1. Frederik Ruysch is known for developing techniques for preserving anatomical specimens, which he used to create dioramas or scenes incorporating human parts.
16 Facts About Frederik Ruysch
1. 2.
Frederik Ruysch was the first to describe the disease that is today known as Hirschsprung's disease, as well as several pathological conditions, including intracranial teratoma, enchondromatosis, and Majewski syndrome.
3.
Frederik Ruysch was born in The Hague as the son of a government functionary and started as the pupil of a druggist.
4.
The dissection of corpses was relatively expensive and cadavers were scarce, which led Frederik Ruysch to find alternative ways to prepare the organs.
5.
Frederik Ruysch graduated in 1664 with a thesis on pleuritis.
6.
Frederik Ruysch became praelector of the Amsterdam surgeon's guild in 1667.
7.
Frederik Ruysch researched many areas of human anatomy, and physiology, using spirits to preserve organs, and assembled one of Europe's most famous anatomical collections.
8.
Frederik Ruysch developed an injection from mercuric sulfide, which originated from cinnabar, a naturally occurring red-colored mineral.
9.
Frederik Ruysch was both the founder and creator of a museum of anatomy, which was located within his own private residence.
10.
Frederik Ruysch purchased the majority of these specimens from midwives that worked under him, after the child died or when a pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage.
11.
In 1697, Peter the Great and Nicolaes Witsen visited Frederik Ruysch who had all the specimens exposed in five rooms, on two days during the week open for the public.
12.
Frederik Ruysch told Peter, who had a keen interest in science, how to catch butterflies and how to preserve them.
13.
In 1717, during his second visit, Frederik Ruysch sold his "repository of curiosities" to Peter the Great for 30,000 guilders, including the secret of the liquor: clotted pig's blood, Berlin blue and mercury oxide.
14.
Frederik Ruysch refused to help when everything had to be packed and labelled.
15.
Frederik Ruysch immediately began anew in his house on Bloemgracht, in the Jordaan.
16.
Frederik Ruysch was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1715.