Homer exhibits a certain amount of anatomical knowledge in his description of wounds in the Iliad. Pythagoras first reasoned physiologically from observations made by him when in Egypt, where lie witnessed the sacrifices, and also the Egyptian methods of embalming. Alcmeon of Crotona, a disciple of Pythagoras, first dissected animals with the view of obtaining comparative knowledge of human A. Democritus, who frequented the sepulchres, probably with anatomical views, practiced zootomy, and was engaged dissecting animals when visited by Hippocrates. Hippocrates II., descended in the eighteenth degree from tEsculapius, and born at Cos in 35 A.M., was the first author who treats A. as a science. He caused a skeleton of brass to be cast, which he con secrated to the Delphian Apollo, with the view of transmitting to posterity proofs of the progress he had made, and of stimulating others to the study of A. Aristotle, who lived 384 B.C., does not appear to have dissected men; and he states that the parts of man are unknown to them, or that they possess nothing certain on the subject beyond what they can draw from the probable resemblance of the corresponding parts of other animals. He first gave the name aorta to the great artery.
Diodes (380 n.c.) was the first who treated of the proper manner of conducting anatomical examinations for purposes of demonstration. But no real progress in A. was made, owing to the researches being confined to animals, till the time of Erasistratus, who was b. at Ceos about 300 B. c., and who was the first to dissect human bodies. He obtained from Seleucus Nicanor and Antiochus Soter the bodies of criminals, and is said to have dissected some condemned to death while they were still alive. His writings are lost, but fragments are preserved in the writings of Galen. He made many discoveries, among others, of the lacteal vessels. Herophilus, who lived about the same time, was b. at Carthage, but carried on his anatomical pursuits principally at Alexandria. He also is said to have dissected living subjects. Parthenius, who lived 200 years B.C., published a book, entitled On the Dissection of the Human Body. In the first chapter of the Christian era, the dissection of human subjects was forbidden, under heavy penalties. Rufus the Ephesian, who lived 112 A.D., under the empire of Trajan, taught A. in a more exact manner than had been hitherto done, and devised a more exact anatomical nomenclature. He made use of animals in his demonstrations, and mentions that " of old they used for that purpose human bodies." Galen (131 A.D.) dissected apes, as being most like human subjects, though he occasionally obtained bodies of children exposed in the fields, or of persons found murdered, which, however, he was obliged to dissect in secret. There was at this time
no regularly prepared skeleton, as there was a law at Rome forbidding the use of dead bodies. Galeu's writings show a knowledge of human A. Soranus had extensive knowledge of A., derived from human subjects. Moschion had some anatomical illustra tions engraved. Oribasius compiled more than 70 volumes, the 24th and 25th being on A., principally from Galen.
Nemesius, bishop of Nemesus, a t. in Phoenicia, cultivated A. at the end of the 4th c., in which also Meletius lived, who wrote a complete treatise On the Nature and Structure of Nan. Theophilus, a monk, published in the 7th c. a good abridgment of the A. of Galen.
A. made small progress among the Arabs, which is accounted for by their religion prohibiting contact with dead bodies. When the great Arabian physician, Rhazes, was about to be operated on for cataract, he discovered that the surgeon was ignorant of the structures of the eye, and refused to submit to the operation. Avicenna (980 A.D.), b. in the province of Khorasan, was a good osteologist, and described some structures not alluded to by Galen.
A. was now neglected for a long period, till Frederick II., king of Sicily (1194-1250), made a law forbidding any one to practice surgery without having first acquired some knowledge of A. He founded a chair at the solicitation of Martianus, his chief phy sician, where the science was demonstrated for five years; students from all parts crowded to it, and, some time after, a similar school was established at Bologna—these two were largely attended, but no very material progress was made in A.
The university of Montpellier was founded by pope Nicholas IV. in 1284, and the chair of A. was filled by Bernard Gordon with great distinction for ten years. He pub lished a huge work, called lillium Nedicince.
Mundinus, b. at Milan, 1315, professed A. there, and is considered the real restorer of A. in Italy. He publicly demonstrated it, and published a work which was the text book in the academy of Padua 200 years after its publication. Then came Guy de Chauliac, who first correctly described the humerus. Mathnus of Grado published several anatomical works about 1480. Gabriel de Zerbus, in 1495, published a confused and imperfect work on A. at Verona. The science continued to be studied by surgeons such as Vigo (1516), Achillinus, and Berenger (Carpi), (1518), who boasted of having dissected at Bologna more than a hundred subjects. Reports were raised that he dis sected living Spaniards, and he fled or was exiled to Ferrara.