The rise and fall of the autopsy

Excerpt

The history of the autopsy covers a very long period [1‐3]. Autopsy derives from the Greek words autos (self) and opsis (eye), loosely translated as “seeing for oneself,” but it is impossible to recognize (abnormal) anatomical features that one can not place in the appropriate context. An understanding on “normal” anatomy and the basic mechanisms of disease causation are both prerequisites for an effective autopsy. The animistic view of the world around us in the millennia before Hippocrates (468–377 bc), explaining all events by the actions of unseen (divine) powers, precluded even the thinking of a morphological basis of disease. The subsequent naturalistic view, strongly influenced by Hippocrates’ opinion that diseases result from natural causes and not from divine or supernatural powers, opened the way for more progressive thinking. However, even then, there was no place for autopsies in the Hellenic or Roman periods or even in early medieval times when the basic knowledge necessary for understanding even gross abnormalities of organs had still to be developed …