Medical illustrations from the Peter Parker collection at the Yale University School of Medicine. The entire collection has been digitized and stored online at this link.
Peter Parker was a medical missionary to China in the 1830s, treating ophthalmic diseases and surgically removing tumors. The portraits of the patients were painted by Lam Qua, a Western-trained Chinese artist. The one above depicts a massive chest wall tumor:
"Woo Kinshing, age 49, a fisherman… The weight of it had become extremely burdensome, and several times a day the patient experienced severe paroxysms of pain, causing him to groan aloud, at which time he laid his tumor on the floor and reclined himself on it. In this position he spent the principal part of his time day and night. The dissection was almost as difficult as that of a skin on the bottom of a foot. The tumor was laid on the floor just 16 minutes from the commencement of the operation, and not a ligature was required. It weighed about 15 pounds avoirdupois. June 18, the old gentlemen was discharged in perfect health."Found at Metafilter, where the primary link was labeled "NSFW," but that's only if you work at a place that's so benighted that they would consider illustrations of breast tumors etc to be inappropriate for viewing.
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