The misrepresentation of the human pelvis

A representative series of illustrations of the human bony pelvis dating from the sixteenth century to the present is used to demonstrate the persistent misrepresentation in the orientation of the pelvis and in the nomenclature. Early erroneous concepts were probably strongly reinforced by publications of the Belgian anatomist Vesalius in the sixteenth century. In mounting the vertebrae on a vertical iron rod, he erased much of the sacral curvature and, as a consequence, the orientation of the rest of the pelvis was distorted. True versions of the pelvis were executed by Leonardo da Vinci before the time of Vesalius but these drawings were apparently among those that were lost for many years. A relatively small number of similarly accurate depictions of the bony pelvis have appeared down through the centuries and some of these are also included. A persistent error in many anatomical textbooks used today presents a modified inferior view of the pelvis as the "front view" and a nearly accurate front view as a "view from above." No definitive conclusion can be reached concerning the reason(s) for the remarkably long persistence of this error. The figures referenced are presented in the Gallery immediately following this article.