- Fig. 1.3. Pages from a medical text. Left: A view of one dissected eye (according to the interpretations of Dutch-method medicine). Right: Views of eyelids and tear ducts. Compared with traditional Japanese renditions of the “five spheres” and “eight boundaries,” the eye depicted here has a well-defined spherical shape and a solid form. For this reason, the eye is called an “eyeball.” It is drawn with details organized around the emergent truths of dissection discussed in European texts (and oriented around the pivot of anatomical science), emphasizing a new materiality. The image shows six major tendons connecting the eye to the orbit. The seventh extension is described as a nerve conduit. The bluish matter of the eye is labeled as the “white membrane” (which appears to be the sclera). From Sugita Ryūkei, A New Treatise on Ophthalmology (Japanese title: Ganka shinsho), 1815. Main Library, Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive.
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