File:Skaggs Nervous system Descartes-reflex.JPG

Summary

This image is copied from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Descartes-reflex.JPG on Wikimedia Commons. The description is: "Illustration of the pain pathway in René Descartes' Traite de l'homme (Treatise of Man) 1664. The long fiber running from the foot to the cavity in the head is pulled by the heat and releases a fluid that makes the muscles contract." As an unmodified copy made from a 345 year old book, the image is in the public domain.

Licensing

This image is in the public domain because under United States copyright law, originality of expression is necessary for copyright protection, and a mere photograph of an out-of-copyright two-dimensional work may not be protected under American copyright law. The official position of the Wikimedia Foundation is that all reproductions of public domain works should be considered to be in the public domain regardless of their country of origin (even in countries where mere labor is enough to make a reproduction eligible for protection).

This image is in the public domain in the United States. In most cases, this means that it was first published prior to January 1, 1923. Other jurisdictions may have other rules, and this image might not be in the public domain outside the United States.