Editing Dissection (section)

==History==
[[File:Galen, Opera omnia, dissection of a pig. Wellcome L0020565.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2<!--width for small image detail-->|[[Galen]] (129&nbsp;– c. 200&nbsp;AD), ''Opera omnia'', dissection of a pig. Engraving made in Venice, 1565]]

===Classical antiquity===
Human dissections were carried out by the [[Ancient Greek medicine|Greek physicians]] [[Herophilos|Herophilus of Chalcedon]] and [[Erasistratus of Chios]] in the early part of the third century BC.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=von Staden | first1=Heinrich | title=The discovery of the body: Human dissection and its cultural contexts in ancient Greece | journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine | volume=65 | issue=3 | pages=223–241 | year=1992 | pmid= 1285450 | pmc=2589595 | author1-link=Heinrich von Staden (historian) }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Brenna|first=Connor T. A.|date=2021|title=Bygone theatres of events: A history of human anatomy and dissection|journal=The Anatomical Record|volume=305 |issue=4 |language=en|pages=2–5|doi=10.1002/ar.24764|pmid=34551186 |s2cid=237608991 |issn=1932-8494|doi-access=free}}</ref> Before then, animal dissection had been carried out systematically starting from the fifth century BC.<ref>See Bubb 2022: 12. Claire Bubb. 2022. ''Dissection in Classical Antiquity: A Social and Medical History''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> During this period, the first exploration into full human anatomy was performed rather than a base knowledge gained from 'problem-solution' delving.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |title=Human cadaveric dissection: a historical account from ancient Greece to the modern era |journal=Anatomy & Cell Biology |date=2015-09-01 |issn=2093-3665 |pmc=4582158 |pmid=26417475 |pages=153–169 |volume =48 |issue=3 |doi=10.5115/acb.2015.48.3.153 |first=Sanjib Kumar |last=Ghosh}}</ref> While there was a deep taboo in Greek culture concerning human dissection, there was at the time a strong push by the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] government to build [[Alexandria]] into a hub of scientific study.<ref name=":0" /> For a time, [[Roman law]] forbade dissection and autopsy of the human body,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aufderheide |first1=Arthur C. |title=The Scientific Study of Mummies |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-0521177351 |page=5 |quote=Tragically, the prohibition of human dissection by Rome in 150 BC arrested this progress and few of their findings survived.}}</ref> so anatomists relied on the cadavers of animals or made observations of human anatomy from injuries of the living. [[Galen]], for example, dissected the [[Barbary macaque]] and other primates, assuming their anatomy was basically the same as that of humans, and supplemented these observations with knowledge of human anatomy which he acquired while tending to wounded gladiators.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Nutton, Vivian, 'The Unknown Galen', (2002), p. 89</ref><ref>Von Staden, Heinrich,  ''Herophilus'' (1989), p. 140</ref><ref>[[Philip Lutgendorf|Lutgendorf, Philip]], ''Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey'' (2007), p. 348</ref>

[[Aulus Cornelius Celsus|Celsus]] wrote in ''On Medicine I Proem 23'', "Herophilus and Erasistratus proceeded in by far the best way: they cut open living men - criminals they obtained out of prison from the kings and they observed, while their subjects still breathed, parts that nature had previously hidden, their position, color, shape, size, arrangement, hardness, softness, smoothness, points of contact, and finally the processes and recesses of each and whether any part is inserted into another or receives the part of another into itself."

[[Galen]] was another such writer who was familiar with the studies of Herophilus and Erasistratus.

===India===
[[File:The Ayurvedic Man., c.18th century Wellcome L0017592.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The Ayurvedic Man., c. 18th century]]

The ancient societies that were rooted in India left behind artwork on how to kill animals during a hunt.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Jacob |first=Tony |date=2013 |title=History of teaching anatomy in India: from ancient to modern times |journal=Anatomical Sciences Education |volume=6 |doi=10.1002/ase.1359 |pmid=23495119 |issue=5 |pages=351–8|s2cid=25807230 }}</ref> The images showing how to kill most effectively depending on the game being hunted relay an intimate knowledge of both external and internal anatomy as well as the relative importance of organs.<ref name=":5" /> The knowledge was mostly gained through hunters preparing the recently captured prey. Once the roaming lifestyle was no longer necessary it was replaced in part by the civilization that formed in the Indus Valley. Unfortunately, there is little that remains from this time to indicate whether or not dissection occurred, the civilization was lost to the [[Indo-Aryan migration|Aryan people migrating]].<ref name=":5" />

Early in the history of India (2nd to 3rd century), the [[Arthashastra]] described the 4 ways that death can occur and their symptoms: drowning, hanging, strangling, or asphyxiation.<ref name=":6">{{cite journal |last1=Mathiharan |first1=Karunakaran |title=Origin and Development of Forensic Medicine in India |journal=The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology |date=September 2005 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=254–260 |doi=10.1097/01.paf.0000163839.24718.b8|pmid=16121082 |s2cid=29095914 }}</ref> According to that source, an autopsy should be performed in any case of untimely demise.<ref name=":6" />

The practice of dissection flourished during the 7th and 8th century. It was under their rule that medical education was standardized. This created a need to better understand human anatomy, so as to have educated surgeons. Dissection was limited by the religious taboo on cutting the human body. This changed the approach taken to accomplish the goal. The process involved the loosening of the tissues in streams of water before the outer layers were sloughed off with soft implements to reach the musculature. To perfect the technique of slicing, the prospective students used gourds and squash. These techniques of dissection gave rise to an advanced understanding of the anatomy and the enabled them to complete procedures used today, such as rhinoplasty.<ref name=":5" />

During medieval times the anatomical teachings from India spread throughout the known world; however, the practice of dissection was stunted by Islam.<ref name=":5" /> The practice of dissection at a university level was not seen again until 1827, when it was performed by the student Pandit Madhusudan Gupta.<ref name=":5" /> Through the 1900s, the university teachers had to continually push against the social taboos of dissection, until around 1850 when the universities decided that it was more cost effective to train Indian doctors than bring them in from Britain.<ref name=":5" /> Indian medical schools were, however, training female doctors well before those in England.<ref name=":5" />

The current state of dissection in India is deteriorating. The number of hours spent in dissection labs during medical school has decreased substantially over the last twenty years.<ref name=":5" /> The future of anatomy education will probably be an elegant mix of traditional methods and integrative computer learning.<ref name=":5" /> The use of dissection in early stages of medical training has been shown more effective in the retention of the intended information than their simulated counterparts.<ref name=":5" /> However, there is use for the computer-generated experience as review in the later stages.<ref name=":5" /> The combination of these methods is intended to strengthen the students' understanding and confidence of anatomy, a subject that is infamously difficult to master.<ref name=":5" /> There is a growing need for anatomist—seeing as most anatomy labs are taught by graduates hoping to complete degrees in anatomy—to continue the long tradition of anatomy education.<ref name=":5" />

===Islamic world===
[[File:Al-zahrawi surgical tools.png|thumb|upright|Page from a 1531 Latin translation by Peter Argellata of [[Al-Zahrawi]]'s c. 1000 treatise on surgical and medical instruments]]

From the beginning of the [[Islam]]ic faith in 610 [[A.D.]],<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Mohammed |first1=Madadin |last2=Kharoshah |first2=Magdy |date=2014 |title=Autopsy in Islam and current practice in Arab Muslim countries |journal=Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine|volume=23 |pages=80–3 |doi=10.1016/j.jflm.2014.02.005 |pmid=24661712 }}</ref> [[Shari'ah law]] has applied to a greater or lesser extent within Muslim countries,<ref name=":7" /> supported by Islamic scholars such as [[Al-Ghazali]].<ref name=Savage-Smith>{{Cite journal |first=Emilie |last=Savage-Smith|author-link=Emilie Savage-Smith|title=Attitudes toward dissection in medieval Islam |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |year=1995 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=67–110 |pmid=7876530 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/50.1.67|doi-access=free }}
</ref> Islamic physicians such as [[Ibn Zuhr]] (Avenzoar) (1091–1161) in [[Al-Andalus]],<ref>Ibn Zuhr and the Progress of Surgery, http://muslimheritage.com/article/ibn-zuhr-and-progress-surgery</ref> [[Saladin]]'s physician [[Ibn Jumay]] during the 12th century, [[Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (medieval writer)|Abd el-Latif]] in Egypt {{circa|1200}},<ref>Emilie Savage-Smith (1996), "Medicine", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 3, pp. 903–962 [951–952]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref> and [[Ibn al-Nafis]] in Syria and Egypt in the 13th century may have practiced dissection,<ref name=Savage-Smith/><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Al-Dabbagh | first1=S.A. | year=1978 | title=Ibn Al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation | doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(78)90318-5 | pmid=77431 | journal=[[The Lancet]] | volume=1 | issue=8074 | page=1148| s2cid=43154531 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Hajar A Hajar Albinali | year=2004 | title=Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting | journal=Heart Views | volume=5 | issue=2 | pages=74–85}}</ref> but it remains ambiguous whether or not human dissection was practiced. Ibn al-Nafis, a physician and Muslim jurist, suggested that the "precepts of Islamic law have discouraged us from the practice of dissection, along with whatever compassion is in our temperament",<ref name=":2" /> indicating that while there was no law against it, it was nevertheless uncommon. Islam dictates that the body be buried as soon as possible, barring religious holidays, and that there be no other means of disposal such as cremation.<ref name=":7" /> Prior to the 10th century, dissection was not performed on human cadavers.<ref name=":7" /> The book ''Al-Tasrif'', written by [[Al-Zahrawi]] in 1000 A.D., details surgical procedure that differed from the previous standards.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Chavoushi |first1=Seyed Hadi |last2=Ghabili |first2=Kamyar |last3=Kazemi |first3=Abdolhassan |last4=Aslanabadi |first4=Arash |last5=Babapour |first5=Sarah |last6=Ahmedli |first6=Rafail |last7=Golzari |first7=Samad E.J. |date=August 2012 |title=Surgery for Gynecomastia in the Islamic Golden Age: Al-Tasrif of Al-Zahrawi (936-1013 AD) |journal= ISRN Surgery|volume=2012 |doi=10.5402/2012/934965 |pages=934965|pmid=23050167 |pmc=3459224 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The book was an educational text of medicine and surgery which included detailed illustrations.<ref name=":8" /> It was later translated and took the place of [[Avicenna]]'s ''The Canon of Medicine'' as the primary teaching tool in Europe from the 12th century to the 17th century.<ref name=":8" /> There were some that were willing to dissect humans up to the 12th century, for the sake of learning, after which it was forbidden. This attitude remained constant until 1952, when the Islamic School of Jurisprudence in Egypt ruled that "necessity permits the forbidden".<ref name=":7" /> This decision allowed for the investigation of questionable deaths by autopsy.<ref name=":7" /> In 1982, the decision was made by a fatwa that if it serves justice, autopsy is worth the disadvantages.<ref name=":7" /> Though Islam now approves of autopsy, the Islamic public still disapproves. Autopsy is prevalent in most Muslim countries for medical and judicial purposes.<ref name=":7" /> In [[Egypt]] it holds an important place within the judicial structure, and is taught at all the country's medical universities.<ref name=":7" /> In Saudi Arabia, whose law is completely dictated by Shari'ah, autopsy is viewed poorly by the population but can be compelled in criminal cases;<ref name=":7" /> human dissection is sometimes found at university level.<ref name=":7" /> Autopsy is performed for judicial purposes in [[Qatar]] and [[Tunisia]].<ref name=":7" /> Human dissection is present in the modern day Islamic world, but is rarely published on due to the religious and social stigma.<ref name=":7" />

===Tibet===

{{See also |Tree of physiology}}

[[Tibetan medicine]] developed a rather sophisticated knowledge of [[anatomy]], acquired from long-standing experience with human dissection. [[Tibet]]ans had adopted the practice of [[sky burial]] because of the country's hard ground, frozen for most of the year, and the lack of wood for [[cremation]]. A sky burial begins with a ritual dissection of the deceased, and is followed by the feeding of the parts to [[vulture]]s on the hill tops. Over time, Tibetan [[anatomical]] knowledge found its way into [[Ayurveda]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dominik |title=The Roots of Ayurveda |date=2001 |publisher=Penguin Classics}}</ref> and to a lesser extent into [[Chinese medicine]].<ref>{{cite book |title=His Holiness the Dalai Lama: The Oral Biography |author1=Strober, Deborah Hart |author2=Strober, Gerald S. |date=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hisholinesstheda0000unse/page/14 14] |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0471680017 |url=https://archive.org/details/hisholinesstheda0000unse/page/14 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Tao and Dharma: Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda |author=Svoboda, Robert E. |date=1996 |page=89}}</ref>

===Christian Europe===
[[File:De Re Anatomica.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A dissection in [[Realdo Colombo]]'s ''[[De Re Anatomica]]'', 1559]]
<!-- THE BELOW PARAGRAPH is modified from [[Dark Ages (historiography)#Modern popular use]] -->
Throughout the history of Christian Europe, the dissection of human cadavers for medical education has experienced various cycles of legalization and proscription in different countries. Dissection was rare during the Middle Ages, but it was practised,<ref name="Classen2016">{{cite book |last=Classen |first=Albrecht |title=Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: The Material and Spiritual Conditions of the Culture of Death |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s3P9CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA388 |year=2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-043697-6 |page=388}}</ref> with evidence from at least as early as the 13th century.<ref name="P Prioreschi 2001"/><ref>"In the 13th century, the realisation that human anatomy could best be taught by dissection of the human body resulted in its legalisation of publicly dissecting criminals in some European countries between 1283 and 1365" – this was, however, still contrary to the edicts of the Church. Philip Cheung, "Public Trust in Medical Research?" (2007), page 36</ref><ref>"Indeed, very early in the thirteenth century, a religious official, namely, Pope Innocent III (1198–1216), ordered the postmortem autopsy of a person whose death was suspicious". Toby Huff, ''The Rise Of Modern Science'' (2003), page 195</ref> The practice of autopsy in Medieval Western Europe is "very poorly known" as few surgical texts or conserved human dissections have survived.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Philippe |last1=Charlier |first2=Isabelle |last2=Huynh-Charlier |first3=Joël |last3=Poupon |first4=Eloïse |last4=Lancelot |first5=Paula F. |last5=Campos |first6=Dominique |last6=Favier |first7=Gaël-François |last7=Jeannel |first8=Maurizio Rippa |last8=Bonat |first9=Geoffroy Lorin |last9=de la Grandmaison |first10=Christian |last10=Hervé |display-authors=6 |title=A glimpse into the early origins of medieval anatomy through the oldest conserved human dissection (Western Europe, 13th c. A.D.) |journal=Archives of Medical Science |date=May 2014 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=366–373 |doi=10.5114/aoms.2013.33331 |pmc=4042035 |pmid=24904674}}</ref>
A modern Jesuit scholar has claimed that the Christian theology contributed significantly to the revival of human dissection and autopsy by providing a new socio-religious and cultural context in which the human [[cadaver]] was no longer seen as sacrosanct.<ref name="P Prioreschi 2001">P. Prioreschi, "Determinants of the revival of dissection of the human body in the Middle Ages", ''Medical Hypotheses'' (2001) 56(2), 229–234</ref><!-- we mention this, but discussing it would be for a religion'n'ethics article really -->

A non-existent edict<ref>Charles H. Talbot. ''Medicine in Medieval England''. London: Oldbourne, 1967. p. 55, n. 13.</ref> {{lang|la|Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine}} of the [[Council of Tours 1163|1163 Council of Tours]] and an early 14th-century decree of [[Pope Boniface VIII]] have mistakenly been identified as prohibiting dissection and autopsy; misunderstanding or extrapolation from these edicts may have contributed to reluctance to perform such procedures.<ref>"While during this period the Church did not forbid human dissections in general, certain edicts were directed at specific practices. These included the {{lang|la|Ecclesia Abhorret a Sanguine}} in 1163 by the Council of Tours and Pope Boniface VIII's command to terminate the practice of dismemberment of slain crusaders' bodies and boiling the parts to enable defleshing for return of their bones. Such proclamations were commonly misunderstood as a ban on all dissection of either living persons or cadavers (Rogers & Waldron, 1986){{clarify|date=May 2016}}, and progress in anatomical knowledge by human dissection did not thrive in that intellectual climate." Arthur Aufderheide, ''The Scientific Study of Mummies'' (2003), p. 5</ref>{{efn|"the pope did not forbid anatomical dissections but only the dissections performed with the purpose of preserving the bodies for distant burial"<ref name="P Prioreschi 2001"/>}} The Middle Ages witnessed the revival of an interest in medical studies, including human dissection and autopsy.<!--see following quote--><ref name=":4" /><ref>"Current scholarship reveals that Europeans had considerable knowledge of human anatomy, not just that based on Galen and his animal dissections. For the Europeans had performed significant numbers of human dissections, especially postmortem autopsies during this era", "Many of the autopsies were conducted to determine whether or not the deceased had died of [[natural causes]] (disease) or whether there had been foul play, poisoning, or physical assault. Indeed, very early in the thirteenth century, a religious official, namely, Pope Innocent III (1198–1216), ordered the postmortem autopsy of a person whose death was suspicious". Toby Huff, ''The Rise Of Modern Science'' (2003), p. 195</ref>

[[File:Mondino - Anathomia, 1541 - 3022668.tif|thumb|upright|[[Mondino de Luzzi]]'s ''Anathomia'', 1541]]
[[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] (1194–1250), the Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that any that were studying to be a physician or a surgeon must attend a [[human dissection]], which would be held no less than every five years.<ref name=":0" /> Some European countries began legalizing the dissection of executed criminals for educational purposes in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. [[Mondino de Luzzi]] carried out the first recorded public dissection around 1315.<ref name=":0" /> At this time, autopsies were carried out by a team consisting of a Lector, who lectured; the Sector, who did the dissection; and the Ostensor, who pointed to features of interest.<ref name=":0" />

The Italian [[Galeazzo di Santa Sofia]] made the first public dissection north of the Alps in Vienna in 1404.<ref name="RegalNanut2007">{{Cite book |first1=Wolfgang |last1=Regal |first2=Michael |last2=Nanut |title=Vienna – A Doctor's Guide: 15 walking tours through Vienna's medical history |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARYNOecoznYC&pg=PP7 |date= December 13, 2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-211-48952-9 |page=7}}</ref>

[[File:Vesalius Portrait pg xii - c.png|thumb|upright|left|[[Vesalius]] with a dissected [[cadaver]] in his {{lang|la|[[De humani corporis fabrica]]}}, 1543]]

[[Vesalius]] in the 16th century carried out numerous dissections in his extensive anatomical investigations. He was attacked frequently for his disagreement with [[Galen]]'s opinions on human anatomy. Vesalius was the first to lecture and dissect the cadaver simultaneously.<ref name=":0" /><ref>C. D. O'Malley, ''Andreas Vesalius' Pilgrimage'', Isis 45:2, 1954</ref>

The Catholic Church is known to have ordered an autopsy on [[conjoined twins]] Joana and Melchiora Ballestero in [[Hispaniola]] in 1533 to determine whether they shared a soul. They found that there were two distinct hearts, and hence two souls, based on the ancient Greek philosopher [[Empedocles]], who believed the soul resided in the heart.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Freedman |first=David H. |title=20 Things you didn't know about autopsies |journal=Discovery |date=September 2012 |volume=9 |pages=72}}</ref>

[[File:Hercules pollaiuolo.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Renaissance art]]ists such as [[Antonio del Pollaiuolo]] studied anatomy to improve their artwork, as seen in this figurine of [[Hercules]], 1470.]]

Human dissection was also practised by [[Renaissance art]]ists. Though most chose to focus on the external surfaces of the body, some like [[Michelangelo Buonarotti]], [[Antonio del Pollaiuolo]], [[Baccio Bandinelli]], and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] sought a deeper understanding. However, there were no provisions for artists to obtain cadavers, so they had to resort to unauthorised means, as indeed anatomists sometimes did, such as [[grave robbing]], [[body snatching]], and [[Anatomy murder|murder]].<ref name=":0" />

Anatomization was sometimes ordered as a form of punishment, as, for example, in 1806 to [[James Halligan (1778–1806)|James Halligan]] and [[Dominic Daley]] after their public hanging in Northampton, Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Richard D.|title='Tried, Convicted, and Condemned, in Almost Every Bar-room and Barber's Shop': Anti-Irish Prejudice in the Trial of Dominic Daley and James Halligan, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1806|journal=The New England Quarterly|date=June 2011|volume=84|issue=2|pages=205–233|doi=10.1162/tneq_a_00087|s2cid=57560527|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In modern Europe, dissection is routinely practised in biological research and education, in medical schools, and to determine the cause of death in autopsy. It is generally considered a necessary part of learning and is thus accepted culturally. It sometimes attracts controversy, as when [[Odense Zoo]] decided to dissect lion cadavers in public before a "self-selected audience".<ref>{{cite web |title=Odense Zoo animal dissections: EAZA response |url=http://www.eaza.net/latest-news |publisher=European Association of Zoos and Aquaria |access-date=15 May 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513130558/http://eaza.net/latest-news/ |archive-date=13 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Animals used for scientific purposes |url=http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/3r/key_resources/databases_en.htm |publisher=European Union |access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref>

===Britain===

[[File:Unique body snatching headstone, Stirling, 1823.JPG|thumb|left|[[Body snatching]] headstone of an 1823 grave in [[Stirling]]]]

In Britain, dissection remained entirely prohibited from the end of the Roman conquest and through the Middle Ages to the 16th century, when a series of royal edicts gave specific groups of physicians and surgeons some limited rights to dissect cadavers. The permission was quite limited: by the mid-18th century, the [[Royal College of Physicians]] and [[Company of Barber-Surgeons]] were the only two groups permitted to carry out dissections, and had an annual quota of ten cadavers between them. As a result of pressure from anatomists, especially in the rapidly growing medical schools, the [[Murder Act 1752]] allowed the bodies of executed murderers to be dissected for anatomical research and education. [[History of anatomy in the 19th century|By the 19th century]] this supply of cadavers proved insufficient, as the public medical schools were growing, and the private medical schools lacked legal access to cadavers. A thriving black market arose in cadavers and body parts, leading to the creation of the profession of [[body snatching]], and the infamous [[Burke and Hare murders]] in 1828, when 16 people were murdered for their cadavers, to be sold to anatomists. The resulting public outcry led to the passage of the [[Anatomy Act 1832]], which increased the legal supply of cadavers for dissection.<ref>Cheung, pp. 37–44</ref>

By the 21st century, the availability of interactive computer programs and changing public sentiment led to renewed debate on the use of cadavers in medical education. The [[Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry]] in the UK, founded in 2000, became the first modern medical school to carry out its anatomy education without dissection.<ref>Cheung, pp. 33, 35</ref>

===United States===
[[File:Teen-Girl-Student-Dissecting-Animal-Eye.jpg |thumb|left |A teenage school pupil dissecting an eye]]

In the United States, dissection of frogs became common in college biology classes from the 1920s, and were gradually introduced at earlier stages of education. By 1988, some 75 to 80 percent of American high school biology students were participating in a [[frog]] dissection, with a trend towards introduction in elementary schools. The frogs are most commonly from the genus ''[[Rana (genus)|Rana]]''. Other popular animals for high-school dissection at the time of that survey were, among vertebrates, [[fetal pig]]s, [[perch]], and cats; and among invertebrates, [[earthworm]]s, [[grasshopper]]s, [[crayfish]], and [[starfish]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Orlans, F. Barbara |author2=Beauchamp, Tom L.|author3-link=Rebecca Dresser |author3=Dresser, Rebecca |author4=Morton, David B. |author5=Gluck, John P. |title=The Human Use of Animals |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-511908-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/humanuseofanimal0000unse/page/213 213] |url=https://archive.org/details/humanuseofanimal0000unse/page/213 }}</ref> About six million animals are dissected each year in United States high schools (2016), not counting medical training and research. Most of these are purchased already dead from slaughterhouses and farms.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://aavs.org/animals-science/how-animals-are-used/dissection/ |title=Dissection |date=2016 |website=American Anti-Vivisection Society |access-date=16 February 2016}}</ref>

Dissection in U.S. high schools became prominent in 1987, when a California student, Jenifer Graham, sued to require her school to let her complete an alternative project. The court ruled that mandatory dissections were permissible, but that Graham could ask to dissect a frog that had died of natural causes rather than one that was killed for the purposes of dissection; the practical impossibility of procuring a frog that had died of natural causes in effect let Graham opt out of the required dissection. The suit gave publicity to anti-dissection advocates. Graham appeared in a 1987 [[Apple Computer]] commercial for the virtual-dissection software Operation Frog.<ref>Howard Rosenberg: [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-11-10-ca-20057-story.html Apple Computer's 'Frog' Ad Is Taken Off the Air.] Los Angeles Times, November 10, 1987.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author1=F. Barbara Orlans |author2=Tom L. Beauchamp |author3=Rebecca Dresser |author4=David B. Morton |author5=John P. Gluck | title=The Human Use of Animals | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-19-511908-4 | pages=210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yBWL1t2b_w0C&pg=PA210}}</ref> The state of California passed a Student's Rights Bill in 1988 requiring that objecting students be allowed to complete alternative projects.<ref>Orlans ''et al.'', pp. 209–211</ref> Opting out of dissection increased through the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Frogs' Best Friends: Students Who Won't Dissect Them | work=The New York Times | date=May 29, 1997 | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E5DF123AF93AA15756C0A961958260 | first=Dirk | last=Johnson | access-date=1 May 2010}}</ref>

In the United States, 17 states{{efn|California, Connecticut, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia all have statewide laws or department of education policies that allow students to opt out.}} along with Washington, D.C. have enacted dissection-choice laws or policies that allow students [[K–12|in primary and secondary education]] to opt out of dissection. Other states including Arizona, Hawaii, Minnesota, Texas, and Utah have more general policies on opting out on moral, religious, or ethical grounds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Your Right Not to Dissect |publisher=PETA2 |url=http://PETA2.com }}</ref> To overcome these concerns, [[J. W. Mitchell High School]] in [[New Port Richey, Florida]], in 2019 became the first US high school to use synthetic frogs for dissection in its science classes, instead of preserved real frogs.<ref>{{cite news|author=Aaro, David|title=Florida high school first in world to use synthetic frogs for dissection|work=Fox News|date=November 30, 2019|url=https://www.foxnews.com/science/florida-high-school-first-synthetic-frogs-dissection|access-date=November 30, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Elassar, Alaa|title=A Florida high school is the first in the world to provide synthetic frogs for students to dissect|publisher=CNN|date=November 30, 2019|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/us/florida-high-school-synthetic-frogs-trnd/index.html|access-date=November 30, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Lewis, Sophie|title=Florida high school introduces synthetic frogs for science class dissection|work=[[CBS News]]|date=November 26, 2019|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-high-school-introduces-synthetic-frogs-for-dissection-in-science-class/|access-date=November 30, 2019}}</ref>

As for the dissection of cadavers in undergraduate and medical school, traditional dissection is supported by professors and students, with some opposition, limiting the availability of dissection. Upper-level students who have experienced this method along with their professors agree that "Studying human anatomy with colorful charts is one thing. Using a scalpel and an actual, recently-living person is an entirely different matter."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://emu.edu/now/news/2012/11/emus-cadaver-dissection-gives-pre-med-students-big-advantage/ |title=EMU News |last=Jenner |first=Andrew |date=2012 |work=EMU's Cadaver Dissection Gives Pre-Med Students Big Advantage |access-date=25 April 2016 }}</ref>