Vittoria Feola SCJ Review of The Anatomist Anatomis'd: An Experimental Discipline in Enlightenment Europe by Andrew Cunningham, Farnham: Ashgate 2010 (original) (raw)
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2012
The journey of a corpse from a deathbed or gallows, sold to a body dealer or dug up by a resurrectionist, sold again to an anatomist, dissected and either reburied or preserved for centuries in a jar of fluid on a shelf is a fascinating one. The Enlightenment was a time when classical and medieval ideas based on theory and philosophical argument were being re-evaluated in the light of tangible evidence that could be observed with the senses. Anatomisation provided some of this direct evidence that helped change the way people of the 1700s viewed their place in the world. Comparative anatomy of humans and animals showed mankind how we were different to other warm-blooded animals. Museums were established to show the wonders of our design, and to compare normal anatomy with pathology that occurred with the design became corrupt. The purpose of these museums was to teach and educate, and also to display to the public the wonders of science and the expertise of that institution. Anatomy, pathology and display were interwoven during the Enlightenment in a manner that has persisted for three centuries, and forms the basis of anatomical education today.
The study of anatomy in England during the 18th and 19th century has become infamous for bodysnatching from graveyards to provide a sufficient supply of cadavers. However, recent discoveries have improved our understanding of how and why anatomy was studied during the enlightenment, and allow us to see the context in which dissection of the human body took place. Excavations of infirmary burial grounds and medical school cemeteries, study of hospital archives, and analysis of the content of surviving anatomical collections in medical museums enables us to re-evaluate the field from a fresh perspective. The pathway from a death in poverty, sale of the corpse to body dealer, dissection by anatomist or medical student, and either the disposal and burial of the remains or preservation of teaching specimens that survive today in medical museums is a complex and fascinating one.
ANATOMY AND SURGERY FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE RENAISSANCE
The study of anatomy reached the 14th century bridled with all the same assumptions and techniques indicated by the classical world and continued to follow the traces linked to the philosophical knowledge of the human body, rather than speculative requirements. The dissections carried out on dead bodies therefore only served to support what had already been written by the classical authors. Mondino’s Anatomy does just this, though it appears to be ready to accept first-hand knowledge. Its nonlinear path did not depend so much on the aversion of the Church, which so hindered and restricted its path, as on as the relationship between society and the corpse. The quest for observation and experimentation that began to stir the minds of many doctors, students and artists in as early as the 14th century, clashed with the general reluctance and horror of handling a body. An ancestral, anthropological problem of life and death that curbed this form of practice and forced ‘researchers’ (whether doctors or artists) to hide away and carry out secret dissections in the crypts of churches or in private houses. The dead bodies to be dissected were chosen mainly from among people who had been executed, and the limited numbers of the yearly dissections, the fact that they were carried out mainly during Carnival or Lent, because of their innate moral and religious significance, are elements that confirm that anatomy was considered a reprehensible act that could only be done under certain ethical and moral conditions or with certain personalities and facilities. The Vesalian revolution revolved around these strongly rooted assumptions. Accordingly, the anatomist was not only ‘bound’ to verify, by directly empirical observation, the cognitive tools that, until then, were in his possession, but also to promote practical teaching exercises. This not only introduced a specialisation in this subject, but also a better handling and familiarity with the body and was to lead to the scientific advances of the following century.
The study of anatomy in England from 1700 to the early 20th century
Journal of …
The study of anatomy in England during the 18th and 19th century has become infamous for bodysnatching from graveyards to provide a sufficient supply of cadavers. However, recent discoveries have improved our understanding of how and why anatomy was studied during the enlightenment, and allow us to see the context in which dissection of the human body took place. Excavations of infirmary burial grounds and medical school cemeteries, study of hospital archives, and analysis of the content of surviving anatomical collections in medical museums enables us to re-evaluate the field from a fresh perspective. The pathway from a death in poverty, sale of the corpse to body dealer, dissection by anatomist or medical student, and either the disposal and burial of the remains or preservation of teaching specimens that survive today in medical museums is a complex and fascinating one.
The study of anatomy in England during the 18th and 19th century has become infamous for bodysnatching from graveyards to provide a sufficient supply of cadavers. However, recent discoveries have improved our understanding of how and why anatomy was studied during the enlightenment, and allow us to see the context in which dissection of the human body took place. Excavations of infirmary burial grounds and medical school cemeteries, study of hospital archives, and analysis of the content of surviving anatomical collections in medical museums enables us to re-evaluate the field from a fresh perspective. The pathway from a death in poverty, sale of the corpse to body dealer, dissection by anatomist or medical student, and either the disposal and burial of the remains or preservation of teaching specimens that survive today in medical museums is a complex and fascinating one.
2011
The study of anatomy in England during the 18th and 19th century has become infamous for bodysnatching from graveyards to provide a sufficient supply of cadavers. However, recent discoveries have improved our understanding of how and why anatomy was studied during the enlightenment, and allow us to see the context in which dissection of the human body took place. Excavations of infirmary burial grounds and medical school cemeteries, study of hospital archives, and analysis of the content of surviving anatomical collections in medical museums enables us to re-evaluate the field from a fresh perspective. The pathway from a death in poverty, sale of the corpse to body dealer, dissection by anatomist or medical student, and either the disposal and burial of the remains or preservation of teaching specimens that survive today in medical museums is a complex and fascinating one.
Traditions of Analysis and Synthesis, 2024
The term "anatomy" in the early modern period was likewise multifaceted, and at times it was explicitly understood via the Greek terms analysis and synthesis or their Latin equivalents, resolutio and compositio. In addition to invigorating the discipline of anatomy, the recovery of Galen's works in the sixteenth century brought to light influential passages where Galen endorsed the methods of analysis and synthesis. Such passages are not found in his anatomical works, but this is perhaps unsurprising: death creates challenges to viewing dissection as straightforward analysis, synthesis, or an ordered sequence of both. How did early modern authors present their anatomies in terms of analysis and synthesis, and how did they gather and relay secure knowledge about the body by means of dividing it into parts and putting it back together? This talk examines several late-sixteenth century anatomical works that adopted either the terms and/or methods of analysis and synthesis. I compare methodological discussions of anatomy as analysis and synthesis with the actual dissection procedures and results of anatomical investigation of the eye found in those works. The anatomies of Costanzo Varolio (1543-1575), André du Laurens (1558-1609), Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente (1533-1619), and Giulio Casserio (1552-1616) are examined. The "method of anatomy" was discussed in several ways: as dissection procedure leading to discovery, with physiological/theoretical implications only implied; as a pedagogical ordering of a text or course on anatomy, where one chooses either the method of analysis or that of synthesis; as an art (analysis) vs. a science (synthesis); as human artifice (analysis) vs. nature's processes (synthesis/genesis); and finally as an ordered procedure, where one first dissects animal bodies, discovers temperaments and structures, and then conceptually reassembles the newly discovered and understood parts, all with the aim of understanding the animal soul.