Editing History of anatomy (section)

==Ancient anatomy==
===Egypt===
{{Main| Ancient Egyptian anatomical studies}}
{{see also|Cardiocentric hypothesis}}
[[File:Hieroglyphic-brain.png|thumb|[[Hieroglyph]] designating the brain or skull in the [[Edwin Smith Papyrus|Edwin Smith papyrus]].]]
The study of [[anatomy]] begins at least as early as [[1600 BC]], the date of the [[Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus]]. This treatise shows that the [[heart]], its vessels, [[liver]], [[spleen]], [[kidneys]], [[hypothalamus]], [[uterus]], and [[Urinary bladder|bladder]] were recognized,{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} and that the [[blood vessel]]s were known to emanate from the heart. Other vessels are described; some carrying air, some [[mucus]], and two to the right [[ear]] are said to carry the "breath of life",{{clarify|date=August 2014}} while two to the left ear, the "breath of death".{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}The [[Ebers Papyrus]] (c. 1550 BC) features a treatise on the heart. It notes that the heart is the center of blood supply, and attached to it are vessels for every member of the body. The Egyptians seem to have known little about the function of the kidneys and the brain, and made the heart the meeting point of a number of vessels which carried all the fluids of the body—[[blood]], [[tears]], [[urine]], and [[semen]]. However, they did not have a theory as to where [[saliva]] and sweat came from.<ref name="Porter1999">{{cite book|last=Porter|first=Roy|title=The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (The Norton History of Science)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igGdz9g7tmAC|access-date=17 November 2013|date=1999-10-17|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=9780393319804|pages=49–50}}</ref>

===Ancient Greece===
Much of the nomenclature, methods, and applications for the study of anatomy can be traced back to the works of the ancient Greeks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Charles|title=A Short History of Anatomy & Physiology from Greeks to Harvey|year=1957|publisher=[[Dover Publications|Dover Publications Inc.]]|location=NEw York|page=5}}</ref> In the fifth-century BCE, the philosopher [[Alcmaeon of Croton|Alcmaeon]] may have been one of the first to have dissected animals for anatomical purposes, and possibly identified the optic nerves and [[Eustachian tube]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Charles|title=A Short History of Anatomy & Physiology from Greeks to Harvey|year=1957|publisher=Dover Publications Inc.|location=NEw York|page=7}}</ref> Ancient physicians such as [[Acron]], [[Pausanias of Sicily|Pausanias]], and [[Philistion of Locri]] may had also conducted anatomical investigations. Another important philosopher at the time was [[Empedocles]], who viewed blood as the ''innate heat'' and argued that the heart was the chief organ of the body and the source of ''[[pneuma]]'' (this could refer to either breath or soul), which was distributed by the blood vessels.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Charles|title=A Short History of Anatomy & Physiology from Greeks to Harvey|year=1957|publisher=Dover Publications Inc.|location=NEw York|page=10}}</ref>

Many medical texts by various authors are collected in the ''[[Hippocratic Corpus]]'', none of which can definitely be ascribed to [[Hippocrates]] himself. The texts show an understanding of [[musculoskeletal]] structure, and the beginnings of understanding of the function of certain organs, such as the kidneys. The Hippocratic work, ''On the Heart'', for example, contributed a great deal of knowledge to the field of anatomy, even as many of its assumptions regarding physiology were incorrect.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Wallisa |last2=Salandy |first2=Sonja |last3=Mandal |first3=Gaurav |last4=Holda |first4=M. K. |last5=Tomaszewksi |first5=K. A. |last6=Gielecki |first6=Jerzy |last7=Tubbs |first7=R. Shane |last8=Loukas |first8=Marios |date=2019-11-01 |title=Across the centuries: Piecing together the anatomy of the heart |journal=Translational Research in Anatomy |volume=17 |pages=100051 |doi=10.1016/j.tria.2019.100051 |issn=2214-854X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The philosopher [[Aristotle]] (4th century BCE), alongside some of his contemporaries, labored to produce a system that made room for empirical research. Through his work with animal [[dissection]]s and [[biology]], Aristotle engaged in [[comparative anatomy]]. Around this time, [[Praxagoras]] may have been the first to identify the difference between [[artery|arteries]] and [[vein]]s, though some specifics of the distinction he offered—such as his hypothesis that arteries carry air while veins carry blood—were incorrect.<ref name=":2" />

In the [[Hellenistic period]], the first recorded school of anatomy was formed in [[Alexandria]] from the late fourth century to the second century BCE.<ref name="Siddiquey 2009">{{cite journal|last=Siddiquey|first=Ak Shamsuddin Husain|title=History of Anatomy|journal=Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy|year=2009|volume=7 | issue = 1|pages=1–3|doi=10.3329/bja.v7i1.3008|doi-access=free}}</ref> Beginning with [[Ptolemy I Soter]], medical officials were allowed to cut open and examine [[cadaver]]s for the purposes of learning how human bodies operated. The first use of human bodies for anatomical research occurred in the work of [[Herophilos]] and [[Erasistratus]], who gained permission to perform live dissections, or [[vivisection]], on condemned criminals in Alexandria under the auspices of the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]]. Herophilos in particular developed a body of anatomical knowledge much more informed by the actual structure of the human body than previous works had been. He also reversed the longstanding notion made by Aristotle that the heart was the "seat of intelligence", arguing for the brain instead.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Charles|title=A Short History of Anatomy & Physiology from Greeks to Harvey|year=1957|publisher=Dover Publications Inc.|location=NEw York|page=29}}</ref> He also wrote on the distinction between veins and arteries, and made many other accurate observations about the structure of the human body, especially the nervous system.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bay|first1=Noel Si-Yang|last2=Bay|first2=Boon-Huat|date=December 2010|title=Greek anatomist herophilus: the father of anatomy|journal=Anatomy & Cell Biology|volume=43|issue=4|pages=280–283|doi=10.5115/acb.2010.43.4.280|issn=2093-3665|pmc=3026179|pmid=21267401}}</ref>

===Galen===
[[File:Galen finding skeleton. Wellcome L0013635.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Galen examining a [[human skeleton]].]]
The final major anatomist of ancient times was [[Galen]], active in the second century CE.<ref name="Siddiquey 2009"/> He was born in the ancient Greek city of [[Pergamon]] (now in Turkey) as the son of a successful architect, who gave him a liberal education. Galen was instructed in all major philosophical schools (Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, and Epicureanism) until his father, moved by a dream of [[Asclepius]], decided he should study medicine. After his father's death, Galen searched abroad for the best doctors in [[Smyrna]], [[Corinth]], and finally [[Alexandria]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nutton|first=V.|date=2002|title=Logic, Learning, and Experimental Medicine|journal=Science|volume=295|issue=5556|pages=800–801|language=EN|doi=10.1126/science.1066244|pmid=11823624|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hankinson|first=R. J.|title=Partitioning the Soul|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110311884.85/html|chapter=Partitioning the Soul: Galen on the Anatomy of the Psychic Functions and Mental Illness|publisher=De Gruyter|year=2014|pages=85–106|language=en|doi=10.1515/9783110311884.85|isbn=9783110311884|access-date=2021-09-05|archive-date=2021-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905205621/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110311884.85/html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Galen compiled much of the knowledge obtained by his predecessors, and furthered the inquiry into the function of organs by performing [[dissection]]s and [[vivisection]]s on [[Barbary macaque|Barbary apes]], [[ox]]en, [[pig]]s, and other animals. Due to a lack of readily available human specimens, discoveries through animal dissection were broadly applied to human anatomy as well. In 158 CE, Galen served as chief physician to the gladiators in his native [[Pergamum|Pergamon]]. Through his position, Galen was able to study all kinds of wounds without performing any actual human dissection, and was able to view much of the abdominal cavity. His study on pigs and apes, however, gave him more detailed information about the organs, and provided the basis for his medical works. Around 100 of these works survive today —the most for any ancient Greek author—and comprise 22 volumes of modern text.

Anatomy was a prominent part of Galen's medical education and was a major source of interest throughout his life. He wrote two great anatomical works, ''On anatomical procedure'' and ''On the uses of the parts of the body of man''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Charles|title=A Short History of Anatomy & Physiology from Greeks to Harvey|year=1957|publisher=Dover Publications Inc.|location=NEw York|page=47}}</ref> The information in these tracts became the foundation of authority for all medical writers and physicians for the next 1300 years, until they were challenged by [[Vesalius]] and [[William Harvey|Harvey]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630 | publisher=Fontana | author=Boas, Marie | year=1970 | pages=120, 248|quote="Vesalius, finding Galen's teachings full of errors, was quite certain that he had been able to disprove them."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630 | publisher=Fontana | author=Boas, Marie | year=1970 | page=262|quote="Like any sixteenth-century anatomist, [Harvey] too began working off of Galen's teachings, and managed to interpret Galen's words in such a way to win support for his new doctrine."}}</ref>

It was through his experiments that Galen was able to overturn many long-held beliefs, such as the theory that the arteries contained air, which it carried from the heart and lungs to all parts of the body. This belief was based originally on the arteries of dead animals, which had appeared empty. Galen was able to demonstrate that living arteries contain blood, but his error, which became the established medical orthodoxy for centuries, was to assume that the blood goes back and forth from the heart in an ebb-and-flow motion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pasipoularides|first=Ares|date=March 1, 2014|title=Galen, father of systematic medicine. An essay on the evolution of modern medicine and cardiology|journal=International Journal of Cardiology|volume=172|issue=1|pages=47–58|doi=10.1016/j.ijcard.2013.12.166|pmid=24461486}}</ref> Galen also made the mistake of assuming that the circulatory system was entirely open-ended.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aird|first=W. C.|date=2011|title=Discovery of the cardiovascular system: from Galen to William Harvey|journal=Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis|language=en|volume=9|issue=s1|pages=118–129|doi=10.1111/j.1538-7836.2011.04312.x|pmid=21781247|s2cid=12092592|issn=1538-7836|doi-access=free}}</ref> Galen believed that all blood was absorbed by the body and had to be regenerated via the liver using food and water.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Neder|first=J. Alberto|date=2020-06-01|title=Cardiovascular and pulmonary interactions: why Galen's misconceptions proved clinically useful for 1,300 years|journal=Advances in Physiology Education|volume=44|issue=2|pages=225–231|doi=10.1152/advan.00058.2020|pmid=32412380|s2cid=218648041|issn=1043-4046|doi-access=free}}</ref> Galen viewed the cardiovascular system as a machine in which blood acts as fuel rather than a system that constantly recirculates.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fleming|first=Donald|date=1955|title=Galen on the Motions of the Blood in the Heart and Lungs|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/226820|journal=Isis|volume=46|issue=1|pages=14–21|doi=10.1086/348379|jstor=226820|pmid=14353581|s2cid=29583656|issn=0021-1753|access-date=2021-12-07|archive-date=2021-12-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202175711/https://www.jstor.org/stable/226820|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although Galen correctly identified some of the organs involved in the vascular system, many of their functions were not properly identified. Galen believed that the liver, for example, played a vital role in the circulatory system by creating all nutritious blood in the body. The heart, according to him, kept the body warm and mixed the two types of blood via pores in the wall that separates the left and right ventricles.<ref name=":1" /> Galen also proposed that the heart's warmth was what allowed the lungs to expand and inhale air.<ref name=":1" /> In contrast, Galen viewed the lungs as a cooling region in the body that also worked to expel sooty waste products from the body as they contracted. Additionally, Galen believed that the lungs kept the heart functioning properly by reducing the amount of blood in the right atrium—for if the right atrium contained too much blood, the pores in the heart would not dilate properly.<ref name=":1" />