8 mystery photographs from 1908/1910. From within some kind of medical institution or sanitorium somewhere in Eastern Europe. There’s one small clue: The Trendelenburg Position. Maybe.

Th one small clue (the only one really) to the nature of these images is that (in the photograph above) the “patient” is lying in the Trendelenburg Position.

“…in which a patient is placed on a bed which is put into incline such that the patient’s head is lower than his feet”.

The position our man (above) in in is named after a German surgeon, Friedrich Trendelenburg. He was son of a philosopher named Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg, father of a pharmacologist named Paul Trendelenburg and grandfather of another pharmacologist named Ullrich Georg Trendelenburg.

So. Our man above is either in a hospital or sanitorium in the Trendelenburg Position or in the Trendelenburg Position as some kind of demonstration.

He is maybe in a hospital or sanitorium somewhere in Eastern Europe because these images are held at the Fortepan archives. The Fortepan archives are based in in Budapest, Hungary. Hence maybe somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Perhaps – since the images are composed so very clearly – these are most likely demonstrations, photographed to be used as medical teaching aids.

See also

Getting arty with the dear departed. The serious business of 19th century mixed media meddling. Anonymous c. 1880 – 1900.

Mystery

Perhaps.

Maybe.

They are wonderful in both their obscurity and oddness.