Anatomical manuscript predicts physiological truth

By Jane Flint Bridgewater

Renaissance man discovered three dimensions,

light and shade turned line to curve and form.

Verrocchio and Maria Nuova

watched in awe a human foetus drawn

from tragic destiny, maternal loss.

Words tumbled down the manuscript like red

black tears streaming from a heart set free

which had no certain bed beyond the organ

until Harvey’s day.  Villous debris

inspired imagined nourishment of life.

Quantum microtubules not yet foreseen,

but function indicated by this strife.

God gave the genius beauteous role,

in light of truth to trace the human soul.

Scientific Statement

An exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings at Queen’s Gallery in 2012 stimulated this sonnet, admiring the accuracy of anatomical detail despite the lack of appreciation of the physiology of circulation, nutrition and neurophysiology at the time. Such perfect documentation inspired broad understanding of the former two, but a recent study has controversially suggested a quantum basis for consciousness based upon micro-tubular function.

Bibliography

Khan, S., Huang, Y., Timuçin, D., Bailey, S., Lee, S., Lopes, J., Gaunce, E., Mosberger, J., Zhan, M., Abdelrahman, B., Zeng, X., & Wiest, M. C. (2024). Microtubule-stabilizer epothilone B delays anesthetic-induced unconsciousness in rats. eNeuro, 11(8), ENEURO.0291-24.2024. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0291-24.2024