Introduction

Introduction and
and Brief
Brief
History
History ofof Anatomy
Anatomy

Definitions
Definitions

Anatomy- From Greek to cut open

Study of the structure of the body, either

regionally or systematically

Physiology branch of biological science

dealing with the function of organs and
organ systems

History
History ofof Anatomy
Anatomy

Probably began with

early examinations
of sacrifice victims.
First documented by
Egyptians ~1600 BC
Egyptian anatomical
papyrus showed
organs (including
blood vessels)

Early Greeks
Greeks explained illness in terms of the 4
body humors (fluids).

Thought the humors were governed by air,

water, fire, and earth
Healthy person had all four humors in
balance.

More like witch doctors

Physicians had to know the proper prayers
and charms wherewith to approach "Apollo
the Healer," who would tell them what kind of
herb poultice to put on a wound.

Experiments could kill you . . .

Many doctors practiced by trial and error.
If they made a lot of errors, people quit going
to them.
Socles, a physician, treated a hunchback by
piling three solid stones, each four feet
square, on his spine. He was crushed and
died, but he became straighter.

Role of Religion

Many religions influenced the study of the

body.
Against doctrine to dissect a human.

Hippocrates
Hippocrates (460
(460 toto 379
379 BC)
BC)

Greek physician who

studied anatomy, and
speculated physiology
Father of Anatomy
Much of his work
remains today
Medicine should be
ethical (Hippocratic
oath)
Patient confidentiality

Hippocrates

Believed that illness

had a physical
cause

was not a divine

punishment

Rejected
superstitions
Based medical
treatments on
observations

Claudius
Claudius Galen
Galen (120
(120 toto 200)
200)

2nd Century AD
Compiled
anatomical studies
of earlier writers
Also performed
vivisection on
animals

Galen

Roman physician,
team doctor for
the gladiators.
Kept them alive so
they could fight
again.

Galen

Did not dissect humans, but did extensive work

on pigs and monkeys.
His mistake was to assume that humans and
animals were identical internally.
His writings were taken as law for hundred of
years.

Medicine
Medicine during
during Medieval
Medieval Times
Times

When Rome fell,

little was done to
advance the
studies.
Desecration of the
body was taboo
Cadavers were no
longer used

Early anatomical drawing based

on misinformation.

But not all was lost . . .

1242 the Arabian scholar, Ibn an-Nafis, wrote a

book in which he described the heart as two
separate ventricles and the lesser circulation
through the lungs.
This book was not discovered by Europeans
until 1924, so it had no effect on subsequent
knowledge of physiology.
1316, the Italian anatomist, Mondino de Luzzi,
published the first book on anatomy, which was
the definitive work on the subject for two
centuries.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 to 1519)

Artists in Renaissance period interested in

human form, so studied anatomy.
Da Vinci made hundreds of anatomically
correct drawings.
He dissected bodies in secret.

1616thth Century
Century Contributions
Contributions

Began to compile
extensive drawings
of dissections of
executed cadavers
Discovered the
physiology of
circulatory system

Andreas Vesalius (1514 to 1564)

Barber surgeon (combination barber,

dentist, doctor).
Got special permission from the Pope to
dissect criminals.
First scientist to understand human
anatomy.
Wrote the first accurate book on human
anatomy.

Some Highlights

1552 The eustachian tube was first described by

the Italian anatomist, Bartolommeo Eustachio.
1553 a Spanish physician, Miguel Serveto,
published a book in which he described the
lesser circulation, but the book and author were
mostly destroyed by the ruling Calvinists.
1559, Realdo Colombo, an Italian physician, was
the third person to describe the lesser
circulation, and his book became well known.

William Harvey (English) Circa 1590

Father of
Anatomy; studied
circulatory system
Harvey dissected
his own freshly
dead family
members (his
father and sister)
before burial.

th
th centuries
1717thth and
18
and 18 centuries

Few dissections were

allowed

Only certain scientists

were allowed to perform
them
Tickets were sold to
others wishing to see and
draw the dissected
bodies.
Doctors literally traveled
from dissection to
dissection

Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.

Nicolaes Tulp painted in 1632

Shortage of cadavers

In England and Scotland,

medical schools began
to open.
No one donated bodies
to science churchgoers
believed in literal rising
from grave, so
dissection spoiled
chances of resurrection.
Became a tradition to
rely on executed
prisoners, even up to
18th and 19th centuries.

Serious Crimes

The added punishment of being dissected

after death was considered another
deterrent from crime.
Ex.

Steal a pig: you were hung

Kill a person: you were hung and dissected

Anatomists were often associated with

executioners.

Grisly Goings-On

Because they
needed body parts,
anatomists at
medical school
bought odd things.
A man could sell
the leg of his son if
it had to be
amputated

Grave Robbing

Some medical
students raided
grave yards; some
professors did also.
In certain Scottish
schools in 1700s,
you could trade a
corpse for your
tuition.

Men robbing a grave to sell the

corpse to medical students . . .

Highlights

1603 Vein valves were discovered by the Italian

physician, Girolamo Fabrici.
1623 English physician, William Harvey, published
a book in which he described blood circulation
throughout the entire body. Modern physiology is
said to have begun at this point in time.
1653 Lymphatics were discovered by the Swedish
naturalist, Olof Rudbeck.

1660 Capillaries were discovered by the Italian

physician, Marcello Malpighi, using the newly
invented microscope.
1664 Using the microscope, Robert Hooke, an
English physicist, discovered cells in cork
1676 Using the microsope, the Dutch microscopist,
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, discovered
microorganisms
1683 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek discovered what we now
know to be bacteria.

1919thth Century
Century

Began studying
developmental
anatomy
England became the
center of anatomical
research
Anatomy Act of 1832
provided adequate
supply of corpses
Grays Anatomy first
published 1858 (for
traveling doctors)

1831 Robert Brown discovers in plants the nucleus

at the centre of every cell.
1835 Flix Dujardin identifies a viscous translucent
substance as being common to all forms of life; it is
later given the name protoplasm. Meanwhile
others observe that living material is organized in a
repeated structural form.

1839 Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Swann give

the first coherent account of cell formation as the
building process of all life (a theme long guessed at
by others, but not resolved or demonstrated).

1953 The discovery of the structure of DNA.

Modern
Modern Anatomy
Anatomy

Use of new
technology provided
further
understanding of
both structure and
function of organs
and organ systems
CAT scans, X-rays,
Genetic tests, MRI

Future
Future ofof Anatomy
Anatomy

Health related
studies are now
centered around
molecular biology
Looking for genetic
and molecular
indicators of disease
New assays
conducted more in
vitro vs. in vivo

The End