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In the late 19th and early 20th century it was commonplace for educational skeletons to be made from real bodies, frequently sold by poor Indian families. This
by GJim 2y ago
In the late 19th and early 20th century it was commonplace for educational skeletons to be made from real bodies, frequently sold by poor Indian families. This only stopped when plastic became a practical option.
And before somebody cries foul; education is very important, and real bodies were once the only source of durable anatomically correct teaching skeletons.
- giarc 2y agoA colleague of mine studied physiology and anatomy at McGill University likely in the 1970s. She said the cadavers were mainly unclaimed bodies of homeless people from the city of Montreal. The rule was that all work was to be done in the university labs, but she said students often snuck body parts out to conduct dissection work after hours in their dorm rooms. A lot has changed in the field, but it wasn't that long ago that we treated the dead like a tool.
- wslh 2y agoMedical schools in countries like Argentina use cadavers as an essential tool for teaching anatomy, allowing students to gain hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of human anatomy.
- bhickey 2y agoYou may have misunderstood the above comment. While using cadavers in medical education is commonplace, _taking body parts home_ is no longer the norm.
- chasil 2y agoHowever, cadaver parts are now surgically implanted in patients for a variety of reasons, and those are certainly taken home. A quick search results in "allograft bone." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_grafting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_grafting
- fluoridation 2y agoHow is that related to medical students taking body parts out of a lab and dissecting them at home?
- chasil 2y agoThe body parts are going home. In some contexts, this is forbidden, unorthodox, or expected.
- throw_pm23 2y agoTimes have changed, now the living are treated no better. I kid, I kid.
- lemonberry 2y agoIn Michael Crichton's, "Travels", he discusses his experience dissecting a human body while in med school. The two most memorable bits: 1) the dissection triggered a hunger response in people and 2) they kept the hands covered to help the students dehumanize the body. I don't mean "dehumanize" in the sense of removing their dignity, but the hands apparently can make it more difficult to study the body as a subject and not a dead human. I read it years ago, but remember really enjoying it.
- pstrateman 2y ago>the dissection triggered a hunger response in people this is supposedly from the formaldehyde
- lemonberry 2y agoI had never heard this, but yeah, that's a thing. Thank you.
- mncharity 2y agoIn 18th to early 19th century US/England, body snatching aka grave robbing was a common activity of medical students. And in England, it was a profession. As was guarding the freshly buried against such. When New York Hospital and Columbia didn't limit themselves to blacks, you got the 1788 Doctors' Riot and several deaths. A riot at Yale in 1824. I wonder if you could teach history by emphasizing "surprises for the time traveler"?