Leonardo Da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius were two important renaissance persons; Vesalius was a surgeon-anatomist who delivered innovative work on the study of the human body, Leonardo da Vinci was an artist who delivered strikingly accurate and beautiful drawings on the human body. Below we compare both masters with regard to their knowledge of the working of the muscles, their method and system...

In recent years, the medical curriculum has been changed in many institutions worldwide. New concepts such as problem-based or evidence-based learning have consequences for teaching anatomy (Drake, 1998). Various papers have been published, for example, on the effects of self-directed learning on teaching anatomy (Peplow, 1990), small group case-based learning programs (Hansen and Krackov, 1994...

During many centuries, the progress of Anatomy was based on the perseverant and laborious activities done by anatomists. Their work can be considered as a fight for Anatomy. A particular problem arouse when this fight is excessively done and it limits the ability to correctly analyze the contribution made by other scientists in the same domain. This situation was identified at different persona...

The accessory bones of the foot have fascinated anatomists for five centuries. Andreas Vesalius in I 568 (published in I 725) was the first to draw attention to an accessory ossicle situated at the base of the fifth metatarsal bone, and much has been written subsequently about two distinct groups of accessory bones. In the first are those which are contained within the fibres of tendons and are...

An anatomic study of the vagus nerves in their thoracic course below the pulmonary plexus, and in their distribution to the stomach has been made in 50 cadavers. Because of the recent increase in interest in the relationship of the vagus nerves to peptic ulcer, tlie literature was reviewed and revealed relatively few detailed descriptions of the anatomy of the nerves in this area and difference...

tails concerning the anatomists of this period, particularly of John Hunter, whose name does not appear in the volume. The rise of histology, embryology and neurology are all described in Chapter 4 and the book closes with a most stimulating five pages on "current trends in anatomy". Professor Corner is most ardently devoted to his subject and he sees in the immediate future a radical departure...

Comparing Charles Darwin's account of emotional expression to previous nineteenth-century scientific studies on the same subject, this article intends to locate the exact nature of Darwin's break in his 1872 book (as well as in his earlier notebooks). In contrast to a standard view that approaches this question in the framework of the creationism/evolutionism dichotomy, I argue that Darwin's ac...

Illustrations constitute an essential element of learning anatomy in modern times. However it required a significant evolutionary process spread over centuries, for illustrations to achieve the present status in the subject of anatomy. This review article attempts to outline the evolutionary process by highlighting on the works of esteemed anatomists in a chronological manner. Available literat...