(129 – c. 200 AD),
Opera omnia, dissection of a pig. Engraving made in Venice, 1565
Classical antiquity Human dissections were carried out by the
Greek physicians Herophilus of Chalcedon and
Erasistratus of Chios in the early part of the third century BC. Before then, animal dissection had been carried out systematically starting from the fifth century BC. During this period, the first exploration into full human anatomy was performed rather than a base knowledge gained from 'problem-solution' delving. While there was a deep taboo in Greek culture concerning human dissection, there was at the time a strong push by the
Ptolemaic government to build
Alexandria into a hub of scientific study. so anatomists relied on the cadavers of animals or made observations of human anatomy from injuries of the living.
Galen, for example, dissected the
Barbary macaque and other primates, assuming their anatomy was basically the same as that of humans, and supplemented these observations with knowledge of human anatomy which he acquired while tending to wounded gladiators.
Celsus wrote in
On Medicine I Proem 23, "Herophilus and Erasistratus proceeded in by far the best way: they cut open living men - criminals they obtained out of prison from the kings and they observed, while their subjects still breathed, parts that nature had previously hidden, their position, color, shape, size, arrangement, hardness, softness, smoothness, points of contact, and finally the processes and recesses of each and whether any part is inserted into another or receives the part of another into itself."
Galen was another such writer who was familiar with the studies of Herophilus and Erasistratus.
India The ancient societies that were rooted in India left behind artwork on how to kill animals during a hunt. The images showing how to kill most effectively depending on the game being hunted relay an intimate knowledge of both external and internal anatomy as well as the relative importance of organs. According to that source, an autopsy should be performed in any case of untimely demise.
Shari'ah law has applied to a greater or lesser extent within Muslim countries, Islamic physicians such as
Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) (1091–1161) in
Al-Andalus,
Saladin's physician
Ibn Jumay during the 12th century,
Abd el-Latif in Egypt , and
Ibn al-Nafis in Syria and Egypt in the 13th century may have practiced dissection, but it remains ambiguous whether or not human dissection was practiced. Ibn al-Nafis, a physician and Muslim jurist, suggested that the "precepts of Islamic law have discouraged us from the practice of dissection, along with whatever compassion is in our temperament", The book was an educational text of medicine and surgery which included detailed illustrations. and to a lesser extent into
Chinese medicine.
Christian Europe 's
De Re Anatomica, 1559 Throughout the history of Christian Europe, the dissection of human cadavers for medical education has experienced various cycles of legalization and proscription in different countries. Dissection was rare during the Middle Ages, but it was practised, with evidence from at least as early as the 13th century. The practice of autopsy in Medieval Western Europe is "very poorly known" as few surgical texts or conserved human dissections have survived. A modern Jesuit scholar has claimed that the Christian theology contributed significantly to the revival of human dissection and autopsy by providing a new socio-religious and cultural context in which the human
cadaver was no longer seen as sacrosanct. A non-existent edict of the
1163 Council of Tours and an early 14th-century decree of
Pope Boniface VIII have mistakenly been identified as prohibiting dissection and autopsy; misunderstanding or extrapolation from these edicts may have contributed to reluctance to perform such procedures. The Middle Ages witnessed the revival of an interest in medical studies, including human dissection and autopsy. 's
Anathomia, 1541
Frederick II (1194–1250), the Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that any that were studying to be a physician or a surgeon must attend a
human dissection, which would be held no less than every five years. with a dissected
cadaver in his , 1543
Vesalius in the 16th century carried out numerous dissections in his extensive anatomical investigations. He was attacked frequently for his disagreement with
Galen's opinions on human anatomy. Vesalius was the first to lecture and dissect the cadaver simultaneously. The Catholic Church is known to have ordered an autopsy on
conjoined twins Joana and Melchiora Ballestero in
Hispaniola in 1533 to determine whether they shared a soul. They found that there were two distinct hearts, and hence two souls, based on the ancient Greek philosopher
Empedocles, who believed the soul resided in the heart. ists such as
Antonio del Pollaiuolo studied anatomy to improve their artwork, as seen in this figurine of
Hercules, 1470. Human dissection was also practised by
Renaissance artists. Though most chose to focus on the external surfaces of the body, some like
Michelangelo Buonarotti,
Antonio del Pollaiuolo,
Baccio Bandinelli, and
Leonardo da Vinci sought a deeper understanding. However, there were no provisions for artists to obtain cadavers, so they had to resort to unauthorised means, as indeed anatomists sometimes did, such as
grave robbing,
body snatching, and
murder. In modern Europe, dissection is routinely practised in biological research and education, in medical schools, and to determine the cause of death in autopsy. It is generally considered a necessary part of learning and is thus accepted culturally. It sometimes attracts controversy, as when
Odense Zoo decided to dissect lion cadavers in public before a "self-selected audience".
Britain headstone of an 1823 grave in
Stirling In Britain, dissection remained entirely prohibited from the end of the Roman conquest and through the Middle Ages to the 16th century, when a series of royal edicts gave specific groups of physicians and surgeons some limited rights to dissect cadavers. The permission was quite limited: by the mid-18th century, the
Royal College of Physicians and
Company of Barber-Surgeons were the only two groups permitted to carry out dissections, and had an annual quota of ten cadavers between them. As a result of pressure from anatomists, especially in the rapidly growing medical schools, the
Murder Act 1752 allowed the bodies of executed murderers to be dissected for anatomical research and education.
By the 19th century this supply of cadavers proved insufficient, as the public medical schools were growing, and the private medical schools lacked legal access to cadavers. A thriving black market arose in cadavers and body parts, leading to the creation of the profession of
body snatching, and the infamous
Burke and Hare murders in 1828, when 16 people were murdered for their cadavers, to be sold to anatomists. The resulting public outcry led to the passage of the
Anatomy Act 1832, which increased the legal supply of cadavers for dissection. By the 21st century, the availability of interactive computer programs and changing public sentiment led to renewed debate on the use of cadavers in medical education. The
Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in the UK, founded in 2000, became the first modern medical school to carry out its anatomy education without dissection.
United States In the United States, dissection of frogs became common in college biology classes from the 1920s, and were gradually introduced at earlier stages of education. By 1988, some 75 to 80 percent of American high school biology students were participating in a
frog dissection, with a trend towards introduction in elementary schools. The frogs are most commonly from the genus
Rana. Other popular animals for high-school dissection at the time of that survey were, among vertebrates,
fetal pigs,
perch, and cats; and among invertebrates,
earthworms,
grasshoppers,
crayfish, and
starfish. About six million animals are dissected each year in United States high schools (2016), not counting medical training and research. Most of these are purchased already dead from slaughterhouses and farms. Dissection in U.S. high schools became prominent in 1987, when a California student, Jenifer Graham, sued to require her school to let her complete an alternative project. The court ruled that mandatory dissections were permissible, but that Graham could ask to dissect a frog that had died of natural causes rather than one that was killed for the purposes of dissection; the practical impossibility of procuring a frog that had died of natural causes in effect let Graham opt out of the required dissection. The suit gave publicity to anti-dissection advocates. Graham appeared in a 1987
Apple Computer commercial for the virtual-dissection software Operation Frog. The state of California passed a Student's Rights Bill in 1988 requiring that objecting students be allowed to complete alternative projects. Opting out of dissection increased through the 1990s. In the United States, 17 states along with Washington, D.C. have enacted dissection-choice laws or policies that allow students
in primary and secondary education to opt out of dissection. Other states including Arizona, Hawaii, Minnesota, Texas, and Utah have more general policies on opting out on moral, religious, or ethical grounds. To overcome these concerns,
J. W. Mitchell High School in
New Port Richey, Florida, in 2019 became the first US high school to use synthetic frogs for dissection in its science classes, instead of preserved real frogs. As for the dissection of cadavers in undergraduate and medical school, traditional dissection is supported by professors and students, with some opposition, limiting the availability of dissection. Upper-level students who have experienced this method along with their professors agree that "Studying human anatomy with colorful charts is one thing. Using a scalpel and an actual, recently-living person is an entirely different matter." ==Acquisition of cadavers==