"The Lesson in Anatomy in the Seventeenth Century"-conducted by Nicolas Tulp, Professor of 
Anatomy at Amsterdam in the year 1632. Painted' by Rembrandt. THE EVOLUTION 
OF 
THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
AND 
ITS IMPORTANT RELATION TO THE DEVELOP- 
MENT OF SURGICAL KNOWLEDGE 
BY 
J. EWING MEARS, M.D., LL.D. 
PHILADELPHIA 
PHILADELPHIA 
PRINTED BY WILLIAM J. DORNAN 
1914 THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
AND ITS IMPORTANT RELATION TO THE 
DEVELOPMENT OF SURGICAL 
KNOWLEDGE 
By J. EWING MEARS, M.D., LL.D. 
PHILADELPHIA 
The evolution of the science of anatomy, the early history 
of which is involved in general obscurity, has been characterized 
by important and controlling conditions. Recognized by the 
early disciples of medicine as the essential foundation upon 
which the correct knowledge of the science of medicine should 
be built, its study became at the earliest period of time the 
work of the great men who were engaged in the solution of the 
problems of life and the treatment of the disordered functions 
of the human body which indicated states of disease. 
The first traces of the science are found among the Greeks, 
of which country Hippocrates (460 to 357 b.c.), the father of 
medicine, was a native. While he was not in a strict sense a 
student of anatomy, he and his school had some knowledge of 
the skeleton and of the larger organs of the body. His instruc- 
tions were chiefly medical. 
Two great epochs mark the unfolding of the science of anatomy 
and give character to its development and growth: These are 
(1) the dissection of the human body and (2) the introduction 
of the microscope as an aid in the revelation of the minute 
structure of the tissues and organs of the body. 
In the beginning of the study of anatomy the superstitions 
of the ancient religions, which were in a degree carried down 
Reprinted from the Transactions of the American Surgical Association, 1913 4 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
through several centuries, endowed the human body with sacred 
properties, which prevented its use in the study of anatomy, 
and limited the knowledge obtained to that acquired by the 
dissection of the lower animals, those chiefly of the mammalian 
type and especially those which approached the structure of 
the human body, as the ape. 
Defective as was this method of investigation, it had, however, 
its great value in laying the foundation of " the science of com- 
parative anatomy and the elucidation of zoology." 
While the title of the paper presented to the Association 
indicates a wide field of discussion, covering many centuries 
of study and investigation, largely pioneer in character, by the 
great men who laid the foundation of the science of anatomy 
on an enduring basis, the limits of prescribed space forbid 
more than a brief resume of the gradual steps of progress which 
were made as the structure of anatomical knowledge was built. 
It is rather the purpose of the writer to record the names of the 
great masters who have laid the foundation of the science of 
anatomy and to bring into view certain of the great events 
which marked the advance and which so importantly deter- 
mined the true effort to achieve accurate results and to dispel 
the erroneous speculations of earlier anatomists. 
As a student and teacher of anatomy for many years during 
the last half of the last century, the writer is moved to place 
on record his experience in certain matters relating to the 
methods of study and teaching of that period of time. In 
the great strides of development and growth which have 
characterized every department of the science of medicine 
anatomy has had a part; in truth, it may be said a basic 
part, since from its unfolding zoology, comparative anatomy, 
physiological anatomy, pathological anatomy, microscopic 
anatomy, and topographical or surgical anatomy have taken 
origin. These divisions all have a relation to the knowledge 
which controls conservation of health and the conquest of 
disease in one way or another. 
Of the names which occupy prominent position in connection MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
5 
with the early history of anatomy, that of the great philosopher 
and naturalist Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) is preeminent. His 
knowledge was gained by the dissection of the lower animals- 
notably apes-his descriptions were most accurate, and in great 
measure have withstood the tests which later investigations have 
applied. The results of his studies were recorded in a treatise 
of ten books, the History of Animals and Parts of Animals. 
To Erasistratus (304 b.c.) and Herophilus belong the credit 
of having been the first to dissect the human body. This notable 
event occurred in the school at Alexandria (285 b.c.) during the 
enlightened reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which patronized 
science and its teachers and promoted in every way the effort 
to destroy the prejudices of ignorance and superstition. With 
the dissection of the human body began the development and 
growth of anatomy as an exact science. 
The name of Celsus should not be omitted at this place, as 
he was one of the most distinguished authors of antiquity who 
cultivated anatomical knowledge. 
Following Erasistratus and Herophilus came Claudius Galen 
of Pergamus (131-201 A.D.), who was not only an anatomist 
by reason of his personal work and investigation, but he was 
also the common depository of the anatomical knowledge of the 
day. In his writings he placed on record the knowledge of 
the science of the time in which he lived, and as well gathered 
and stored the work of his predecessors. One of the most im- 
portant of his contributions was the discovery that the arteries 
contained blood and not air, as had been erroneously believed 
and taught, which belief was instrumental in giving the name 
to the vessels which after death were found empty (aer-terein, 
to hold air). He also was the first to employ vivisection and to 
make experiments on living animals. He records two instances 
in which "through injury or disease he had the opportunity of 
observing the movements of the heart in the human body." 
His "erroneous physiological speculations with regard to the 
circulating apparatus" were generally accepted and prevailed 
until the middle of the seventeenth century. 6 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
After the death of Galen there was a long period of inactivity 
in the study and teaching of anatomy. In this period history 
records a temporary cultivation of the science in Asia, which 
possessed, comparatively speaking, little value, and ended in the 
thirteenth century. In this century a revival of anatomical inves- 
tigation took place in Europe in the University of Bologna, Italy, 
already celebrated as a school of literature and law in the twelfth 
century. In the century following it became distinguished for its 
medical teachers, and "medicine was so greatly developed as to 
require a division of its professors into physicians, surgeons, physi- 
cians for wounds, barber surgeons, oculists, and some others." 
Anatomy was, however, cultivated chiefly as an appendage of 
surgery and its principles were taken largely from the writings of 
Galen. In the fourteenth century the University of Bologna estab- 
lished an era of distinction in medical science as great as had 
already been obtained in law. This was accomplished through 
the efforts of Mondino, who has been designated the father of 
modern anatomy. He was the first to dissect and demonstrate 
the parts of the human body in the female subject. His knowl- 
edge of the heart was remarkably accurate and "his descriptions 
contained the rudiments of the circulation of the blood." He 
destroyed the merit of this distinction by asserting his belief 
in the erroneous ancient doctrine that the left auricle contained 
"spirit or air" generated from the blood. 
At the close of the fifteenth century, Alexander Achillini, 
a pupil of Mondino, became eminent at Bologna in cerebral 
anatomy. He was the first to describe the tympanal bones, 
the malleus and incus. 
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, James Berenger, of 
Carpi, flourished, not only as a zealous investigator of anatomy, 
"but an eminent physician. His influence as a physician was 
such that he calmed the fears of Europe with regard to the 
ravages of syphilis which raged with uncontrollable virulence." 
He claimed that he had dissected over one hundred human 
bodies, a large number for the period of time in which he lived. 
He was a distinguished author of treatises on anatomy, the Fig. i.-Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), Professor of Anatomy at Bologna. 
(From a painting by Edward J. C. Hamman, a Belgian artist, about the middle of the Nineteenth 
Century. The picture represents the anatomist looking earnestly at the crucifix, invoking the help 
of God in his work. MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
7 
first to describe fully the various tissues of which the body is 
composed, and the first to direct attention to the vermiform 
appendix, so well known today from its pathological importance. 
He entertained the erroneous opinion of anatomists of that age 
with regard to the "spirit" which it was supposed the heart 
contained. 
Italy for a long time retained the distinction of being the 
home of the most eminent anatomists of Europe. In the six- 
teenth century, France began to take position in anatomical 
investigations. Embarrassed by the prejudices of religious 
beliefs it was difficult if not impossible to obtain human bodies 
for dissection, and the bodies of the lower animals were used 
chiefly, if not entirely, in practical instruction. The anatomical 
opinions of Galen with their errors held sway-Jacques Dubois, 
known by his Latin name of Jacobus Sylvius, was the most 
distinguished as a teacher in the beginning days of French 
anatomical studies. He was followed by Charles Etienne, who 
achieved distinction through his researches into the structures 
of the nervous system; chief and important among these was 
his discovery of the canal through the entire length of the 
spinal cord. 
Two circumstances in the sixteenth century retarded the 
advance of anatomical science by the French: These were 
"Extravagant admiration of antiquity, with excessive confidence 
in the writings of Galen, and the general practice of dissecting 
principally the bodies of the lower animals." These unfavorable 
conditions were chiefly removed by Andreas Vesalius (1514- 
1564), who though a Fleming by birth was trained in his early 
studies in France under Dubois. Discouraged by his efforts to 
pursue practical anatomy in France, owing to the ban placed 
upon the use of human bodies for dissection, he went to Italy, 
and before his twenty-second year he was requested to demon- 
strate publicly in the University of Padua. He conducted his 
studies and instructions with so much zeal and success that 
before he was thirty years of age he became a professor in 
three universities, Padua, Bologna, and Pisa. 8 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
The conditions which favored so greatly the pursuit of ana- 
tomical investigations produced an illustrious line of teachers 
in Italy, and gave it an eminence beyond that possessed by any 
other country. Of all of these teachers Andreas Vesalius stands 
preeminent and he has been justly denominated the founder of 
the science of human anatomy. He not only rectified the errors 
of ancient anatomists, but established on the solid basis of 
observation the true elements of anatomical science. He was 
the first "to proclaim openly that the structure of man should 
be learned by the inspection of the human body. True knowl- 
edge could alone be obtained by the study of this the only 
correct authority, the body of man itself." In 1543 he pub- 
lished his great work, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, "the first 
careful and complete description of the body of man based 
upon actual observation." The opinions thus promulgated by 
Vesalius with regard to the dissection of the human body and 
the correction of the errors of Galen raised great opposition and 
inspired his enemies to denounce him to the Inquisition. He 
escaped punishment by this tribunal through the intervention 
of his patron and friend, Philip II, at Madrid. Returning from 
the Holy Land, whither he had gone in the fulfilment of a 
pledge, he met a tragic death by shipwreck. The instructions 
and example of Vesalius produced a great number of investi- 
gators of anatomy who achieved celebrity and by whom the 
science was advanced and relieved of its errors. Of these but a 
brief reference can be made to those whose work and achieve- 
ments have given the greatest distinction, and have shared 
with Vesalius the merit of creating the science of human 
anatomy. 
The first who claims attention is Eustachius (1520-1574), 
who extended greatly the knowledge of the internal ear, de- 
scribing correctly the tube which is known by his name, the 
"Eustachian tube," the muscles of the malleus and stapedius 
and the complicated arrangement of the cochlea; also the 
anatomy of the teeth and the phenomena of first and second 
dentition. Fig. 2.-A Printers' Device. Reproduction from a wood-cut on the title-page 
of the first edition (1543) of Andreas Vesalius' great work, De Humani Corporis 
Fabrica. MEARS*. THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
9 
Columbus (1523) and Fallopius (1548) were pupils of Vesalius. 
The first was his immediate successor in Padua and later became 
professor at Rome; the notable features of whose work were the 
tracing of the course of the blood from the right side to the 
left side of the heart, and giving the first good account of the 
ventricles of the larynx. 
Fallopius, professor at Pisa and later at Padua, died at the 
age of forty, leaving behind him a record of distinguished 
work, perfecting the earlier descriptions of the internal ear and 
devoting attention to the organs of generation in both sexes; 
he discovered the utero-peritoneal canal which bears his name, 
the "Fallopian tube." 
Varolius (1545), of Bologna, who died at the early age of 
thirty-two, left a reputation as an investigator of anatomy 
equal to that of the most eminent of his contemporaries. He 
introduced a new method of dissecting the brain and greatly 
increased the knowledge relating to that organ. The "pons 
Varolii" commemorates his work and makes his name familiar 
to students of anatomy. 
Fabricius, of Aquapendente, was a worthy successor of the 
celebrated teachers of the anatomical school of Italy. He labored 
to make anatomical knowledge more accurate and to relieve 
it of obscurity by researches on the structure of animals in 
general. His reputation in great measure rests upon his dis- 
covery of the presence of the valves of the veins in the venous 
system of the extremities, and of their use. They had been 
observed by other investigators but their use had not been 
understood. 
With Fabricius the long line of illustrious teachers of anatomy 
in Italy terminates. "The discoveries which each made and the 
errors which their labors rectified cleared the way for the dis- 
covery of the circular motion of the blood, a discovery which 
exercised the most powerful influence on the future progress 
of the science of anatomy." While this fact had been obscurely 
conjectured by several of his predecessors, the earliest among 
them being Aristotle, it was left for William Harvey, a young 10 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
Englishman, a student of Fabricius at Padua, to demonstrate 
this monumental discovery and to announce its truth in the 
year 1619, which truth after several years of bitter controversy 
was accepted by "all enlightened and unprejudiced people as 
explaining many facts in anatomical structure which were 
either unrecognized or misunderstood." 
Harvey, as he himself stated, "taught anatomy, not from 
books, but from dissections; not from the suppositions of 
philosophers, but from the fabric of nature." 
Next in value and importance to the discovery of the cir- 
culation of the blood by Harvey was that of the lacteals by 
Casper Asellius, in 1622, professor of anatomy at Pavia, who in 
a living dog was able to trace them from the villous membrane 
of the intestine. 
In the early days of the sixteenth century, Eustachius 
recognized a vessel on the left side of the vertebral column, 
connected with the internal jugular vein, which in 1629 was 
described by Mentel as the thoracic duct, and the connection 
of the lacteals with this vessel. 
The discovery of the distinction between the lymphatics 
and the lacteals by Jolyffe and Rudbeck, with the tracing of 
the former to the glands, completed the history of this part 
of anatomical science. 
After this the study of the minute structure of the tissues 
and organs engaged the attention of anatomists. In 1654, 
Francis Glisson distinguished himself by a minute description 
of the liver and stomach and intestines, and gave his name to 
the capsule which invests the liver, the "capsule of Glisson." 
In the early days of the seventeenth century, Thomas Willis 
became eminent by his careful researches on the brain, the lungs, 
the intestines, the bloodvessels, and the glands. He was the 
first to number the cranial nerves in the order now recognized 
by teachers of anatomy. 
About the middle of the seventeenth century, Leeuwenhoeck, 
the Dutch philosopher, discovered the corpuscles in the blood 
and the spermatozoa in the seminal fluid. At this time, also, MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
11 
Malpighi, of Bologna (1628-1694), who has been designated 
the founder of minute or microscopic anatomy, discovered 
the capillary circulation four years after the death of Harvey. 
He also described the minute anatomy of the skin, the kidney, 
and spleen. 
The work of Leeuwenhoeck and Malpighi was accomplished 
by the compound microscope, which had been used as early 
as 1625 in Rome to study the organs and parts of the bee. 
The difficulty in overcoming spherical and chromatic aberrations 
in this instrument compelled a return to the simple lens. It 
was not until 1831-1832 that these difficulties were fully over- 
come, and the compound microscope was brought to a high 
degree of perfection, contributing valuable assistance in ana- 
tomical investigations, not only by immensely increasing 
anatomical knowledge but rendering that already known more 
accurate and precise. 
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries great names in 
microscopic anatomy appear. Into the field of inquiry previously 
occupied by Malpighi and others came the illustrious Virchow, 
whose great discoveries "developed the idea of the cellular 
structure of the animal organism and the importance of cells 
in the performance of physiological and pathological processes." 
Efforts were also developed to study the minute constitution 
of tissue by the combination of the microscope and chemical 
agents, notably in the bones. Clopton Havers, of England, who 
gave his name to the minute osseous canals, was noted for his 
investigations in this direction. 
Frederic Ruysch, who was professor of anatomy at Amsterdam, 
in 1665, gave a new impulse to anatomical research and extended 
the limits of the science of anatomy in every direction. This 
was accomplished by the introduction of the art of injecting 
the tissues and organs of the body with substances which were 
fluid at the time of injection but which became solid after their 
deposit in the parts by the syringe. By this means the arrange- 
ment of minute vessels in the interior of organs was demon- 
strated and the art was carried to the highest perfection. All 12 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
parts of the body were subjected to this method of exami- 
nation, and the discoveries made were very great. 
Passing over the names and work of many anatomists of dis- 
tinguished attainments, among them Brunner (1687) (Brunner's 
duodenal glands), Peyer (1677-1680) (Peyer's solitary glands 
of the intestine), Duverney (1676), Collins (1685), Vieussen 
(1684), Valsalva, Santorini, Morgagni, the name of Albrecht 
von Haller, a Swiss (1708-1777), claims attention as one of 
the greatest anatomists and physiologists of the eighteenth 
century. During the seventeen years he was professor at 
Gottingen he dissected and carefully studied the organs of 
four hundred bodies. The results of this work were published 
between 1746 and 1751 in eight numbers of very beautiful and 
accurate engravings representing the most important parts 
of the human body. He verified the observation that in the 
fetus the testicles lie in the abdomen below the position of the 
kidneys, and that congenital hernia may follow their descent 
into the scrotum. Among his most valuable contributions was 
the final overthrow of the doctrine of the "animal spirits" which 
had ruled all investigators of the nervous system since the 
days of Hippocrates. 
After the eminent Haller came the researches of three men 
of distinction, Meckel, Zinn, and Lieberkuhn, who recorded 
their names as distinguished in investigations relating to the 
brain, the eye, and the intestine. 
In 1746-1751, William and John Hunter appeared as inves- 
tigators of anatomical science. The first was distinguished as 
the first great teacher of anatomy in England; the second as 
physiologist and surgeon unrivalled in the annals of medicine. 
Each held a preeminent position in anatomical research. John 
Hunter was especially distinguished as a surgeon and the founder 
of one of the most valuable and comprehensive museums which 
up to that time had been brought into existence. Among the 
many contributions to anatomical science, the demonstrations 
of the lymphatic system by William and John Hunter must 
be accepted as the most valuable. Up to this time the field MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
13 
of inquiry had not been explored to any great extent-many 
points were therefore unknown. The doctrine proposed by 
William Hunter, that the function of the lymphatic vessels was 
that of absorption, which he had verified in man, quadrupeds, 
and birds, was a great step in the progress of investigation. 
William Hewson, a pupil of John Hunter, discovered the pres- 
ence of lacteals and lymphatics in birds, reptiles, and fishes, 
thus completing the chain of evidence with regard to their 
function as absorbents. He also divided them into superficial 
and deep systems, both in the extremities and internal organs, 
and studied the intestinal villi. 
In 1786, Cruikshank confirmed the doctrine of Hunter that 
the lymphatic vessels were the only absorbents, and gave a 
minute account of their coats and valves and of the lymphatic 
glands. 
In the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the 
nineteenth centuries, great perfection in anatomical science was 
attained. This was manifested by the improved character of 
the systems published by anatomists and by the great advance 
made in the knowledge of the minute structure of animal tissues 
and of the development of the tissues and organs. Conspicuous 
among these systems were those of Sbmmering, Bichat, and 
Portal. That of Sbmmering appeared in German (1791-1796), 
then in Latin (1794-1800), again in German (1800-1801). 
Between 1841-1844 it was republished in eight volumes, in 
Leipsic, by Bischoff, Henle, and others, with additions and a 
large amount of new and accurate information. This work was 
the most elaborate system of anatomical knowledge of the 
date of its publication in 1844. It was translated into the 
French language by Jourdan in 1844, and published in 1846 
under the name of Encyclopedic Anatomique. 
Following the system of Sbmmering came the Anatomic 
Generate of Bichat, the eminent physiologist and surgeon; also 
his Anatomic Descriptive; then the works of Portal and 
Cruveilhier, authors of great distinction. 
Of the French school the most elaborate work was that of 14 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
Bougery, illustrated by large and beautifully colored plates of 
parts and organs-medical, physiological, and surgical anatomy. 
Many German authors published works on anatomy; among 
them of great value that of Joseph Hyrtl, a Manual on Topo- 
graphical and Surgical Anatomy. Henle's work was also very 
complete, and finished in 1873. 
In Great Britain, systematic treatises on anatomy were 
published by John Bell, Monro 3d, Quain, Sharpey, and others. 
Sir Astley Cooper and Sir William Lawrence issued works on 
special subjects. 
With this reference is ended the summary of the history of 
anatomy from the comprehensive treatise in the ninth edition 
of the Encyclopedia Britannica, contributed by the eminent 
professor of anatomy in the University of Edinburgh, William 
Turner, M.B., F.R.S. His masterful exposition of the whole 
subject covered completely the entire field of inquiry, collecting 
and collating all knowledge of the subject up to the date of his 
work. This valuable treatise with that of other authors, embodied 
in later works and in the current text-books on anatomy, make 
any effort to "evolve" the study of anatomy in this day and at 
this time, a reproduction of well-known facts, and beyond this 
endeavor the writer had no intention; his motive as previously 
stated was to place on record information, possibly of minor 
importance, but which may have a place in the discussion of 
surgical subjects which cannot avoid a close and ever-abiding 
relation to the science of anatomy, without a knowledge of 
which the science of surgery in its highest development cannot 
exist. 
As has been stated, the great advance made in the study of 
the science of anatomy began with the dissection of the human 
body. The manner in which bodies have been obtained for 
this purpose furnishes an interesting chapter in recording the 
progress which has been made. 
In the earlier days the bodies of condemned criminals were 
given for the purpose of dissection. Until authorized by law 
the bodies used in dissection were obtained largely by stealth MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
15 
from places of sepulchre. Those who practised dissection were 
socially ostracized, and legal enactments were directed against 
them. Later the commanding position of those who devoted 
themselves to the pursuit of anatomy gradually removed the 
prejudices, and laws were enacted giving the bodies of prisoners 
and paupers to investigators for the purpose of anatomical 
study. 
"Frederick II, Emperor of Germany (1215-1250), is said to 
have forbidden any one to practice surgery without a com- 
petent knowledge of anatomy, and to have provided that every 
five years there should be held at Salerno a public dissection 
to which physicians from all parts of the Empire were invited. 
The senate of Venice decreed in 1308 that a human body should 
be dissected annually. Philip II, of Spain, interrogated the 
faculty of the University of Salamanca, then the leading theo- 
logical school in Europe, as to whether dissection was permis- 
sible. After due deliberation, a reply was given that since knowl- 
edge of anatomy is useful to man dissection may be allowed." 
In Great Britain, in 1827, in the universities and medical 
schools, dissection was made compulsory and the demand for 
bodies became so great that it was impossible to supply it. This 
condition led to the organization of a body of men known as 
"resurrectionists," with branches in every large city, which 
supplied the needs of the institutions by systematically robbing 
graves. Among these were two men in Edinburgh, Burke and 
Hare, who resorted to the murder of poor and friendless persons 
whom they enticed into their dens, killing them by suffocation, 
and selling their bodies to the medical schools for dissection. 
This method of procedure gave rise to the term "Burking," 
which has today a place in the dictionaries, and describes the 
condition. Two men, Bishop and Williams, practised the same 
method in London. This crime was stopped in Great Britain, 
in 1832, by the enactment of an anatomy act, which legalized 
dissection and under restrictions gave available material to 
medical schools and to those authorized to use dead human 
bodies for dissection. In 1783, in the State of New York, a law 16 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
was enacted making it legal to dissect the bodies of executed 
criminals. 
It is suspected that until recent years, when in our own 
country anatomical laws have been enacted and enforced in 
several of the States, these methods were employed to obtain 
bodies which were sold to medical institutions. Grave-robbing 
was the usual method of obtaining bodies, not only by those who 
made a business of it, receiving in most instances large sums of 
money in order to compensate the parties engaged in the business 
for the great risks taken and the hazardous nature of their 
occupation, but also in small communities by students and even 
professors, whose needs for anatomical material compelled them 
to resort to such methods. 
These excursions have been in several instances attended 
with the receipt of gunshot wounds by those engaged in the 
enterprise, inflicted by officers of the law having the duty to 
protect cemeteries from such illegal invasions, or by friends who 
were doing guard duty. It has happened also that, through 
ignorance, the bodies of persons of position and influence in 
communities have been resurrected and have been found by 
relatives and friends (whose feelings were greatly outraged by 
this violation of the sacredness of sepulchre) in the dissecting 
rooms of colleges. 
A notable instance of this character occurred in one of the 
medical colleges of the West, where the body of the father of 
a most distinguished citizen, occupying a high place in the 
councils of the Nation, was found suspended by the neck in 
the "lift" of the anatomical room of the college. 
The enactment, soon after, of an anatomical law in that State 
stopped the business of the resurrectionist and gave inviolate 
protection to the graves of all. 
When the writer, quite a half century ago, began the teaching 
of anatomy it was very difficult to obtain anatomical material, 
and the cost, owing to the methods which were employed, was 
very great. On one occasion a resurrectionist was detected 
in his unlawful acts, was arrested, tried in court, convicted, and MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
17 
sentenced to a term of imprisonment. A professor of anatomy 
in a medical college, who was regarded as an accessory after 
the fact, was charged with conspiracy in the acts of the grave- 
robber, was arrested, tried, and acquitted, escaping conviction 
by a narrow margin. Practically, he had nothing to do with 
the acts of the grave-robber; he simply paid for bodies deposited 
in the college building, with the source of which he did not con- 
cern himself. Technically, possibly, he was particeps criminis 
in the sense of being a "quasi receiver of stolen goods." 
This case aroused great interest in the subject of obtaining 
dead human bodies by law for the promotion of medical science, 
and the teachers of anatomy under the guidance of Dr. W. W. 
Keen and the writer took active measures to secure the passage 
of a law of this character in the State of Pennsylvania. With 
great care and under legal advice an act was drafted and pre- 
sented by a committee, of which the writer was a member, to 
the State Legislature, then in session, accompanied by a petition 
praying for its enactment. 
The provisions of the law created a board, consisting of the 
teachers of anatomy and surgery in the medical schools and 
colleges of the commonwealth, which board after organization 
was to have entire control and charge of the receipt and dis- 
tribution of all dead human bodies which the terms of the law 
gave to it. Each teacher of anatomy was required to give to 
the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, in the county 
in which he resided, a bond in the penal sum of one thousand 
dollars, that he would obey the provisions of the law. Traffic 
in dead human bodies was punishable by fine and imprisonment. 
The officers of all municipal, county, and State institutions, 
having charge of the dead bodies of those unclaimed by blood 
or marriage relatives, to be buried at the public expense, were 
required to deliver such bodies to the board created under the 
law, all expenses to be borne by the board. The details of the 
conduct of the business of the board as to the distribution of 
the bodies coming into its charge to the institutions, schools, 
and those entitled to receive them was provided for by the rules 18 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
adopted by the board. Exemptions were made in cases of old 
soldiers and certain others. 
This law displaced one on the statute books of the State which 
was very defective, and was in all respects correctly drawn so 
as to protect the community and to promote medical science 
by giving in well-ordered manner dead human bodies for ana- 
tomical and surgical purposes. An essential feature of the law 
was the prevention of the traffic in dead human bodies which 
had existed before and which had wrought such shameful 
acts of spoliation of the resting-places of the dead. The law 
of 1867, displaced by the act of 1883, was limited in its execu- 
tion to two counties of the State, and gave the bodies of those 
who had no friends whose feelings could be wounded by their 
dissection. In 1855 a law had been enacted for the protection 
of burial grounds. A rigid and exacting rule of the board, 
requiring that a certificate of death made and signed by a 
reputable practitioner of medicine should accompany each 
dead body, made it impossible for any bodies to be delivered 
to the board unless under proper authority. 
Feeling the great importance of the introduction of the 
provisions of this law in a proper manner, the writer accepted 
the position of executive officer of the board created by it, and 
for several years was interested in its execution, in order that 
all who were entitled under the law and who had complied with 
its terms should receive an equitable distribution of anatomical 
material and at a cost which encouraged the liberal use of 
material for anatomical and surgical purposes. 
He was interested, as one of the features which attended 
the supply of dead bodies, in some of the acts practised by 
relatives who offered the dead bodies of members of their families 
to the anatomical board in order to escape the cost of interment. 
In all instances a certificate of death by a known reputable 
physician was required and the full consent of all parties related 
by blood or marriage was demanded to be placed on file in the 
records of the board. 
One instance was so unique in its character that a brief MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
19 
account may be interesting in this chronicle. A man of middle 
age, well-dressed as to hat, gloves, and top-coat, presented himself 
at the office of the board on one occasion and inquired whether 
the Anatomical Board purchased dead human bodies. On 
being informed that one of the purposes of the enactment of 
the anatomical law was to prevent traffic in dead human bodies, 
he stated he was ignorant of the law, and explained his reasons 
for making the inquiry to be a desire on the part of certain 
members of his family to obtain wearing apparel with the money 
received by the sale of the corpse. He was informed of the terms 
under which the board would receive the body, to which he 
agreed. He then stated that the body which was to be delivered 
to the board was that of his wife, who had not yet died, but who 
was ill and whose death was expected in a short time. With 
this statement he departed, and in three weeks returned with 
the information that death had occurred and requested that 
the undertaker in the service of the board would arrange a 
"little funeral" at his house. The services were held in the 
home of such character as belonged to well-to-do people and the 
body came into the possession of the board without any expense 
to the mourning family. One year later this husband of frugal 
mind died, and his daughters who desired to be adorned, as 
stated by him, their father, with wearing apparel purchased 
with money derived from the sale of their mother's dead body, 
arranged for the cremation of his body at the crematory where 
they had been informed by him the body of their mother had 
been cremated and her ashes sacredly in-urned. By tactful 
management the officers of the crematory accounted to the 
deceived daughters for the absence of the urn containing the 
ashes of their mother, and through the records of the Muni- 
cipal Board of Health traced the body to the Anatomical Board, 
which had in due order distributed it to the anatomical depart- 
ment of one of the medical institutions for dissection. The 
probate of the will of this devoted husband revealed an estate 
of thirty thousand dollars. No suspicion of foul play was 
entertained in this case, the death certificate signed by a well- 20 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OE THE STUDY OE ANATOMY 
known physician of the community, stated the cause of death 
to be "tuberculosis." 
Members of the medical profession have at times, by last will 
and testament, given their bodies to medical institutions for 
the promotion of medical science by dissection, the skeletons of 
which with certain organs were to be deposited in the museum 
of the institution. An act of this character on the part of one 
of the most eminent medical teachers of the country contributed 
his skeleton to a museum which has become in process of time, 
by many valuable additions, a most important department of 
instruction in a great medical school. 
In one of our cities, which for many years has been a centre 
of medical teaching and medical authorship, a number of promi- 
nent members of the medical profession, teachers, and authors 
some years ago entered into a pact to give by provision of their 
wills to a museum connected with the medical department of 
a university their brains for dissection and study. Already 
a number of brains have been deposited in this collection and 
valuable information has been accumulated. 
The preservation of dead human bodies for the purposes of 
dissection has been an important part of anatomical investigation. 
In order that a complete dissection, with proper study, should 
be made it was necessary that the body should be preserved in 
a condition as nearly natural as possible for an indefinite period. 
Not only should putrefaction be prevented, but the tissues and 
organs should be so treated as to retain the natural color-that 
present during life-and also a condition of flexibility through 
which the normal positions of organs and relations of parts 
were maintained. 
The earliest accounts recorded with regard to body preser- 
vation after death are found among the ancient Egyptians, 
who carried the art of embalming to a high degree of perfection. 
Two reasons were assigned for this practice: (i) the scarcity 
of wood which prevented cremation, and (2) the impossibility 
of maintaining permanent interment in the ground owing to the 
recurring inundations of the Nile, and consequently the occur- MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
21 
rence of serious unsanitary conditions by disinterment of bodies 
in states of putrefaction. Religious beliefs with regard to the 
resurrection of the body and a future life, it is stated, have also 
inspired certain peoples to preserve the embalmed bodies of 
their dead with solicitude. The process of embalming consisted 
in evisceration with as little mutilation as possible, the brain 
being removed through the nostrils by a bent iron implement, 
and with the injection of drugs. Various medicaments, notably 
aromatics, were injected into the cavities and the body immersed 
for a varying period of time in a solution of natron. 
The early anatomists, as well as those in modern times, em- 
ployed various methods of embalming. William Hunter used 
essential oils, alcohol, cinnabar, camphor, saltpetre, and pitch or 
resin. Tar, salt, asphalt, Peruvian bark, camphor, cinnamon 
and other aromatics, and corrosive sublimate have been used; 
also the chloride and sulphate of zinc, the acetate and sulphate 
of aluminum, creosote and carbolic acid. 
Before the occurrence of the Civil War, and some time after, 
the methods of preservation of bodies for dissection were crude 
and defective. A strong solution of the chloride of zinc was 
injected into the arteries, using either the aorta or femoral 
arteries for the purpose, and the bodies, doubled up, were placed 
in large casks containing alcohol, the price of alcohol at this 
time making it a fairly economical procedure. When wanted 
for dissection the bodies were removed from the casks in a 
state of rigidity which required soaking in a tank of water for 
several days before it was possible to restore them to normal 
shape. Then a solution of plaster of Paris was injected into 
the arteries to facilitate their recognition in dissection. 
When the cost of alcohol, by reason of post-bellum taxes, 
became prohibitive, bodies after the chloride of zinc injections 
had been made were kept in tanks containing a saturated salt 
solution. Bodies injected with the chloride of zinc solution 
as a preservative were very defective for dissection purposes 
by reason of the bleaching of the tissues which resulted and the 
tendency of the parts to undergo desiccation. In order to 22 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
overcome these conditions several other agents, notably the 
bichloride of mercury and carbolic acid, were tried; but these 
Fig. 3.-Casks containing bodies in alcohol. 
Fig. 4.-Tank containing bodies in salt solution. MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OE THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
23 
Fig. 5.-Cold-storage vault containing bodies for dissection. 24 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
failed to preserve the tissues and organs of the bodies in a fit 
condition for a sufficient length of time to permit complete 
dissection. The perfection of cadaver preservation for anatomi- 
cal purposes came with the use of cold-storage vaults, in which 
the subjects were placed and kept in a temperature sufficiently 
low to prevent putrefactive changes-400 to 500 Fahrenheit. 
To the agents above enumerated, carbolic acid, creosote, 
alcohol, saltpetre, glycerin, arsenate of soda, and formalde- 
hyde may be added in solution and thrown into the arteries 
by gravity. The color of the tissues is not changed by these 
agents, and the cadaver when taken from the refrigerator and 
thawed is in excellent condition for dissection. Instead of 
plaster of Paris, melted wax or a solution of starch colored 
with vermilion may be used to fill the arteries and arterioles 
to assist in their dissection. 
The methods employed in disposal of the remains left after 
dissection of bodies have varied. Originally they were thrown 
into a pit and a solution of lime poured in so as to promote 
destruction. In one institution the most reverent care is taken 
of the bodies and of the remains. The bodies are brought to 
the institution in coffins, in which all portions of the dissected 
remains are placed and every care to preserve the identity of each 
body taken. The institution, in a burial ground owned by it, 
inters the remains and marks the grave by a suitable head- 
stone. The modern method accomplishes the destruction of the 
remains by incineration in a suitable furnace. 
The methods of teaching anatomy to students have under- 
gone changes which have kept progress with the development 
and growth of the science. Since the time when Vesalius "pro- 
claimed openly that the structure of man should be learned by 
the inspection of the human body, true knowledge could alone 
be obtained by the study of this, the only correct authority 
the body of man itself," and Harvey stated that "he taught 
anatomy not from books but from dissections, not from the 
suppositions of philosophers but from the fabric of nature," 
instruction in anatomy has been conducted by teachers by MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
25 
lectures illustrated by demonstrations on the dissected cadaver 
before the entire class of students with practical instruction in 
the anatomical room; the students in sections being required 
to dissect, under supervision of a demonstrator, the entire body 
and to be submitted at intervals of time to an examination on 
the work which has been done. In the surgical laboratory the 
special work embraced the study of the surgical relations of the 
different structures, muscles, bloodvessels, and nerves, the 
knowledge of which with that of the topographical relations 
is so important to the surgeon and constitutes the ground-work 
of his skill. 
As the structures of the body are continuous in substance 
and correlated in function the writer has always felt in his teach- 
ing that the one intending to become a specialist in the practice 
of any of the branches of medicine should receive instruction in 
anatomy in its entirety. Study by dissection only of the parts 
which contained the organs or of the organs themselves which 
constituted his practice, gives the specialist a very imperfect 
knowledge of the important relations the component parts of 
these organs bear to the general structures and organs of the 
body of which they are a part. Entertaining this opinion he 
was the first in the history of anatomical instruction, so far as 
he knows, to require that students in dentistry in the institution 
in which he was the professor of anatomy should be required 
to receive instructions in the anatomy of the entire human 
body, and in the anatomical laboratory dissect in order the 
entire body. Furthermore, during the period of instruction 
the student was submitted to periodical examinations, and in 
the final examination for the degree, examination on the entire 
subject held a place of importance and of value in same respect 
as that of the special subjects taught. It is not possible for the 
purposes of intelligent instruction to separate special organs of 
the body, as the eye, the ear, or the teeth, and their associated 
parts, from the rest of the body, or to destroy their important 
relation, hence the importance of the study of anatomy by 
those who engage in the practice of specialties. 26 
MEARS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE STUDY OF ANATOMY 
In the early days of the writer's experience in surgical work 
importance was given by the great masters to the necessity of 
well-grounded instruction in the principles of the science of 
surgery-these were basic in character and preceded instruction 
in the practise. In the hands of the true surgeon the knife is 
simply an instrument, guided by the knowledge which he has 
acquired of the morbid conditions which involve a state of normal 
health, or by progressive development which jeopardizes life. 
This knowledge is gained by study, investigation, and the 
lessons of experience. The study of the etiology of disease 
claimed earnest attention then as it does in this day, when by 
the perfected laboratories of research and the faithful devotion 
of able investigators, the quest for the causes and the agents of 
relief of destroying diseases is unremittingly conducted, and the 
victories achieved in the contest contribute in ever-increasing 
beneficial results to the well-being and welfare of the human race. Fig. 6.-" The Lesson in Anatomy in the Twentieth Century"-conducted by Prof. E. A. Spitzka, 
of the Jefferson Medical College, on the anatomy of the brain, in the amphitheatre in which the writer 
taught anatomy for many years.