From dolls to anatomical models.

This memorial to Dr Louis Auzoux stands in the village of Saint-Aubin-D'Ecrosville in Normandy, a few miles from Le Neubourg. Auzoux (1797-1880) was a French medical school graduate and was one of the pre-eminent makers of models of humans and other animals during the 19th century.

As a young medical student, Auzoux had great difficulty in studying human anatomy since cadavers were difficult to come by and decayed rapidly. Auzoux devised an elegant solution; inspired by the toy puppets sold on the streets of Paris, he started to make papier-mâché models of human dissections, and later of other animals and plants. These models, which were sold to museums and medical schools in Europe and further afield, brought both wealth and fame to Dr Auzoux.

The genius of Auzoux's models lay in the fact that, not only were they realistic and anatomically accurate, but also they could be taken apart and reassembled by the student. This was the reason that Auzoux called his paper mâché models anatomy clastique, from the Greek word klastos, which means broken in pieces.

The models were made in Dr Auzoux's factory in his home village of Saint-Aubin-D'Ecrosville, providing much needed employment and prosperity for many families. The memorial stands in the road outside the, now deserted, factory.