Reading the 'natural book': notes towards a history of anatomical and surgical studies in Buenos Aires (1870-1895)

The article explores transformations in anatomical and surgical studies within the school of medical thought in Buenos Aires in the latter half of the nineteenth century, focusing on the tension between how this knowledge should be conveyed and the changing surgical worldviews of the most visible medical groups of the 1870s. The influence of European surgical traditions is analyzed within this context, particularly the influence of the Paris tradition, which can be linked to study abroad by young Ignacio Pirovano, who would later become professor of anatomy and major surgery in Buenos Aires. The article pays special attention to changes in forms of experiments and in the new material conditions afforded through the introduction of antiseptic surgery, some types of anesthesia, and bone resection.