history of anatomy

1. HISTORY OF
ANATOMY
BY: HARITH RIYADH

2. THE HISTORY OF
ANATOMY
extends from the earliest
examinations of sacrificial
victims to the sophisticated
analyses of the body performed
by modern scientists. It has
been characterized, over time,
by a continually developing
understanding of the functions
of organs and structures in the
body. Human anatomy was the
most prominent of the
biological sciences of the 19th
and early 20th centuries.
Methods have also improved
dramatically.

3. EGYPT
Main article: Ancient Egyptian anatomical studiesThe
study of anatomy begins at least as early as 1600 BC,
the date of the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. This
treatise shows that the heart, its vessels, liver, spleen,
kidneys, hypothalamus, uterus and bladder were
recognized, and that the blood vessels were known to
emanate from the heart. Other vessels are described,
some carrying air, some mucus, and two to the right ear
are said to carry the "breath of life",[clarification needed]
while two to the left ear the "breath of death".[citation
needed]The Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BC) features a
treatise on the heart. It notes that the heart is the center
of blood supply, and attached to it are vessels for every
member of the body.

4. CO
The Egyptians seem to
have known little
about the function of
the kidneys and made
the heart the meeting
point of a number of
vessels which carried
all the fluids of the
body – blood, tears,
urine and semen.
However, they did not
have a theory as to
where saliva and
sweat came from

5. THE BIRTH OF BIOLOGY:
5TH - 4TH CENTURY BC
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.The first man to make a
significant contribution in biology is Alcmaeon, living in
Crotona in the 5th century. Crotona is famous at the time for
its Pythagorean scholars, but Alcmaeon seems not to have
been of their school.

6. Alcmaeon is the first scientist known to have
practised dissection in his researches. His aim is not
anatomical, for his interest lies in trying to find the
whereabouts of human intelligence. But in the course of his
researches he makes the first scientific discoveries in the
field of anatomy.The subsequent Greek theory, subscribed to
even by Aristotle, is that the heart is the seat of intelligence.
Alcmaeon reasons that since a blow to the head can affect
the mind, in concussion, this must be where reason lies. In
dissecting corpses to pursue this idea, he observes
passages linking the brain with the eyes (the optic nerves)
and the back of the mouth with the ears (Eustachian tubes).

7. HUMAN VIVISECTION:
C.300 BC
Early in the 3rd century BC two surgeons in Alexandria,
Herophilus and Erasistratus, make the first scientific studies
designed to discover the workings of human anatomy. The
cost of their contribution to science would be considered too
high in modern times (they acquire much of their information
from Human vivisection, the patients being convicted
criminals). But Celsus, a Roman writer on medical history,
energetically justifies the suffering of the criminals as
providing 'remedies for innocent people of all future ages'.

8. THE INFLUENTIAL
ERRORS OF GALEN:
2nd century ADThe newly
appointed chief
physician to the
gladiators in Pergamum,
in AD 158, is a native of
the city. He is a Greek
doctor by the name of
Galen. The appointment
gives him the opportunity
to study wounds of all
kinds. His knowledge of
muscles enables him to
warn his patients of the
likely outcome of certain
operations - a wise
precaution recommended
in Galen's Advice to
doctors.

9. But it is Galen's dissection of apes and pigs which give him
the detailed information for his medical tracts on the organs
of the body. Nearly 100 of these tracts survive. They become
the basis of Galen's great reputation in medieval medicine,
unchallenged until the anatomical work of Vesalius. Through
his experiments Galen is able to overturn many long-held
beliefs, such as the theory (first proposed by the Hippocratic
school in about 400 BC, and maintained even by the
physicians of Alexandria) that the arteries contain air -
carrying it to all parts of the body from the heart and the
lungs. This belief is based originally on the arteries of dead
animals, which appear to be empty.

10. Galen is able to demonstrate that living arteries contain
blood. His error, which will become the established medical
orthodoxy for centuries, is to assume that the blood goes
back and forth from the heart in an ebb-and-flow motion. This
theory holds sway in medical circles until the time of Harvey.

11. SCIENCE'S SIESTA:
8TH - 15TH CENTURY
In the profoundly Christian centuries of the European Middle
Ages the prevailing mood is not conducive to scientific
enquiry. God knows best, and so He should - since He
created everything. Where practical knowledge is required,
there are ancient authorities whose conclusions are accepted
without question - Ptolemy in the field of astronomy, Galen
on matters anatomical. A few untypical scholars show an
interest in scientific research. The 13th-century Franciscan
friar Roger Bacon is the most often quoted example, but his
studies include alchemy and astrology as well as optics and
astronomy. The practical scepticism required for science
must await the Renaissance.

12. 16TH CENTURY
CONTRIBUTIONS
Began to compile
extensive drawings
of dissections of
executed cadavers
Discovered the
physiology of
circulatory system
The Anatomy Lesson of
Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, by
Rembrandt, 1632

13. Dissection of a cadaver, 15th century painting

14. 17TH AND 18TH
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 The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.
Nicolaes Tulp, by
Rembrandt, 1632

15. 19TH CENTURY
Began studying
developmental
anatomy
England became the
center of anatomical
research
Anatomy Act of 1832
provided adequate
supply of corpses
Gray’s Anatomy first
published 1858 (for
traveling doctors)

16. MODERN 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

17. FUTURE OF 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

18. THANX