Dr. Auzoux's Papier-Mâché Models

Medical student Louis Auzoux was frustrated with the shortage of human corpses available for studying anatomy. Using his own secret papier-mâché mixture he developed 'dissectable' models, which could be used again and again. Later, he also created models of animals and plants.

Real corpses or models?

As a medical student in Paris, Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux (1797-1880) noticed that there was often a shortage of human remains available for doing human dissections. Dissections were an essential part of studying medicine. However, even if a body was available, it could only be used once before it began to decompose.

To deal with the shortage of bodies, Auzoux began producing accurate anatomical models that could be taken apart piece by piece.

The models were sturdy and inexpensive, especially when made with the secret papier-mâché mixture that Auzoux had developed. The mixture contained cork and clay as well as paper and glue.

From wax to papier-mâché

Introducing papier-mâché as a modelling material was a radical change from earlier modelling techniques. In previous centuries, anatomists and artists made their anatomical models using wax.

While wax models could reproduce anatomical details very accurately, the material was very expensive and too fragile to be handled frequently because the wax would lose its shape.

Papier-mâché, on the other hand, was sturdy enough to produce detachable models that could be used again and again, at less than a tenth of the price of similar wax models.

Commercial success

With financial support from the French state, Auzoux founded a factory for producing anatomical models in his small hometown of St. Aubin d'Ecrosville in France. After a few years, the models became a commercial success, and were used by schools, universities and hospitals, as well as by private individuals who could rent models at low costs.

Responding to changing trends in scientific research and education, the company branched out into producing models of human embryos, animals and plants.

Read more:

• Dr. Auzoux
• Inside Auzoux's models
• Human models
• Animal models
• Plant models
• Foetus models

Visit the following websites for further information:

• Read more about the Auzoux models on the website "Artificial Anatomy: Papier-mâché Anatomical Models" of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
• Take a look at the Auzoux model of a horse at the Science Museum, London.
• See examples of 18th-century wax models at the Museum "La Specola", Florence.
• Compare historical representations to contemporary images of the body provided by the Visible Human Project of the National Library of Medicine, USA.