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Anatomy

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Biology

   Anatomical drawing of the human muscles from the Encyclopédie.
   Enlarge
   Anatomical drawing of the human muscles from the Encyclopédie.
   Anatomical chart from the Cyclopaedia, 1728
   Enlarge
   Anatomical chart from the Cyclopaedia, 1728

   Anatomy (from the Greek ἀνατομία anatomia, from ἀνατέμνειν anatemnein,
   to cut up, cut open), is the branch of biology that deals with the
   structure and organization of living things. It can be divided into
   animal anatomy ( zootomy) and plant anatomy (phytotomy). Furthermore,
   anatomy can be covered either regionally or systemically, that is,
   studying anatomy by bodily regions such as the head and chest for the
   former, or studying by specific systems, such as the nervous or
   respiratory systems for the latter. Major branches of anatomy include
   comparative anatomy, histology and human anatomy.

Human anatomy

   From a utilitarian point of view the study of humans is the most
   important division of special anatomy, and this human anatomy may be
   approached from different points of view.

   From that of Medicine it consists of a knowledge of the exact form,
   position, size and relationship of the various structures of the
   healthy human body, and to this study the term descriptive or
   topographical human anatomy is given, though it is often, less happily,
   spoken of as anthropotomy.

   So intricate is the human body that only a small number of professional
   human anatomists, after years of patient observation, are masters of
   its details; most of them specialize on certain parts, such as the
   brain or viscera, contenting themselves with a good working knowledge
   of the rest.

   Topographical anatomy must be learned by repeated dissection and
   inspection of dead human bodies. It is no more a science than a pilot's
   knowledge is, and, like that knowledge, must be exact and available in
   moments of emergency.

   From the morphological point of view, however, human anatomy is a
   scientific and fascinating study, having for its object the discovery
   of the causes which have brought about the existing structure of
   humans, and needing a knowledge of the allied sciences of embryology or
   developmental biology, phylogeny, and histology.

   Pathological anatomy (or morbid anatomy) is the study of diseased
   organs, while sections of normal anatomy, applied to various purposes,
   receive special names such as medical, surgical, gynaecological,
   artistic and superficial anatomy. The comparison of the anatomy of
   different races of humans is part of the science of physical
   anthropology or anthropological anatomy. In the present edition of this
   work the subject of anatomy is treated systematically rather than
   topographically. Each anatomical article contains first a description
   of the structures of an organ or system (such as nerves, arteries,
   heart, and so forth), as it is found in humans; this is followed by an
   account of the development (embryology) and comparative anatomy
   (morphology), as far as vertebrate animals are concerned; but only
   those parts of the lower animals which are of interest in explaining
   human body structure are here dealt with. The articles have a twofold
   purpose; first, to give enough details of structure to make the
   articles on physiology, surgery, medicine and pathology intelligible;
   and, second, to give the non-expert inquirer, or the worker in some
   other branch of science, the chief theories on which the modern
   scientific groundwork of anatomy is built......

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
