AZERBAİJAN MEDİCAL UNİVERSİTY

FREELANCE WORK

Faculty: Community Medicine

Course: 1

Group: 322R1A

Student: Arzu Ahmadova

Subject: English

Theme: Early Studies on Human body

Baku-2023
 Early studies of human anatomy were often difficult as examination of internal structures
required cutting into the body. Often scientific thinkers would try to obtain permission from families
to examine dead bodies, however this was frequently difficult for religious reasons. In general
however the accumulation of knowledge of internal anatomy was acquired through careful
dissection of bodies and occasionally by observing surgery being performed. The history of
anatomy extends from the earliest examinations of sacrificial victims to the sophisticated analyses
of the body performed by modern anatomists and scientists. Written descriptions of human organs
and parts can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian papyri, where attention to the
body was necessitated by their highly elaborate burial practices.

Theoretical considerations of the structure and function of the human body did not develop
until far later, in Ancient Greece. Ancient Greek philosophers, like Alcmaeon and Empedocles, and
ancient Greek doctors, like Hippocrates and his school, paid attention to the causes of life, disease,
and different functions of the body. Aristotle advocated dissection of animals as part of his program
for understanding the causes of biological forms. During the Hellenistic Age, dissection
and vivesection of human beings took place for the first time in the work
of Herophilos and Erasistratus. Anatomical knowledge in antiquity would reach its apex in the
person of Galen, who made important discoveries through his medical practice and his dissections
of monkeys, oxen, and other animals. The development of the study of anatomy gradually built
upon concepts that were present in Galen's work, which was a part of the traditional medical
curriculum in the Middle Ages.The Renaissance brought a reconsideration of classical medical
texts, and anatomical dissections became once again fashionable for the first time since Galen.
Important anatomical work was carried out by Mondino de Luzzi, Berengario da Carpi, and Jacques
Dubois, culminating in Andreas Vesalius's seminal work De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543). An
understanding of the structures and functions of organs in the body has been an integral part
of medical practice and a source for scientific investigations ever since. The 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", while two to the left ear the "breath of death".
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. The Egyptians seem
to have known little about the function of the kidneys and the brain 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. Much of the
nomenclature, methods, and applications for the study of anatomy can be traced back to the works
of the ancient Greeks. In the fifth-century BCE, the philosopher Alcmaeon may have been one of
the first to have dissected animals for anatomical purposes, and possibly identified the optic nerves
and Eustachian tubes. Ancient physicians such as Acron, Pausanias, and Philistion of Locri may had
also conducted anatomical investigations. Another important philosopher at the time
was Empedocles, who viewed blood as the innate heat and argued that the heart was the chief organ
of the body and the source of pneuma (this could refer to either breath or soul), which was
distributed by the blood vessels.Many medical texts by various authors are collected in
the Hippocratic Corpus, none of which can definitely be ascribed to Hippocrates himself. The texts
show an understanding of musculoskeletal structure, and the beginnings of understanding of the
function of certain organs, such as the kidneys. The tricuspid valve of the heart and its function is
documented in the treatise On the Heart.

The final major anatomist of ancient times was Galen, active in the second century CE. He
was born in the ancient Greek city of Pergamon (now in Turkey), the son of a successful architect
who gave him a liberal education. Galen was instructed in all major philosophical schools
(Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism and Epicureanism) until his father, moved by a dream
of Asclepius, decided he should study medicine. After his father's death, Galen traveled widely
searching for the best doctors in Smyrna, Corinth, and finally Alexandria. Galen compiled much of
the knowledge obtained by his predecessors, and furthered the inquiry into the function of organs by
performing dissections and vivisections on Barbary apes, oxen, pigs, and other animals. Due to a
lack of readily available human specimens, discoveries through animal dissection were broadly
applied to human anatomy as well. In 158 CE, Galen served as chief physician to the gladiators in
his native Pergamon. Through his position with the gladiators, Galen was able to study all kinds of
wounds without performing any actual human dissection. Galen was able to view much of the
abdominal cavity. His study on pigs and apes, however, gave him more detailed information about
the organs and provided the basis for his medical works. Around 100 of these works survive—the
most for any ancient Greek author—and fill 22 volumes of modern text. Throughout the Middle
Ages, human anatomy was mainly learned through books and animal dissection.While it was
claimed by 19th century polemicists that dissection became restricted after Boniface VIII passed
a papal bull that forbade the dismemberment and boiling of corpses for funerary purposes and this is
still repeated in some generalist works, this claim has been debunked as a myth by modern
historians of science. For many decades human dissection was thought unnecessary when all the
knowledge about a human body could be read about from early authors such as Galen.
 In the 12th century, as universities were being established in Italy, Emperor Frederick II
made it mandatory for students of medicine to take courses on human anatomy and surgery.Students
who had the opportunity to watch Vesalius in dissection at times had the opportunity to interact with
the animal corpse. At the risk of letting their eagerness to participate become a distraction to their
professors, medical students preferred this interactive teaching style at the time. In the universities
the lectern would sit elevated before the audience and instruct someone else in the dissection of the
body, but in his early years Mondino de Luzzi performed the dissection himself making him one of
the first and few to use a hands on approach to teaching human anatomy. Specifically in 1315,
Mondino de' Liuzzi is credited with having "performed the first human dissection recorded for
Western Europe."

At the beginning of the 17th century, the use of dissecting human cadavers influenced
anatomy, leading to a spike in the study of anatomy. The advent of the printing press facilitated the
exchange of ideas. Because the study of anatomy concerned observation and drawings, the
popularity of the anatomist was equal to the quality of his drawing talents, and one need not be an
expert in Latin to take part. Many famous artists studied anatomy, attended dissections, and
published drawings for money, from Michelangelo to Rembrandt. For the first time, prominent
universities could teach something about anatomy through drawings, rather than relying on
knowledge of Latin. Contrary to popular belief, the Church neither objected to nor obstructed
anatomical research. Until the middle of the 18th century, there was a quota of ten cadavers for each
the Royal College of Physicians and the Company of Barber Surgeons, the only two groups
permitted to perform dissections. During the first half of the 18th century, William Cheselden
challenged the Company of Barber Surgeon's exclusive rights on dissections. He was the first to
hold regular anatomy lectures and demonstrations. He also wrote The Anatomy of the Humane
Body, a student handbook of anatomy. In 1752, the rapid growth of medical schools in England and
the pressing demand for cadavers led to the passage of the Murder Act. This allowed medical
schools in England to legally dissect bodies of executed murderers for anatomical education and
research and also aimed to prevent murder. To further increase the supply of cadavers, the
government increased the number of crimes in which hanging was a punishment. Although the
number of cadavers increased, it was still not enough to meet the demand of anatomical and medical
training. During the 19th century, anatomical research was extended
with histology and developmental biology of both humans and animals. Women, who were not
allowed to attend medical school, could attend the anatomy theatres. From 1822 the Royal College
of Surgeons forced unregulated schools to close. Medical museums provided examples in
comparative anatomy, and were often used in teaching.