2. The science of the structural organization of any organism, whether plant or animal.
3. The macroscopic structural organization of a part or body, usually determined by means of dissection.
The term anatomy is almost a direct borrowing of the Greek anatome, because the Greeks were among the first known to systematically dissect the human body.
The Greek word is a compound of ana-, "up" + tome, "a cutting"; therefore, the earlier anatomy was a "cutting up" and "dissection" remains even to this day the essential method of learning about the structure of the body.
The study of the human body was not very reliable during the so-called Dark Ages until Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), a Flemish anatomist, revived the study of anatomy with his publication of De Humani Corporis Fabrica, "The Structure of the Human Body", in 1543.
Gross anatomy involves structures that can be seen with the naked eye and is the opposite of microscopic anatomy, or histology, which involves structures seen under the microscope.
Traditionally, both gross and microscopic anatomy are studied in the first year of medical school in the U.S. The most celebrated textbook of anatomy in the English-speaking world is >Gray's Anatomy, which is still a useful reference book.
The word "anatomy" comes from the Greek ana- meaning "up" or "through" + tome meaning "a cutting".
Anatomy was once a "cutting up" because the structure of the body was originally learned through dissecting it; that is, "cutting it up".
Lists of anatomy and anatomical topics.
The most significant differences being the upright posture adopted by humans, the absence of collarbones in dogs, the attachment of the humerus of the dog to the chest wall along its entire length, plus the fact that humans walk on their whole foot, whereas dogs walk only on the equivalent of the human toes.
2. Embryology of an organism from the time of egg fertilization until adulthood is attained.
There are three types of muscles: striated or skeletal muscles, smooth or visceral muscles, and specialized cardiac muscles.
As an example, in gross anatomy, the relationships of nerves, blood vessels,and lymph nodes to a particular muscle, ligament, etc.
2. The study of form, or the branch of science that studies the physical structure of animals, plants, and other organisms.
3. The physical structure; especially, the internal structure, of an animal, plant, or other organism, or of any of its parts.
Gross anatomy involves structures that can be seen with the naked eye. It is the opposite of "microscopic anatomy" (or histology) which involves structures seen under the microscope.
Traditionally, both gross and microscopic anatomy have been studied in the first year of medical school in the U.S. The most celebrated textbook of anatomy in the English-speaking world is Gray's Anatomy, still a useful reference book.
The word anatomy comes from the Greek ana-, "up" or "through" + tome, "a cutting". Anatomy was once a "cutting up" because the structure of the body was originally learned through dissecting it; that is, cutting it up.