VIRUS Band 23, pp. 89-108, 2025/04/24
Schwerpunkt: Mensch - Tier - Gesundheit
Recently, anatomical specimens of various mammal heads were discovered at the Department of Anatomy of the Medical University of Vienna. They were used by anatomist Ferdinand Hochstetter (1861–1954) in his research for one specific publication published in 1941. This article examines the scientific practices surrounding Hochstetter’s work, the importance of longterm efforts of Viennese anatomists and others to establish scientifically curated collections of animals and other specimens in Vienna, the professional and personal networks he relied upon in order to gain access to animals and other required materials, and the process of artificially creating these specimens from the original animals in order to create a basis usable for scientific examination. In doing so, this article also aims to re-establish the specimens (original) context in order to pull them out of their state as “modern ruins”, i. e. as objects which have lost their context and thus, their meaning and use
Keywords: Vienna, 19th and 20th century, history of anatomy, comparative anatomy, scientific practices, Ferdinand Hochstetter
