Anatomical Collection Research Articles

Exploring Ancestral Variation of the Hyoid

This study utilizes metric analysis to examine size and shape variation between hyoids of Africans and Europeans in the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection. A total of 200 fused and unfused hyoids were measured and three statistical methods were employed to explore variation between ancestries. First, independent sample t-tests showed that some significant size differences do occur between ancestries. Second, to examine shape variation, skeletal measurements were regressed on the geometric mean using least squares linear regression with the residuals used to evaluate size-corrected shape differences. Finally, discriminant function analysis was used to develop two functions for ancestry prediction with overall accuracies of 73% and 77%. Results of the analyses suggest hyoid size and shape differences do occur between ancestries, notably that European hyoids are broader than African hyoids, while the African hyoid is longer than Europeans.

The fate of the bodies of executed persons in the Anatomical Institute of Halle between 1933 and 1945

In the period from 1933 to 1945 the Anatomical Institute in Halle (Saale) received bodies of persons, among them politically persecuted women and men, who had been sentenced to death and executed. In this article, we attempt to answer two important questions: (1) What happened to the bodies of those executed; i.e. which anatomical “purposes” did they serve? (2) Were anatomical specimens from these bodies added to the institute’s anatomical collection and are they still present today? If so, can they be traced back to the bodies of politically persecuted people? So far we have discovered that between 1933 and 1936 the institute received 30 bodies, among them the bodies of two politically motivated death sentences. From 1937 until the end of 1942, only a few bodies arrived at the institute, and from November 1942 until the end of the war in 1945 the institute documented the transfer of 64 bodies of executed people. The death sentences pronounced during those early years were usually based on severe criminal acts (e.g. murder). During the war, special courts sentenced people to death mostly because of theft, looting, etc. The bodies of those executed were used in anatomical education, anatomical research, and in preparations of anatomical specimens to be added to the anatomical collection. There are eight macroscopic preparations which can definitely be associated with the bodies of people executed during the Nazi regime. Trial by jury sentenced those people to the maximum penalty because of the severity of their criminal acts. Up to now we have found no evidence that specimens of the anatomical collection were removed from bodies of victims whose execution was politically motivated.

The study of anatomy in England from 1700 to the early 20th century.

The study of anatomy in England during the 18th and 19th century has become infamous for bodysnatching from graveyards to provide a sufficient supply of cadavers. However, recent discoveries have improved our understanding of how and why anatomy was studied during the enlightenment, and allow us to see the context in which dissection of the human body took place. Excavations of infirmary burial grounds and medical school cemeteries, study of hospital archives, and analysis of the content of surviving anatomical collections in medical museums enables us to re-evaluate the field from a fresh perspective. The pathway from a death in poverty, sale of the corpse to body dealer, dissection by anatomist or medical student, and either the disposal and burial of the remains or preservation of teaching specimens that survive today in medical museums is a complex and fascinating one.

Race, health, and disease in 19th-century-born males.

This study analyzed skeletal health disparities among African American and Euro-American males of low socioeconomic status born between 1825 and 1877. A total of 651 skeletons from the Cobb, Hamann-Todd, and Terry anatomical collections were macroscopically examined for skeletal pathologies related to dietary deficiencies and disease. Individuals were separated into age, ancestry, birth (Antebellum, Civil War, Pre-Reconstruction, and Reconstruction), combined ancestry/birth, enslaved versus liberated, and collection cohorts. These groups were statistically evaluated using ANOVA and χ(2) analyses to determine if age, ethnic, and temporal differences existed. Results indicated that African Americans, especially those born during Reconstruction, had significantly higher frequencies of tuberculosis (P = 0.004) and treponematosis (P = 0.006) than Euro-Americans. Historical sources are important in contextualizing why these different ethnic and temporal patterns were present, pointing to environmental conditions related to enslavement, postliberation migration to the industrialized North, crowded urban living conditions, and poor sanitation.

Cultural Patterns of Trauma among 19th‐Century‐Born Males in Cadaver Collections

Comprehending violence among bioarchaeological and historical groups is a topic of recent interest among biological anthropologists. This research examines trauma among African American and Euro-American males of low socioeconomic status born between 1825 and 1877. A total of 651 male skeletons from the Cobb, Terry, and Hamann-Todd anatomical collections were macroscopically evaluated for skeletal trauma, based on the presence of fractures and weapon-related wounds, and statistically analyzed according to ancestry, birth (Antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction), combined ancestry - birth, and collection cohorts. Results indicated that African Americans and Euro-Americans expressed ethnic differences in regard to interpersonal violence. To interpret these disparities, documentary data were used to reconstruct the socioeconomic and cultural environment of these individuals. This research emphasizes the importance of evaluating skeletal data within the context of class, culture, and environment so that behavioral patterns observed in the skeleton can be better understood.

'Unwholesome' and 'pornographic': A reassessment of the place of Rackstrow's Museum in the story of eighteenth-century anatomical collection and exhibition

This article advances the case for a reconsideration of Rackstrow's Museum. Whilst not denying the association of the Museum with spectacle and wonder, the text demonstrates that the proprietors performed to a well considered ethical and intellectual agenda. The case turns on the provision of a new and detailed chronology, upon which is built the argument that, even at the most basic level, the Museum has been misunderstood. A considerable body of new primary information is brought into the scholarly arena. This is presented as valuable, not just in the reconsideration of the narrative of this institution but also on a number of aspects of ‘context’. New interpretations are advanced concerning the development of anatomical collecting and exhibiting as a whole. The main of objective of the article is to provide an empirical basis for examining many of the established ways in which historians have talked about anatomical showmanship, and associated patterns of collection, in the past.

Determination of sex from the hyoid bone

This article explores size differences related to sex in the hyoid bones from the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection. A series of measurements were taken from 398 hyoids, both fused and unfused. The inclusion of unfused hyoids in the study provides the opportunity to investigate previously unknown size differences between sexes as well as to determine their utility in determining sex. Two-way ANOVA was used to explore differences in hyoid size as related to ancestry and sex. Discriminant function analysis was employed to test the ability of the hyoids to be classified by sex. Six discriminant function equations ranging in accuracy from 82% to 85% are provided, each of which is more accurate than many of the discriminant functions developed in past hyoid research, are simple to use, and can be used to estimate the sex of a hyoid regardless of its state of fusion. In addition to providing further information about the morphological form of the hyoid, these analyses provide a method that can be easily employed to assess sex of the individual from the hyoid bone.

The Legacy of Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724–1774)

Few families have had an impact on medicine to equal that of the Meckel family. Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder is of special interest to the neurosciences, given that his dissertation on the fifth cranial nerve included the first description of the arachnoid space investing the trigeminal nerve into the middle fossa. He was interested in neuroanatomy, along with botany and pathology of the inguinal hernia and the lymphatic system. His mentors included the eminent Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) and August Buddaeus (1695-1753), and he extended his own influence on the work of Giovanni Morgagni and Alexander Monro II. He spent the latter part of his life in Berlin as professor of anatomy, botany, and obstetrics. His son, Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755-1803), was one of the founders of the current collection of anatomic specimens at the University of Halle and provided important groundwork for the practice of obstetrics. Meckel the Elder's grandson, Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833), was a more prolific investigator and founder of the science of teratology. Many anatomic structures, such as Meckel's diverticulum, bear his name, and he vastly expanded the university's anatomic collection. August Albrecht Meckel (1789-1829), Meckel the Younger's brother, practiced legal medicine and investigated avian anatomy but died prematurely from tuberculosis. August's son, Johann Heinrich Meckel (1821-1856), took the instructor's position in pathologic anatomy at the University of Berlin that his great-grandfather had held at the Charité. After his untimely death from pulmonary disease, his position was filled by Rudolf Virchow. The history of this family is discussed in detail.

THE ESTIMATION OF SEX FROM LUMBAR SPINE

The estimation of the sex of an unknown individual forms an essential part of biological identification in forensic anthropology, but is often hindered by poor preservation of the skull or pelvis. This study explores the relationship between the spinal dimensions of the lumbar spine and biological sex through means of osteometry. Osteometric data from a total of 3645 dry lumbar vertebra (N=385 and N=278 male and female skeletons respectively) were collected from four anatomical collections of known age and sex individuals located in Africa and North America. The Maximum Lumbar Length (ML) was determined for each of the five vertebrae and the measurements were then combined to provide an average for each individual. Of the single vertebrae, the ML dimensions of L1 provided the greatest accuracy when comparing the estimated sex against the known sex of the individual (80.3%). However, maximum lumbar length proved more accurate when the measurements for the five vertebrae were combined (82%). This study proposes possible usages of the sexually dimorphic features of the lumbar spine of Homo sapiens in challenging clinical, anatomical, forensic and osteoanthropometric cases in which either one or combination of factors such as decomposition, scavenging, burning and dismembering of human bodies provide no other feasible clues for identification of sex. Further examination and detailed studies of sexually dimorphism in the spine are needed to fully develop this method of forensic use, and may also have potential applications in evolutionary biology, possibly providing new information on sex specific bipedal adaptations.Grant Funding Source: AAA

"In fact, one cannot see it without laughing"

This cultural biography of the kangaroo in eighteenth-century Britain is concerned with the meaning and spectacle of the kangaroo in animal merchants, menageries, museums, and anatomical collections at the end of the long eighteenth century. In this paper, the kangaroo is featured both living and dead—as taxidermy, spirit preparation, or living, leaping kangaroo. The changing meaning or status of the kangaroo in these different collections contexts is narrated through individual kangaroo biographies and as a coherent whole is also a prosopography—a collective cultural biography of the kangaroo in Georgian Britain. Living kangaroos in this period held a very specific attraction for their spectators and we will see how this appeal was linked to contemporary British political culture. Understandings of nationhood, climate, the political economy of gathering, naturalizing, and disseminating plants and animals throughout the Empire, and the politics of natural history during the Napoleonic Wars were significant in constituting perceptions and meanings of the kangaroo in Britain. In addition to charting a series of relationships between sites and practitioners in Georgian Britain, this paper uses the kangaroo as a subject for articulating the changing practices of natural history, anatomy, and zoology in Britain between 1770 and 1830. The kangaroo in this period can be understood as consisting of many different cultural species of kangaroo created by differing practitioners—naturalists, anatomists, or exhibitioners, and different spectators. The politics of nation and natural history, and the negotiation of exhibitionary and disciplinary boundaries are particularly significant to the biography of the kangaroo. In this paper, I trace different sites, methods. or ways of encountering and knowing the kangaroo. For the early nineteenth century, I use the kangaroo to narrate a context for the establishment of expertise in the field of zoology, particularly marked by the emergence of the museum and menagerie of the London Zoological Society. This paper, though specifically concerned with the kangaroo, is then intended to resonate more widely with contemporary scholarship within the history of science and museum studies that is centered on the changing creation, perception, and utility of the "specimen" as a category of object.

Estimation of adult skeletal age‐at‐death using the Sugeno fuzzy integral

Age-at-death estimation of an individual skeleton is important to forensic and biological anthropologists for identification and demographic analysis, but it has been shown that the current aging methods are often unreliable because of skeletal variation and taphonomic factors. Multifactorial methods have been shown to produce better results when determining age-at-death than single indicator methods. However, multifactorial methods are difficult to apply to single or poorly preserved skeletons, and they rarely provide the investigator with information about the reliability of the estimate. The goal of this research is to examine the validity of the Sugeno fuzzy integral as a multifactorial method for modeling age-at-death of an individual skeleton. This approach is novel because it produces an informed decision of age-at-death utilizing multiple age indicators while also taking into consideration the accuracies of the methods and the condition of the bone being examined. Additionally, the Sugeno fuzzy integral does not require the use of a population and it qualitatively produces easily interpreted graphical results. Examples are presented applying three commonly used aging methods on a known-age skeletal sample from the Terry Anatomical Collection. This method produces results that are more accurate and with smaller intervals than single indicator methods.

Rüdiger Schultka and Josef N Neumann (eds) in collaboration with Susanne Weidemann, Anatomie und Anatomische Sammlungen im 18. Jahrhundert. Anlässlich der 250. Wiederkehr des Geburtstages von Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755–1803), Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Band 1, Berlin, Lit Verlag, 2007, pp. 516, illus, €49.90 (hardback 978-3-8258-9755-9).

Rüdiger Schultka and Josef N Neumann (eds) in collaboration with Susanne Weidemann, Anatomie und Anatomische Sammlungen im 18. Jahrhundert. Anlässlich der 250. Wiederkehr des Geburtstages von Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755–1803), Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Band 1, Berlin, Lit Verlag, 2007, pp. 516, illus, €49.90 (hardback 978-3-8258-9755-9). - Volume 53 Issue 3

Félix Vicq d’Azyr (1748–1794)

Félix Vicq d’Azyr (1748–1794)

Bodies in Florence

Sometimes it's nice to have a second chance. In 2007, I spent several days in Florence, but never got around to visiting the Zoological Museum. I have to admit to getting sidetracked by the art, of which there is a great deal in Florence, to say the least. By one estimate, 20% of the great art in the world is in Florence. In 2008, I could only spend a day in the city, but I did manage to visit the Zoological Museum which is also called or The Observatory, because of the astronomical observatory which was part of the site until the late 19th century (Poggesi, 1994). As with so much of Italy, this museum has a long history. It was established in 1771, but the beginning of its collections goes back to the time of the Medici family in the 16th century. It opened to the public in 1775 in a renovated palazzo and was originally called the Museum of Physics and Natural History. Over the years, many of its holdings, such as those relating to Galileo who was born in Florence, have been moved to other sites. All that remains at La Specola are the zoological and anatomical collections, much of which date back to the early years of the museum. This is what makes the site so special. Walking into it is like walking into a 19th-century exhibition space. The first room, with an ornate ceiling befitting a palazzo, is devoted to invertebrates, most displayed in glass jars filled with preservative. Hanging alongside them are prints of Ernst Haeckel's illustrations of the same species from his Art Forms in Nature (1904), another slice of biological history. After a couple of rooms of invertebrates, I walked into a stunning room of large wood-trimmed glass cases filled with mounts of mammals. This reminded me of some of the rooms in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard which also has old-style exhibits. There are obviously problems with this kind of display--there is no overarching theme relating the specimens, and little information presented about them. Yet, they are lovely and I'm glad some of them still exist as a reminder of how the 19th century viewed the living world. After several mammal rooms, there's an area which has obviously been updated, with two dioramas depicting African habitats and a display on African ecology. This is just about the only intrusion of the 20th century into La Specola. This room is followed by more mammals, then five rooms filled, really filled, with birds. Next come the reptiles. By this time, I was beginning to worry that what I had come to the museum to see, wasn't there. Maybe I was mistaken and was in the wrong place. After the reptiles came fish, including some in a beautiful wood-trimmed glass case with an arched top--it would look great in someone's dining room. After the fish, I finally got my first glimpse of the wax anatomical models I was looking for, and I could immediately appreciate why the museum is organized the way it is. These models are obviously the glory of La Specola and the best has been saved for last. Wax Models The first director of the museum was Felice Fontana, a chemist and physiologist who had a wax modeling workshop set up even before the museum opened. For about 100 years, this facility produced the most accurate and exquisite anatomical models ever made. There are over 900 of them on display at the museum today. This was the first thing that surprised me, just the sheer number of models. There are seven rooms full of them. They range from entire bodies to single organs or organ parts. I know it's trite to say that pictures just don't do them justice, but here, this is very true. I've seen numerous photos of these models, particularly in Encyclopaedia Anatomica (During & Poggesi, 2001) which is devoted to the collection, but these just cannot convey the realism and artistry displayed here. And if pictures can't communicate adequately, then my words certainly won't either. However, I can't stop myself; I found the whole experience so exciting that I have to share it. …

Between Motion and Rest: Encountering Bodies in/on Display

Between Motion and Rest: Encountering Bodies in/on Display

Estimation and Evidence in Forensic Anthropology: Age‐at‐Death

A great deal has previously been written about the use of skeletal morphological changes in estimating ages-at-death. This article looks in particular at the pubic symphysis, as it was historically one of the first regions to be described in the literature on age estimation. Despite the lengthy history, the value of the pubic symphysis in estimating ages and in providing evidence for putative identifications remains unclear. This lack of clarity primarily stems from the fact that rather ad hoc statistical methods have been applied in previous studies. This article presents a statistical analysis of a large data set (n = 1766) of pubic symphyseal scores from multiple contexts, including anatomical collections, war dead, and victims of genocide. The emphasis is in finding statistical methods that will have the correct "coverage.""Coverage" means that if a method has a stated coverage of 50%, then approximately 50% of the individuals in a particular pubic symphyseal stage should have ages that are between the stated age limits, and that approximately 25% should be below the bottom age limit and 25% above the top age limit. In a number of applications it is shown that if an appropriate prior age-at-death distribution is used, then "transition analysis" will provide accurate "coverages," while percentile methods, range methods, and means (+/-standard deviations) will not. Even in cases where there are significant differences in the mean ages-to-transition between populations, the effects on the stated age limits for particular "coverages" are minimal. As a consequence, more emphasis needs to be placed on collecting data on age changes in large samples, rather than focusing on the possibility of inter-population variation in rates of aging.

Demographic Change and Forensic Identification: Problems in Metric Identification of Hispanic Skeletons*

The United States (U.S.) population structure is currently in a state of flux with one of the most profound changes being the increasing number of people referred to as Hispanic. In the U.S., much of the identification criteria for a biological profile are based on American Black and White individuals from anatomical collections. Using metric data from the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank (FDB), this paper will attempt to explore several issues that forensic anthropologists face when confronted with Hispanic remains. These will involve estimation of sex, height, and ancestry, the initial components of a biological profile. Discriminant function analyses indicate that American White criteria provide poor estimations of sex when applied to Hispanics and that ancestry estimation of Hispanic crania is difficult. Additionally, a new linear regression equation is presented that estimates stature for Hispanic individuals, although population specific criteria are still needed for Hispanic individuals from diverse geographical origins.

The inspiration of the development of National Museum of Health and Medicine of USA

The National Museum of Health and Medicine, primary named Armed Medicine Museum, is subordinated to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and is one of the few museums in the United States that collects archives and displays human remains. The museum was founded in 1862 to document the effects of war wounds and disease on the human body, the museum has a long history of collecting and preserving human remains from military and civilian sources. This collection provides a rich source of data for researchers in forensic medicine, anthropology, pathology and military medicine. The specimens comprising the anatomical collections are available for research, exhibition, and other educational purposes. The collections have attracted hundreds of domestic and foreign researchers.

The rotation ratios method: a method to describe altered pelvic orientation in sequential radiographs

A method to describe pelvic rotations between pairs of standard sequential pelvic anteroposterior radiographs based on a pelvic phantom is described in a former study. To expand this method into clinical use based on clinical data. Teardrop distances were measured on 262 pelvic radiographs from 46 patients in a clinical material using a computer program designed to perform measurements on digital radiographs. Anthropometric data recorded from 141 pelvises in an anatomical collection were employed in a computer program designed to simulate radiographs of virtual objects. Virtual rotations of the pelvises were carried out with 4653 virtual radiographs obtained. Virtual radiographic measures were analyzed. A statistically significant difference of 8 mm between mean teardrop distance in females (120 mm) and males (112 mm) was found in the clinical material. A set of formulas describing the relations between differences of two rotation ratios and pelvic rotations were derived. Four simple regression analyses were carried out with the use of virtual measures. Adjusted teardrop distances were implemented. A clinical method to describe pelvic rotations using standard pelvic radiographs was developed.

Nuchal cystic hygroma in five fetuses from 1819 to 1826 in the Meckel‐anatomical collections at the University of Halle, Germany

The Anatomical collection of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical School of the University of Halle, Germany, comprises more than 8,000 specimens. Around 600 of them show congenital anomalies. The collection of abnormal human and animal fetuses began as the private collection of Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724-1774), his son Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755-1803) and his grandson Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833). Meckel the Younger founded the systematic science of developmental pathology. Radiographical techniques, computer tomographic (CT) methods, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) were used to diagnose abnormal human fetuses in the Meckel-anatomical collections. Cystic hygroma colli was found in five of the human fetuses originally described by JF Meckel the Younger in 1826 and one of his students in 1819 [Hencke, 1819]. CGH analyses were used to test whether the observed cystic hygroma colli could be caused by chromosomal aneuploidies. CGH-ratio profiles of all chromosomes were apparently normal. PCR-based sex determination tests on ancient DNA were used to determine the fetal gonosomal constitution. It is likely that the Meckel specimens are among the oldest fetuses in which Ullrich-Turner "phenotype" has been diagnosed.