Flights

DRY SPECIMENS

Each of my pilgrimages aims at some other pilgrim. This time in the details draped over oak shelves crowned with a beautifully calligraphed inscription:

Here the so-called dry specimens of internal organs are collected. They are done in such a way that a given body part or organ is cleansed and then stuffed with cotton wool and dried. After drying, the surface of the specimen is coated in a varnish, the same kind used to conserve the surfaces of paintings. Several layers are applied. After the cotton wool is removed, the inside of the specimen is also coated in the varnish.

Unfortunately the varnish is unable to keep the tissues from ageing, so that with time all dry specimens acquire a similar brownish shade.

Here, for example, we have a splendidly preserved human stomach, enlarged, balloon-like, the lining thin as though made of parchment; meanwhile the intestines, thick and thin – I wonder what goods of the world were consumed by this digestive system, how many animals passed through it, how many seeds slipped through, how many fruits rolled through.

Next to it, as a bonus, there’s also a turtle penis and the kidney of a dolphin.