80 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



versities by the Italian states. There are statements in the litera- 

 ture that, even at this early date, students organized expeditions 

 to snatch bodies from graves. When anatomies were held, nothing 

 more was done than to try to verify the ancient authors, particu- 

 larly Galen. In the year of 1410, Pietro d'Argellata, Professor of 

 Anatomy at Bologna, had the unusual distinction of examining 

 the body of Pope Alexander V who had died suddenly in Bo- 

 logna (Singer, '25). This may be the first instance where the corpse 

 of a high-ranking authority of the Church was autopsied by an 

 anatomist. Before the building of the beautiful, anatomical the- 

 atres, it seems that the dissections were performed in hidden 

 rooms, the procedure being kept as secret as possible. 



It is known that in 1442, the Rector of the University of 

 Bologna permitted two bodies per year to be used for dissective 

 purposes; these were a male and female, but they had to be ob- 

 tained from an area located at least thirty miles outside of the 

 city. It wasn't until 1561, about 120 years later, that this ruling 

 was revised so that cadavers could be procured within urban lim- 

 its. Alessandro Achillini, Professor of Philosophy and Medicine 

 (A.D. 1463-1525), is described as dissecting by himself in 1490, 

 which would have been an innovation at Bologna. 



Anatomical study reached its peak at the University of Bo- 

 logna during the last half of the 16th Century when thousands of 

 students were in attendance. It then began to wane in prestige. 

 Some of the decline may have been due to difficulty in obtaining 

 an adequate supply of subjects. Cortesius, Professor of Anatomy, 

 for example, complained in the early 17th Century, that he had 

 received only two cadavers in twenty-four years whereas he had 

 expected one annually. In the hope of neutralizing this dearth, 

 Pope Benedict XIV (1675-1758), issued a decree declaring that the 

 bodies of all those dying in the hospitals of Bologna be made 

 available for dissection. 



It seems permissible to conclude the following in respect to 

 the University of Bologna: that careful dissections were performed 

 and witnessed by many students, numbering perhaps in ilu ilioii 

 sands; that the Popes did not prohibit the practice but rather 

 encouraged it; that there was no teaching of the sacredness of 



