Anatomy
You will have to learn many tedious things.............. which you will forget the moment you have passed your final examination, but in anatomy it is better to have learned and lost than never to have learned at all.. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
image by: Public Domain
HWN Suggests
The Anatomists
Prior to a papal bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV in 1482, anatomists could not practice on human cadavers. Because of the prohibition, anatomists dissected other mammals, and seeing analogous structures between them, inferred that man possessed similar organs inside the human corpus. Such a belief can be traced to Galen, specifically his theories on physiology which asserted that humans were anatomically identical to other mammals. According to the papal bull, the only suitable cadavers were those of executed criminals whose remains must be given a proper Christian burial. Despite the lifting of the ban, anatomists in England and Germany did not commonly practice on human cadavers until…
Articles of Interest
History of Anatomy
The Greek philosophers, voracious in their curiosity, look with interest at the range of living creatures, from the humblest plant to man himself. A Greek name is coined by a German naturalist in the early 19th century for this study of all physical aspects of natural life - biology, from bios (life) and logos (word or discourse). It is a subject with clear subdivisions, such as botany, zoology or anatomy. But all are concerned with living organisms.
Resources
History of the Body Project
The History of the Body Project combines words and images of the human body that span two thousand years of knowledge. It covers the period when our primary understanding of the body came from external and superficial surgical knowledge, animal dissections, and philosophical discussions of the nature of anatomy and physiology.
Reflections on Anatomy in the Age of Enlightenment
Prior to a papal bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV in 1482, anatomists could not practice on human cadavers.
BODIES...The Exhibition
Since the earliest efforts of ancient Egyptians to distinguish individual organs, humankind has been fascinated with uncovering the secrets of the human body. The study of human anatomy remains a cornerstone of medical education. BODIES...The Exhibition provides millions of visitors around the world with unprecedented access to anatomical detail historically only available to medical professionals.
Body Worlds
Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS: PULSE presents the story of the human body in the 21st century. A scientific marvel and an artistic wonder, the body human is an epic of form and function, power and potential, vulnerability and resilience.
Dream Anatomy
The interior of our bodies is hidden to us. What happens beneath the skin is mysterious, fearful, amazing. In antiquity, the body's internal structure was the subject of speculation, fantasy, and some study, but there were few efforts to represent it in pictures. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century-and the cascade of print technologies that followed-helped to inspire a new spectacular science of anatomy, and new spectacular visions of the body.
