Xylotheks

According to Atlas Obscura:

A xylothek (from the Greek for tree, xylon, and storing place, theke) is an object where the container is a fundamental component of the contents. The term usually refers to books that are both made of wood and filled with wood specimens…. Xylotheks were particularly popular in late 18th century and early 19th century Germany. In these constructions, each book in the xylothek was made out of a particular type of wood, the spine covered with the corresponding bark and decorated with associated moss and lichens. Once opened, the book would reveal samples of dried leaves, flowers, seedlings, roots, and branches, with a special compartment in the spine holding a written description of the species' biology and use.

A very cool image

... of a man taking clothes pins off of his skin. It's apparently part of a local chess tradition:

From The Guardian

Art of Nunzio Paci

From This is Colossal

The Frau Welt, Ugliness, and Art

At kbvollmarblog via Morbid Anatomy

A taste here:

Very Personal Coffins

Of any and every kind, hand-made by this man in Ghana

Seeing Medical Data in New Ways

A blood sugar chart spanning a year by Doug Kantner

From First Aid for Drawing Injuries

Dissecting Family Members

"Seventeenth-century English anatomist William Harvey, best known for discovering the circulation of the blood, dissected the bodies of his father, his sister, and his cousin's husband. Although these anatomical dissections were conducted privately, Harvey mentioned them in his lectures to students, noting the huge size of the colon he removed from his father's abdomen and the heavy weight of his sister's spleen."

-Christine Quigley, Dissection on Display, p. 1

17th-century satirical erotica

First is the Dildoides of 1672. It was written after a plethora of sexual aids were found in luggage coming into England from France. He treats them as martyrs. Full text HERE.

He apparently also wrote poems on masturbation and condoms.

Here's an overview: http://planetpeschel.com/2012/04/samuel_butler_rises_to_the_occasion_1672/

And another poem on Signior Dildo by another poet, John Wilmot, in 1673.

I first learned about these sources from a very cool academic.

Ivory Anatomical Manikin in Art

By Dino Valls

In the bottom, you see a little female manikin with removable parts, similar to the one below in Philadelphia:

And another artist from a prior post:

And a sketched image from before as well:

From Juxtapoz

From Medieval Reactions

Halloween Recipes, early

Chocolate Cherry Stout Skull Cake

Anatomical Heart Cupcakes

This inspired me to share my own recipes so everyone can look forward to the fall:

SNACKS

1. Morbiere

It’s just cheese. But it’s badass cheese. It’s named after a town, but it sounds all deathly, right? It is a smooth, whitish cheese with a layer of ash in the middle. Also badass. Pair with other badass things. Like badass crackers (preferably black).

2. Devil’s Eye Eggs

Hard boil eggs, let sit. Take off shell. Halve eggs and put whites aside. Mix yolks with wasabi, mayonnaise, and salt. Use a spoon to put mix into halved egg whites. Garnish with Sriracha, paprika, and place sliced black or green olives in the middle of the “eye.”

3. Spaghetti Squash Zombie Bits

Roast spaghetti squash whole after stabbing it multiple times. Like a cereal killer. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Let cool.

Drizzle olive oil on a baking pan. Add scoops of roasted squash mixed with capers, shredded cheese, and shredded jicama or kohlrabi. Broil until cheese melts. Let cool and serve. It looks all apocalyptic and shit.

4. Graveyard dip

Put a layer of salsa verde in a baking pan and add strips or cubes of chicken breast. Roast at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Add cheese on top and bake for another 15 minutes. Place blue corn chips vertically on top to appear as gravestones.

SAVORY

1. Polenta Brain with Tomato Basil Blood

Place one cup corn meal into a life-sized brain mold covered in oil. Add 2 cups boiling water or vegetable stock. Let thicken. When ready in a few hours,  put a plate on top of the mold and turn over onto serving plate.

For tomato basil soup, sauté diced onion and garlic. Add fresh diced tomato and basil along with salt and white pepper, in addition to any other spices you require. When finished, hack into the brain once with a butcher knife or cleaver. Remove and pour soup over brain so that there is plenty in the serving dish. Replace knife as garnish and, you know, functional instrument to cut polenta. Add a  spoon to serve extra blood, er, soup.

2. Pumpkin Ginger Witches’ Brew

Decimate carrots in a blender. Like, for real. In an oil-drizzled pot, add finely chopped onion and garlic and sauté. Then add finely shredded ginger root and carrots—at least one pound. Simmer for at least one hour. In the meantime, add shit like salt, because you’ll want that. And, you know, whatever else you like. Serve in badass cauldron-type thing. Or a pumpkin. Whatever strikes your fancy.

3. Meatloaf Torso

Form ground beef in the shape of a torso. Add sausage on top to look like intestines and various types of squash, halved, as other organs, and spring onions and condiments (ketchup, relish, pickles, olives, etc.) to bring the piece together. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Feel free to add pulled pork, slaw, or anything you like to take it above and beyond.

4. Fresh Meat and Greet

(No actual meat)

Make risotto like you always do—or if you don’t, do it how other people do. Get a pan nice and hot, medium temperature, heat up some oil, sauté the risotto itself, and slowly add water while stirring for a long ass time. The water should be cut with beet juice to create a pinking hue. Parmesan can also be added for a creamier texture. You’re welcome. It looks creepy as shit but tastes awesome.

5. Zombie Brain

http://www.purewow.com/entry_detail/recipe/8821/Forget-florets--roast-the-whole-damn-cauliflower.htm?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Recipes

DESSERTS

1. Witches’ Fingers

Long cookies with almonds for fingernails. Easy enough.

2. It turns out people make too many desserts. Just buy some shit.

DRINKS

1. Cold Cauldron

Ginger Ale and Green Monster. If you like, put water in a plastic glove, freeze, and put into the mixture. Because why not.

2. Hot Cauldron

Put red wine in a cauldron or other awesome giant pot that can take heat. Keep on low. Fill with red wine that tastes like autumn. Make it taste more like autumn by adding a teabag or diffuser filled with cinnamon and clove. It’s pretty much medicinal at this point. Just drink it.

3. Green Grog

Frozen limeade, sprite, lime sherbert. Put in a large punch bowl. Or bucket. I don’t really care. There is literally no way that this could go badly. Just don’t add any household chemicals you wouldn’t put in your breakfast cereal.

3. The Red

Rhubarb juice, pomegranate juice, and semi-sweet red wine. You’ll feel like Persephone escaped to Pennsylvania.

Beach Bods

Looking for a new swimsuit? You have to be willing to bear it all:

Danke, MF

Songs about Hearts

from Radiolab, along with a story about one woman's troubles with her new heart.

Inside Classical Sculpture

The art of Cao Hui

via Juxtapoz

Recycled Barbie Jewelry

MORE

HERE

Norwegian Sex Ed Video

Hilarious and informative. Video HERE

Tooth Worm

This image has been floating around for a while:

I love it, but I wish I knew more about it. I believe it's at the National Museum of Dentistry.

And what about this depiction?:

BTW, tooth art is really disturbing

Baby born with amniotic sac

Reported by Medical Daily

http://www.graphicmedicine.org/

Now has a MANIFESTO:

The Colors of Blood

Many of us know that horseshoe crabs have creepily periwinkle blue blood, but other animals can range from green to clear.

See the full story HERE from National Geographic

And here's a handy chart from Compound Interest

Wishlist addition

Stacking brain coasters

The Man Who Operated On Himself

Read on at the BBC