History of Anatomy - 19th Century Anatomy

19th Century Anatomy

During the 19th century, anatomists largely finalised and systematised the descriptive human anatomy of the previous century. The discipline also progressed to establish growing sources of knowledge in histology and developmental biology, not only of humans but also of animals. Extensive research was conducted in more areas of anatomy. Great Britain was particularly important in this research: demand for cadavers grew so great there that body-snatching and even anatomy murder came into use as a means of obtaining them. In response, the English Parliament passed the Anatomy Act 1832, which finally provided for an adequate and legitimate supply of corpses by allowing dissection of destitutes. The relaxed restrictions on dissection provided a suitable environment for Gray's Anatomy, a text that was a collective effort and became widely popular. Now seen as unwieldy, Gray's Anatomy was born out of a need to create a single volume on anatomy for the traveling doctor.

The shift from the largely public displays of dissection in anatomy theatres to dissections carried out in classrooms meant that there was a drastic change in who could observe a dissection. Females for example, who at this time were not allowed to attend medical school, could broaden their knowledge by attending the anatomy theatres. So the shift from prosection to dissection meant a reduction in the number of people that could benefit from a single cadaver. At this point as well tighter regulation of the medical profession and donations of bodies resulted in various implications for carrying out dissections. Private medical schools which offered summer schools and various other courses involving cadaveric dissection allowed one route into gaining membership to the Royal College of Surgeons. However from 1822 the Royal College of surgeons would no longer accept these qualifications, this as result would see these largely unregulated schools begin to close. Not only as a result of this, but the Anatomy Act 1832 made it much harder (more bureaucracy) to obtain bodies for dissection. The act resulted in only the large teaching hospitals feasibly being able to continue teaching anatomy courses due to agreements with patients that if they donated their body they would receive free treatment. So towards the end of 19th century anatomy courses had been largely professionalised at established medical schools and public dissection was no longer common place.

Another source of anatomy teaching began with the foundation of many medical schools (particularly within the provincial medical schools) and the medical museums found within them. A large portion of training occurred within these up until and for some time after the Second World War. The medical museum was very important and a lot of effort was put into creating something impressive. This was particularly so in provincial medical schools which were just being established that needed credibility not only from other medical schools (namely Oxford and the London teaching hospitals) but also from the public. The museums were not only for students but also members of the public paid to see the exhibits within the museum. This brought not only much needed income but prestige as well. The more exhibits within the museum the more established the medical school appeared to be (at least to the public). Significant amounts of teaching occurred in the museum as well with students claiming they learnt far more in the museum than they ever did in the lecture theatre. The decline of the museums within medical schools was largely due to the demand in floor space for teaching and new disciplines and less importantly the great improvements in photography and colour texts. For example the museum at Birmingham Medical School is now a computer cluster and teaching rooms, the only remains of the museum are the preserved specimens decorating the walls around the computer cluster.