Aramco Handbook (20th C) Saudi Geological Maps

This geographical map of Saudi Arabia, from the surprisingly informative Aramco Handbook, could only have been done in the 1960s. The map colors owe more to the Sgt. Peppers cover or Glaser’s Dylan poster than to the efforts of National Geographic or the ETH. And the Handbook’s geological maps are even better, see below :)

The Arabian peninsula consists of two distinctly different geological regions. The western half of the peninsula (and extending into eastern Africa) is an ancient land mass or shield consisting of mostly igneous and metamorphic Precambrian rock. The eastern half of the peninsula is made up of mostly sedimentary limestone rock deposited in layers by expanding and receding ancient seas. These sedimentary layers were then gently folded by tectonic pressure from the east that resulted in the formation of the Zagros Mountains in Iran and Iraq.

The point of Saudi geology is, of course, oil. It is in these sedimentary folds (known by geologists as anticlines) that virtually all Saudi oil reserves are located. Ghawar field for example, rests on an anticline above a basement rock fault with an oil producing layer of late Jurassic Arab-D limestone about 280 feet thick and ~ 6,500 feet beneath the surface.

The Ghawar complex, at 174 × 16 miles (1.3 million acres) in size, is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world. Since its discovery in 1948 it has yielded more than 60 billion bbls. Currently it is estimated to produce 5 million bbl/day, which accounts for around 60% of the total Saudi output or more than 6% of the worlds output.

Sources for this post::

1. Aramco Handbook: Oil and the Middle East. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Arabian American Oil Company. 1968.

2. Petroleum Navigator at the DOE Energy Information Administration site.

Notes of interest, 

The actual output and reserves are unknown because Saudi Aramco, the nationalized oil company, does not release production data. It has, however, been suggested by outside sources that production at Ghawar peaked in 2005. 

The five largest sources of oil for the US are: the US itself (5.1 million bbl/day, 34%), Canada (2.4 mbbl), Mexico (1.5 mbbl), Saudi Arabia (1.4 mbbl), Venezuela (1.3 mbbl), and Nigeria (1.1 mbbl). So the Ghawar field alone accounts for around 4.6% of US oil requirements. 

For a complete list of US oil imports see the Petroleum Navigator at the DOE Energy Information Administration site.

Le costume historique, 19th C

Auguste Racinet, from Le costume historique (The costume history) vol. 6, Paris, 1888.

Female costume of Normandy.
Auguste Racinet, from Le costume historique (The costume history) vol. 6, Paris, 1888.

France, 19th century — traditional costumes from Nivernais, Dauphiné, former county of Nice, Mâconnais, Bresse and Bourbonnais.

France, 18th-19th century — shawls.

France, 18th century — Headdress and bodice.

Originally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Racinet's Le Costume Historique was the most wide-ranging and intelligent study of clothing ever published. Covering the world history of costume, dress, and style from antiquity through the end of the 19th century, the great work -- ""consolidated"" in 1888 into 6 volumes containing nearly 500 plates -- remains, to this day, completely unique in its scope and detail. 

Racinet's organization by culture and subject has been preserved in TASCHEN's magnificent and complete reprint, as have excerpts from his delightful descriptions and often witty comments. Perusing these beautifully detailed and exquisitely colored illustrations, you'll discover everything from the garb of ancient Etruscans to traditional Eskimo attire to 19th century French women's couture. Though Racinet's study spans the globe from ancient times through his own,

Tabulae Anatomicae, Casserius 16th C.

Here is a copperplate engraving from De formato foetu liber singularis, commissioned by the Paduan anatomist Casserius. It shows a classic renaissance Venus filleted lotus-like to reveal her child. The plate, as well as some 95 others, represent the high point of Paudan/Venetian anatomical illustration and were published in three separate titles after Casserius’ untimely death. 

Julius Casserius (AKA Giulio Caeesrio, Giulius Casseri, or Casserii Placentini) was born ca.1556 or ca.1561 in Piancenza, Italy. Casserius’ father died when he was young and, being nearly destitute, he entered the houshold of the noted Paduan Anatomist, Girolamo Fabrizi d’Acquapendente (AKA Fabricus). After showing extraordinary initiative, the master took it on himself to teach Casserius anatomy. Casserius went from family servant to auditor to surgical disciple.

Casserius enrolled in the Università Artista and studied under both Fabricus and Gerolamo Mercuriale (Mercurialis). After his graduation, ca.1580, he acted as Fabricus’ preprator, university surgical examiner, as well as a physician and surgeon.

But there would soon be trouble in Padua. In 1595 Casserius became a substitute for Fabricus and his lectures were a bit too enthusiastically received for Fabricus’ taste. The old master, enraged with jealousy, banned Casserius from giving private lectures through an old statutory rule. According to the records it would be nearly eight years until Casserius lectured again.

During this time Casserius began to publish his first works on anatomy: De vocis auditusque organis Historia anatomica was published in 1601 and Pentaestheion in 1609. After these books he began writing the text and compiling the drawings for a comprehensive atlas of anatomy.

Back to the rivalry: In 1613, after 50 years of public lectureship, Fabricus was permitted to scale back his teaching, and his replacement, against his wishes was, of course, Casserius. In 1616 Casserius began his first and only public anatomy lecture. Shortly after the three week course he caught a fever and died on 8 Mar 1613. His master and nemesis, Fabricus, would survive him by three years.

After Casserius’ death his commissioned plates, via his heirs, ended up with Adriaan van der Spieghel (Spigelius), who had succeeded both Casserius and Fabricus as professor of Anatomy and Surgery. Spigelius intended to use the plates in his own anatomy atlas, but died an untimely death in 1625.

Here is where all the bibliographic fun begins. After Spigelius’ death, his son in law, Liberale Crema, edited one of his manuscripts and illustrated it with nine of Casserius’ plates. The book, De formato foetu liber singularis, published in 1626, was perhaps the first OB-Gyn classic. A year later, Jan Rindfleisch (AKA Bucretius) edited Spigelus’ unfinished altas and illustrated it with Casserius’ plates. In 1627 he also published 95 of the plates with his own annotations, as Tabulae Anatomicae. Some time later the Tabulae and De formato foetu were published as a single volume.

Here are some plates that appeared in both Spigelius’ Fabrica and Casserius’Tabulae:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since Vesalius’ de Fabrica, the Paduan anatomists relied on the artists of Venice and Casserius was no exception. His plates were drawn by the Venetian painter and print-maker Odoardo Fialetti (AKA Edoardus Fialettus), who studied under Tintoretto, and the engravings were prepared by Francesco Valesio (Franciscus Vallesius).

If Vesalius’ illustrations were the model for the woodblock then Casserius’ illustrations were the model for copperplate. It would be nearly 80 years before better anatomical illustrations were published and Casserius’ work would be plagiarized well into the 18th century.

Here are few more plates from De formato foetu: