Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: cadavers

  • Anatomica: The exquisite and unsettling art of human anatomy

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom The first known anatomy book was written around 300 BC by Diocles, a Greek philosopher and physician who based his work on animal dissections. Andreas Vesalius’ De Humani corpori Fabrica from 1543 was the first major work based on dissections of human cadavers. It dispelled many myths and challenged the…

  • Dr. Auzoux and his papier-mâché anatomical models

    The teaching of anatomy has often been impeded by legal restrictions on dissection or by a shortage of cadavers. As drawings or paintings are generally inadequate for the purpose of instruction, some anatomists have resorted to using three-dimensional models made of materials such as wax, wood, or rubber.1-4 Thus in the early part of the…

  • An interrupted dissection

    The increasing interest in teaching anatomy by dissecting the human cadaver had a sordid side—the practice of body snatching, the illegal removal of corpses from graves, often by organized gangs of so-called resurrectionists. Body snatching was first recorded in Italy as early as the fourteenth century and as the centuries went on it became widespread…

  • Broken heart

    Judy SchaeferHarrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA You have opened up my heartand now sponge mop the rivets of red blood And count each sponge as testimony to the pain.You had talked of a bypassexits and egress, yieldI imagine a busy expressway whirling around all of St. Louisup to Chicago and down to MemphisI wonder about the space…

  • Cadavers for dissection

    Mary V. SeemanToronto, Ontario, Canada At the beginning of the twentieth century, medical students in Europe found it very difficult to obtain what at the time was considered essential: adequate numbers of cadavers for an anatomy class. Morgues permitted access to unclaimed corpses, but there were never enough. In every medical school in Europe, there…

  • Dissecting cadavers: Learning anatomy or a rite of passage?

    Emmanuelle GodeauToulouse, France In many medical schools, dissection of cadavers remains an essential component of the curriculum, even though surveys from the past 50 years have shown this is not the most efficient way of learning anatomy. Yet the persistence of dissections suggests a different role: a rite of passage and creating an esprit de…