Learning from the dead

Cadavers have been used for over 2 thousand years. The cadavers have been involved in science's greatest accomplishments, especially in the medical field. Herophilus is known as the father of anatomy because he was the first to record the dissection of a human body. he was the reason that the use of cadavers led to a rapid improvement in the anatomical and physiological knowledge of the human body, and the altered course of the medical pursuit throughout the world. Until the 18 and 19 centuries, criminals were the main source of cadavers in the medical schools in England and Scotland because people rarely donated their bodies for research. So when the number of executions decreased, it became more common to remove corpses from their graves. Due to the anatomical Act of 1832, that stipulated that only "teachers" were allowed legal access to corpses. That means that medical schools were granted access to the unclaimed bodies. By the end of the 19 century preserving dead bodies became more advanced. That led to the reduction in medical cadaver turnover, as students and researchers were no longer in the race against decomposition.