{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T18:09:49Z","timestamp":1774634989689,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"BMJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1774569600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    This paper reinterprets Francis Bacon\u2019s\n                    <jats:italic>Novum Organum<\/jats:italic>\n                    as a framework for understanding the visual epistemology of histology. Histology, founded in the nineteenth century as the microscopic study of tissues, is not merely a classificatory science but a visual discipline\u2014one that trains observers to \u2018see through\u2019 the body\u2019s surfaces to discern hidden organisation, depth and transition. Bacon\u2019s notion of\n                    <jats:italic>prerogative instances<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2014crucial, solitary, processual, comparative and instances of power\u2014maps closely onto the interpretive acts that define microscopic observation: isolating decisive cases, identifying outliers, tracing gradual transformation and extending perception through instruments. Reading histology through this lens highlights how Bacon\u2019s philosophy of seeing and induction anticipates the microscope\u2019s dual role as both an optical and a conceptual device. More importantly, it suggests a pedagogical model in which students learn not simply to recognise tissue types but to cultivate visual discernment\u2014to interrogate boundaries, anomalies and exceptions as sites of knowledge. This perspective positions histology as an epistemic practice that turns observation into explanation\u2014an art of discerning structure through light. Revisiting Bacon\u2019s epistemology thus offers a historically grounded yet forward-looking vision of how medical learners might engage with the aesthetics and ethics of seeing in an era shaped by digital imaging, single-cell mapping and algorithmic vision.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2025-013675","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T17:20:35Z","timestamp":1774632035000},"page":"medhum-2025-013675","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From prerogative instances to histological thinking: a Baconian pedagogy of observation"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7476-7181","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlo","family":"Galli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maria Teresa","family":"Colangelo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stefano","family":"Guizzardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.7243\/2055-091X-1-5","article-title":"Past, present and future: overview on histology and histopathology","volume":"1","author":"Musumeci","year":"2014","journal-title":"J Histol Histopathol"},{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"635","DOI":"10.1002\/ca.22889","article-title":"The attitudes of medical students in Europe toward the clinical importance of histology","volume":"30","author":"Moxham","year":"2017","journal-title":"Clin Anat"},{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/007327537701500201"},{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.4","unstructured":"Bacon F . Novum Organum . Clarendon press, 1878."},{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malherbe M . Bacon\u2019s method of science. 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Microscopy techniques for biomedical education and healthcare practice: Principles in light, fluorescence, super-resolution and digital microscopy, and medical imaging. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2023: 199\u2013228.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-36850-9_10"},{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"308","DOI":"10.1002\/ca.23989","article-title":"The challenges of histology education","volume":"36","author":"Eng-Tat","year":"2023","journal-title":"Clin Anat"},{"key":"2026032710202719000_medhum-2025-013675v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hortsch M , Gir\u00e3o-Carmona VCC , de Melo Leite ACR , et al . Teaching cellular architecture: the global status of histology education. In: Biomedical visualisation: Volume 17\u2012advancements in technologies and methodologies for anatomical and medical education. 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