The second in a series of posts looking at anatomical models in Scotland's Medical Collections, and taking a deep dive into the materials they're made from. Why Wax? Easily mouldable and able to retain structure and colour, wax has a long history of being used to mimic a human body. Wax effigies in the early modern period and Roman antiquity were used to represent a specific person, often for religious or funerary purposes. Wax models like those found in Madame Tussauds