Anatomy - what kind of science is this? History of Anatomy

Biology is one of the largest and largest sciences in the modern world. It includes a number of different sciences and sections, each of which is engaged in the study of certain mechanisms in the work of living systems, their vital functions, structure, molecular structure and so on.

One of these sciences is precisely the interesting, very ancient, but still relevant science of anatomy.

What is studying

Anatomy is a science that studies the internal structure and morphological characteristics of the human body, as well as human development in the process of phylogenesis, ontogenesis and anthropogenesis.

The subject of study of anatomy is:

• the shape of the human body and all its organs;
• the structure of organs and the human body;
• the origin of people;
• individual development of each organism (ontogenesis).

The object of study of this science is man and all the external and internal structural features that he has.

Anatomy itself as a science has developed a very long time, since interest in the structure and functioning of internal organs has always been relevant to humans. However, modern anatomy includes a number of related sections of biological science, which are closely related to it and are considered, as a rule, in a complex manner. These are sections of anatomy such as:

1. Systematic anatomy.
2. Topographic or surgical.
3. Dynamic.
4. Plastic
5. Age.
6. Comparative.
7. Pathological.
8. Clinical.

Thus, human anatomy is a science that studies everything that at least somehow relates to the structure of the human body and its physiological processes. In addition, this science is closely connected and interacts with such budding from it and becoming independent sciences, such as:

• Anthropology is the doctrine of a person as such, his position in the system of the organic world and interaction with society and the environment. Social and biological characteristics of a human being, consciousness, psyche, character, behavior.
• Physiology is the science of all the processes taking place inside the human body (mechanisms of sleep and wakefulness, inhibition and excitement, nerve impulses and their conduction, humoral and nervous regulation, and so on).
• Comparative anatomy - studies the embryonic development and structure of different organs, as well as their systems, while comparing the embryos of animals of different classes, taxa.
• Evolutionary doctrine - the doctrine of the origin and formation of man from the time of his appearance on the planet to the present day (phylogenesis), as well as proof of the unity of the entire biomass of our planet.
• Genetics - the study of the human genetic code, mechanisms for storing and transmitting hereditary information from generation to generation.

As a result, we see that human anatomy is a completely harmonious complex combination of many sciences. Thanks to their work, people know a lot about the human body and all its mechanisms.

History of Anatomy

Anatomy discovers its roots in ancient times. Indeed, from the very moment a person appeared, he was interested in knowing what is inside him, why, if he gets hurt, there is blood, what it is, why a person breathes, sleeps, eats. From ancient times all these questions haunted many representatives of the human race.

However, the answers to them did not come immediately. It took more than one century to accumulate a sufficient amount of theoretical and practical knowledge and give a complete and detailed answer to most questions about the work of the human body.

The history of the development of anatomy is conventionally divided into three main periods:

• anatomy of the ancient world;
• anatomy of the Middle Ages;
• new time.

Let's consider each stage in more detail.

Ancient world

The peoples who became the founders of the science of anatomy, the first people who are interested and describe the structure of the internal organs of man are the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Persians. Representatives of precisely these civilizations gave rise to anatomy as a science, comparative anatomy and embryology, as well as evolution and psychology. We will consider in detail their contribution in the form of a table.

Middle Ages

This period is characterized by ruin and decline in the development of any sciences, as well as the dominance of the church, which forbade autopsy, research and study of animal anatomy, considered it a sin. Therefore, significant changes and discoveries were not made at this time.

But the Renaissance, on the contrary, gave many impetus to the modern state of medicine and anatomy. The main contribution was made by three scientists:

1. Leonardo da Vinci. He can be considered the founder of plastic anatomy. He applied his artistic talents for the benefit of anatomy, created over 700 drawings that accurately depict muscles, the skeleton. The anatomy of organs and their topography are shown to them clearly and correctly. For work, he was engaged in autopsy.
2. Jacob Silvius. The teacher of many anatomists of his time. He opened the furrows in the structure of the brain.
3. Andeas Vesalius. A very talented doctor who devoted many years to a thorough study of anatomy. He carried out his observations on the basis of autopsy, he learned a lot about the bones from the materials collected at the cemetery. The work of his whole life is a seven-volume book "On the structure of the human body." His works caused a confrontation among the masses, since in his understanding of anatomy is such a science that should be studied in practice. This contradicted the writings of Galen, who were at that time in high esteem.
4. William Harvey. His main work was the treatise "Anatomical study of the movement of the heart and blood in animals." He was the first to prove that blood moves in a vicious circle of vessels, from large to small through the smallest tubes. He also belongs to the first statement that each animal develops from an egg and in the process of its development repeats the entire historical development of the living as a whole (modern biogenetic law).
5. Fallopius, Eustachius, Willis, Glisson, Azelli, Pecay, Bertolini - the names of those scientists of this era who, through their works, gave a complete picture of what human anatomy is. This is an invaluable contribution that gave rise to a modern start in the development of this science.

New time

This period belongs to the XIX - XX centuries and is characterized by a number of very important discoveries. All of them could be perfect thanks to the invention of the microscope. Marcello Malpigi supplemented and substantiated practically what Harvey had predicted at the time - the presence of capillaries. The scientist Shumlyansky confirmed this with his work, and also proved the cyclical nature and isolation of the circulatory system.

Also, a number of discoveries made it possible to disclose the concept of "anatomy" in more detail. These were the following works:

• Galvani Luigi. This man made a huge contribution to the development of physics, since he discovered electricity. However, he also managed to consider the presence of electrical impulses in animal tissues. So he became the founder of electrophysiology.
• Caspar Wolf. He refuted the theory of preformism, which claimed that all organs exist in a reduced form in the reproductive cell, and then simply grow. He became the founder of embryogenesis.
• Louis Pasteur. As a result of many years of experiments, he proved the existence of bacteria. Developed vaccination methods.
• Jean Baptiste Lamarck. He made a huge contribution to evolutionary teachings. He was the first to express the idea that man, like all living things, develops under the influence of the environment.
• Karl Baer. He opened the sexual cell of the female body, described the germ layers and gave rise to the development of knowledge about ontogenesis.
• Charles Darwin. He made a huge contribution to the development of evolutionary teachings and explained the origin of man. He proved the unity of all life on the planet.
• Pirogov, Mechnikov, Sechenov, Pavlov, Botkin, Ukhtomsky, Burdenko are the names of Russian scientists of the 19th-20th centuries, who gave a complete idea that anatomy is a whole science, complex, multifaceted and comprehensive. Medicine is obliged to their works in many questions. They were the pioneers of the mechanisms of immunity, higher nervous activity, spinal cord and nervous regulation, as well as many issues of genetics. Severtsov founded a direction in anatomy - evolutionary morphology, which was based on the biogenetic law (authors - Haeckel, Darwin, Kovalevsky, Baer, ​​Mueller).

All these people owe their development to anatomy. Biology is a whole complex of sciences, but anatomy is the oldest and most valuable of them, since it affects the most important thing - human health.

What is clinical anatomy?

Clinical anatomy is an intermediate section between topographic and surgical anatomy. She considers the issues of building the general plan of a particular body. For example, if it is a larynx, then before the operation the doctor needs to know the general position of this organ in the body, what it is connected with and how it interacts with other organs.

Today, clinical anatomy is very widespread. Often you can find expressions of the clinical anatomy of the nose, pharynx, throat, or any other organ. Clinical anatomy will just tell you what components this organ is made up of, where it is located, what it borders on, what role it plays and so on.

Each narrow profile specialist knows the fully clinical anatomy of the organ that he is working on. This is the key to successful treatment.

Age anatomy

Age-related anatomy is a branch of this science that studies human ontogenesis. That is, it considers all the processes that accompany it from the moment of conception and the stage of the embryo to the end of the life cycle - death. At the same time, gerontology and embryology are the main foundation for age-related anatomy.

The founder of this section of anatomy can be considered Karl Bara. It was he who first suggested the individual development of each living creature. This process was later called ontogenesis.

Age-related anatomy gives an idea of ​​the mechanisms of aging, which is important for medicine.

Comparative anatomy

Comparative anatomy is a science whose main task is to prove the unity of all life on the planet. Specifically, this science is engaged in comparing the embryos of different animal species (not only species, but also classes, taxa) and identifying common patterns in development.

Comparative anatomy and physiology are closely interconnected structures that study one common question: how do the embryos of different creatures look and function in comparison with each other?

Pathological anatomy

Pathological anatomy is a scientific discipline that studies the pathological processes in the cells and tissues of a human being. This makes it possible to study various diseases, view the effect of their course on the body and, accordingly, find treatment methods.

The tasks of pathological anatomy are as follows:

• to study the causes of various diseases in humans;
• consider the mechanisms of their occurrence and course at the cellular level;
• identify all possible complications in pathologies and outcomes of diseases;
• to study the mechanisms of death from diseases;
• consider the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the treatment of pathologies.

The founder of this discipline is Rudolf Virchow. It was he who created the cellular theory, which speaks of the development of diseases at the level of cells and tissues of the human body.

Topographic anatomy

Topographic anatomy is a scientific discipline, otherwise called surgical. Its basis is the division of the human body into anatomical areas, each of which is located in a specific part of the body: head, trunk or limbs.

The main objectives of this science are:

• detailed structure of each area;
• syntopia of organs (their location relative to each other);
• the relationship of organs with the skin (holotopia);
• blood supply to each anatomical region;
• lymphatic drainage;
• nervous regulation;
• skeletonotopy (in relation to the skeleton).

All these tasks are formed in the conditions of principles: study taking into account diseases, pathologies, age and individual characteristics of organisms.