STATUS OF HUMAN DISSECTION IN THE UNITED STATES 251 



the medical course in an integrated system. He states that the plan 

 requires a full staff, that the teaching duties are continuous and 

 that the whole program offers some handicap to research. 



Some of the latest activities in medical education center 

 around programs advocated and supported by several of the pri- 

 vate foundations. Allen ('46) believes that anatomists have reached 

 a point in studying the finer morphology of the human body 

 where further progress depends largely on correlated studies in 

 function. Medical, rather than the individual sciences, should be 

 taught and he feels that the demarcation between the various pre- 

 clinical departments may entirely disappear. Atchley ('49) ad- 

 vocates that teaching groups for the first two years be organized 

 in terms of dynamic units and that they use the systemic or 

 vertical approach in studying the human body. 



The Committee appointed by the American Surgical Associ- 

 ation, which functioned under the auspices of the Markle and 

 Rockefeller Foundations ('50) reports that from the surgical stand- 

 point there has been a shifting emphasis from anatomy and the 

 techniques of surgery to immunology and pathological physiology. 

 It believes that cadaver anatomy should be abolished as a his- 

 toric oddity of teaching and that gross anatomy is best taught at 

 the autopsy table primarily because the specimens are fresher. 

 It favors a gradual evolution in integrated instruction with the 

 surgeons and internists assuming a paramount role. The tutorial 

 method is recommended as the one of choice, with small groups of 

 pupils, an approach, which they emphasize puts the burden on 

 student learning. There have been numerous other important 

 articles on the topic of anatomy which eulogistically defend the 

 status quo in teaching the subject. 



The above review shows to some extent the evolution of 

 thinking on the significance of anatomy, particularly gross, in the 

 medical curriculum by certain influential groups interested in 

 medical education. In the light of the various viewpoints above, 

 the question arises as to what changes have taken place in the 

 field since 1900 which are peculiar to United States medical 

 schools. 



I The period between 1900 and 1958 has been marked first 

 of all by the disappearance of all anatomy departments which 

 i 



