Dissection on Display: Cadavers, Anatomists and Public Spectacle

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Since Herophilus, the
father of anatomy,
performed the first public human dissection in the third century B.C.E., audiences have been spellbound by the cutting apart of cadavers. This volume traces the past and present of public dissection, from Herophilus’s first cuts to the revival of anatomy as entertainment through spectacles like Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds. From Italian anatomy theaters to American dissecting laboratories, it chronicles the attacks on anatomy in the Middle Ages, the influence of Renaissance anatomist Andreas Vesalius, the procurement of bodies through execution and body snatchers, and the withdrawal of dissectors behind medical school doors in the early 20th century. This history reveals that the anatomical spectacle is not new, but has remained in the gray area between education and entertainment for centuries.