title: Organ or not? prolegomenon to organology.
abstract: The definition of an organ is vague, so that listing and classifying human organs is problematic. The classical Greek definition of an organ as an instrumental part of the body has been supplemented in modern biology by stating that organs occupy a hierarchical level between systems and tissues. Not all anatomical entities on that level meet the requirement of a special function. Thus it appears that systems are composed of organs and connecting (or linking) structures, such as some connective tissues, various tubular entities, and nerves. Clin. Anat. 30:288-289, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Neumann
mesh_terms: D000715:Anatomy; D064229:Biological Ontologies; D006801:Humans; D009626:Terminology as Topic
keywords: anatomical ontology; anatomical terminology; organ