Anatomization - another word for dissection
Androtomy/Anthropotomy - anatomy of the human body
Autopsy - the dismembering of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure
Biology - A science dedicated to the study of life
Cadavers - Dead human bodies
Dissection - from Latin dissecare, the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure
Erasistratus of Chios - One of two beginning practicioners of dissections in the early part of the third century BC. First explorations into full human anatomy were performed, instead of just "problem-solving" delving.
Forensic Medicine - a broad term used to describe a group of medical specialties which deal with the examination and diagnosis of individuals who have been injured by or who have died because of external or unnatural causes such as poisoning, assault, suicide and other forms of violence, and apply findings to law (i.e. court cases)
Formaldehyde - Organic compound with the formula CH2O and structure H-CHO. It is a carcinogen and additionally can cause respiratory and skin irritation upon exposure.
The Ayurveidc Man, c. 18th century
Galen of Pergamon - dissected the Barbary macaque and other primates under the assumption their anatomy was basically the same as that of humans, and supplemented these with knowledge garnered from tending to wounded gladiators
Galeazzo di Santa Sofia- an Italian that made the first public dissection north of the Alps in Vienna in 1404
Herophilus of Chalcedon - Another beginning practicioner along with Erasistratus of Chios.
Celsius 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."
Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Jumay, Abd el-Latif, and Ibn al-Nafis - Various Islamic physicians between the 11th and 13th century thought to have studied dissection, though it is ambiguous if humans were involved. Ibn al-Nafis suggested that "precepts of Islamic law have discouraged us from the practice of dissection, along with whatever compassion is in our temperament" -suggesting that, while not explicitly outlawed, it was still uncommon.
Page from a 1531 Latin translation by Peter Argellata of Al-Zahrawi's c. 1000 treatise on surgical and medical instruments
Involuntary Donation - In the UK, donation of a cadaver is wholly voluntary. Involuntary donation plays a role in about 20 percent of the specimens in the US, and almost all specimens donated in some countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe. Such practices may lead to a greater proportion of the poor, homeless, and social outcasts being involuntarily donated.
Mondino de Luzzi's Anathomia, 1541
Mondino de Luzzi - carried out the first recorded public dissection around 1315. At this time, autopsies were carried out by a team consisting of a Lector, who lectured, the Sector, who did the dissection, and the Ostensor who pointed to features of interest.
Mondino de Luzzi finished Anathomia in 1316, a classical anatomical textbook used by all European universities at the time. It is a treatise on human anatomy and constitutes a practical manual of dissection, including also some physiological information. One of this book’s innovations was the specification of the basic elements of organ anatomy: the position in a topographic region of the body, relationship with the surrounding structures, shape, size, texture, parts, physiology, and pathology. Names of various anatomical features were in Latin accompanied with Arabic. The structure of the book follows the order of dissection, starting from the abdominal cavity and ending with the head
Tibetan Medicine - Tibetans have a rather sophisticated knowledge of anatomy, acquired from long-standing experience with human dissection. Tibetans had adopted the practice of sky burial because of the country's hard ground, frozen for most of the year, and the lack of wood for cremation. A sky burial begins with a ritual dissection of the deceased, and is followed by the feeding of the parts to vultures on the hill tops.
Tree of physiology - A Tibetan thangka (Buddhist painting on cotton or silk applique, that are traditionally kept unframed and rolled up when not on display) that depicts human physiology and certain pathological transformations
Tree of physiology - Tibetan thangka, upper panel shows the lineage of medical teachers from Buddha to the hermit sages