title: Short history of the autopsy. Part I. From prehistory to the middle of the 16th century.
abstract: We present the first part of work concerning the history of autopsy. During the development of the pathology the role of autopsy was changing. The attitude towards the human body was often a result of struggles between human will to learn and religious beliefs. The knowledge was built upon religious procedures (mummification) through medical and surgical care of the victims of fights and wars and first autopsies. Until the 13th century dissections were seldom performed, sometimes in public. The aims varied from strictly scientific and practical (surgery) to artistic (human body in arts). Later on physicians were learning how to draw conclusions from autopsy results including malformations, pathologies, diseases, causes of death in order to try to put right diagnoses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathomorphology, Medical University of Gdańsk, ul. Debinki 7, 80-211 Gdańsk. eczis@wp.pl
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gulczyński
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Izycka-Swieszewska
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grzybiak
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000266:history*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004210:Dissection / Q000266:history; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D012067:Religion / Q000266:history