Escuela Nacional de Medicina, which would earn him public recognition. The objects that made up collections were produced with various materials and techniques: preparations of natural organs and tissues, mummies, photographs, drawings, and realistic figures made of wax, plaster, and papier-mâché, although there was a marked preference for natural specimens. In fact, in Mexico, most of the anatomical collections were made up of organic material and, in this sense, the collection of waxes acquired in Paris was an exception, possibly because it was a prestigious object that, at that time, was annexed to the most important anatomy museums in the world.

Doctor Manuel S. Soriano, carte de visite, 1880. Photo Library INAH, available in: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A391275

Finally, it is important to highlight the fact that most of the natural anatomies were obtained from the corpses of public charity hospitals, which tended to the more marginalized sectors of the population. It is possible to identify that the doctors made distinctions between bodies, producing the objectification of some of them, mainly those from the lower strata of society, who were used in the elaboration of anatomical pieces. In this way, doctors gave continuity to social distinctions even after death.

Doctor Leopoldo Río de la Loza, portrait, 1864. Photo library INAH, available in: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A39241

Mobility on Track: the past and the future of railway in the Yucatan peninsula

By Hamid Alberto Abud Russell, Heidelberg University, Germany

Mobility in the Yucatan Peninsula is in a state of flux. The Mayan Train, the controversial project of current Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, promises to upend decades of neglect in terms of federal investment in the region’s infrastructure and bring about an era of unprecedented economic growth. The Tren Maya, as it is known in Spanish, would connect the largest cities of the region in an effort to improve communication and mobility between the Peninsula’s urban and cultural centres.

Image: Museo de los Ferrocarriles de Yucatán

Although public rail as a means of public transportation is currently non-existent, this was not always the case. Up until the end of the 1970s, a service existed between the cities of Campeche and Merida, two of the largest urban centres of the Yucatan Peninsula at the time. Nevertheless, as Mexico sought to emulate the United States’ development model, federal and local authorities invested in highways in a move to transfer the cost of transportation to the individual. The prevalence of this model saw the creation of a vacuum where public mobility stood, a void that was immediately filled by the rise of buses and colectivos,[1] both operated by private providers. The Tren Maya seeks to offer a public sector option to those who cannot afford to buy a car but who are disappointed by the limited and limiting options of the private sector.

Even if it is true that the train service will offer other mobility options to locals, most of its revenue will come from the influx of tourists to the Yucatan Peninsula. As currently planned, it will connect the major tourist cities of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum with the large archaeological sites of Calakmul and Palenque. Cities such as Campeche a Merida stand to benefit from the large influx of people who will no doubt stop to rest and recharge on their hours long journey. As the Train Maya’s income becomes ever more reliant on foreign tourists, the project risks to alienate locals both in terms of destinations and price, making the only public option a luxury that only wealthy locals will be able to afford.

Image: Museo de los Ferrocarriles de Yucatán

Those in charge of the Tren Maya stand to learn a lesson from Mexico’s past. The use of trains to transport commodities alienated people of the late 19th and early 20th century from what was then a revolutionary technology. The reintroduction of the train in the Yucatan Peninsula could either reinforce patterns of neoliberal alienation, favouring the economy that both relies on and is geared towards the foreign market, or it could mean a true shift in the region’s mobility paradigm.

For this purpose, it is imperative that we preserve and highlight the role that spaces like the Railways Museum of Yucatan (Museo de los Ferrocarriles de Yucatán) play in our ability to study the past of said processes. Their collection is a vivid reminder of the evolution of the train as a means of both public and commodity transportation and of the impact of market forces, rather than the needs of locals, on the shifts and balance between one and the other.


[1] Colectivo is a Spanish word that literally translates into English as collective. In the transportation sector, this refers to vans that serve as means of cheap public transportation that offer services to small villages or marginal communities in the Yucatan peninsula, whichare otherwise not serviced by larger bus companies.