Uncovering the Relationship Between Anatomy and Disease
Overview
The knowledge of basic human structure is known as the science of anatomy. The term anatomy comes from the Greek word anatome, which literally means dissection and often encompasses many other disciplines, such as physiology (the study of body function). While it is one of the oldest sciences and wrought with rich tradition, it is also one of the most disappointing from the standpoint of its development before the seventeenth century. As an example, it was known how the earth moved around the sun nearly one hundred years before it was known that blood moved through the body. One aspect of this slow growth in the knowledge base was the belief in the sanctity of the human body. Most dissections were performed on animals up until the sixteenth century because it was believed in most cultures that the human body must be preserved or protected after death, and that dissection was a defilement.
Background
The study of anatomy dates to antiquity. Herophilus of Chalcedon (330?-260? B.C.), who made detailed studies of dissections of the human body in the third century B.C., is often considered to be the founder of anatomy.
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