Anatomical machines Giuseppe Salerno, an anatomist from Palermo, around 1763. Some legends, disproved by modern studies, account for the direct involvement of the prince in the building process, while in fact he only bought them. A contract, found in the notary archive of Naples, states that di Sangro provided to Salerno metal wire and wax for the work. They were described in detail for the first time in the "Breve Nota" (short note), an 18th-century guide to Palazzo di Sangro and its neigh chapel. It also accounts the existence of a third machine, a fetus complete with placenta: it was exposed together
18th century 18th century The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800 in the Gregorian calendar. During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian revolutions. This was an age of violent slave trading, and global human trafficking. The reactions against monarchical and aristocratic power helped fuel the revolutionary responses against it throughout the century. In continental Europe, philosophers dreamed of a brighter age. For some, this dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution of 1789, though later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror (1793–1794) under Maximilien