Abigail Zuger in the Science Times reviews the book, Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880-1930. The book presents a collection of photos from early 20th-century anatomy dissection classes. It seems to build on the fascination with "Body Worlds" with a historical angle:
[H]undreds of these photographs endure. John Harley Warner, chairman of Yale’s History of Medicine program, and James M. Edmonson, curator of a museum of medical memorabilia at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, have culled more than 100 for what might under other circumstances be considered a coffee-table book. It is a striking, glossy, oversize volume, immensely decorative if shredded flesh and the odd bone are your idea of décor.
But as ghoulish as the cadavers in these shots may be — they range from pristine, untouched corpses to unrecognizable piles of picked-over remains — their shock value diminishes with each turned page. Conversely, the attention commanded by the groups of young students self-consciously posed around the dissecting table never wanes.
According to Amazon, the book is 208 pages. Here's the cover:
Sounds interesting -- I think I might get a copy to have in my office for students...
