A selection of the over 750 illustrations from the Physica Sacra
(1731-1735) by the Swiss scientist Johann Jakob Scheuchzer,
which explores the relationship between the Bible, scientific
knowledge, and history in text and image.

This exhibit displays a selection of the over 750 illustrations from
the Physica Sacra (1731-1735) by the Swiss scientist Johann
Jakob Scheuchzer, which explores the relationship between the
Bible, scientific knowlege, and history in text and image. Natural
science, astronomy, anatomy, ancient history, and mythology, to
name a few, are grist for Scheuchzer’s mill in this encyclopedic
four-volume work that is known not least of all for its amazing
illusionistic illustrations and their fictive frames. Throughout,
selections from the Bible are invoked as organizational points for
the explication of the most cutting-edge state of human
knowledge in Scheuchzer’s day.