Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine: 1880–1930 (review)

At first glance, this handsome volume may seem destined only for the shelves of libraries and the private collections of students and practitioners of history, medicine, and sociology. Presented in coffee-table-like size and style, however, and in light of contemporary society's fascination with anatomy and the human body, I suspect it will find a much wider readership. After all, the Body Worlds exhibits of Gunther von Hagens have been seen by millions of people worldwide and have spawned at least eight copycat traveling shows. My focus here, though, is not on the public but on what Dissection has to offer folks involved with the study and practice of medicine.

Anchored by nearly seventy photographs from the Dittrick Medical History Center at Case Western Reserve University and almost twenty from the private collection of John Harley Warner, this remarkable book presents images relevant to the dissection experience at medical (and a few other) schools throughout the United States from 1872 to 1950 with a focus on the period 1880–1930. The carefully posed photographs are of predominantly male students in small groups around one or more cadavers—"table mates," if you will. Occasional images reveal a student individually at work or the dissection scene as an entire class portrait. In one, more than one hundred dissectors sit for the camera with their cadavers, books, and instruments. Many photographs are the amateur efforts of the students themselves, while others were taken by noted photographers of the day, skillfully posed and lighted. Since identifying information is often evident, these images were not just for the students' private perusal. Published in medical school yearbooks, sent openly via mail as postcards and greeting cards, entered in albums destined to be shared with family and friends, or presented as carte de visite, they were not a reflection of the clandestine.

In erudite essays introducing the collection and articulating its genesis, Warner and Edmonson briefly recount the history of dissection and cadaveric procurement in the United States, placing these photographs in the long tradition of anatomical "theatre" and art. Their lens is on the social and political climate of the times, on the gendered nature of dissection whether it relates to the relationship between dissector and corpse or to the internal dynamic of the group. They dispassionately discuss the objectification of the cadaver and the power relations and violence that led to the majority of corpses being those of African American men and women. Throughout his commentary, Warner returns to the premise that, for the students, such photographs "recount the rite of passage to a new identity … [and] present a professional coming-of-age narrative" (p. 15), while Edmonson notes that "our changing sensibilities and the suppression of dissection portraiture constitute a rupture in medical tradition" (p. 201).

For today's seasoned medical professionals, educators, and students, this book is a gem filled with arresting images that are at times familiar, exhilarating, and abhorrent. Bare hands prevail in the anatomy labs of this time; dissection instruments and books are prominently featured; dissectors often present themselves in formal business attire or appear bonded as a group through the choice of hats or toques; some groups wear aprons or protective gowns with identifying names, initials, and states; cigars, pipes, and cigarettes feature prominently, perhaps as visual commentary on the unpleasant odors attached to the work. Unlike today, no effort is made to shroud the face of the corpse while dissectors lay claim to the cadaver through the laying on of many hands. Dark humor appears as students play cards and smoke with corpses, create complex scenes with skeletons, or portray the role reversal of dissector and dissected in carefully staged tableaus. Inscriptions and epigraphs frequently chalked on dissection tables or written on photographs are revealing of the societal forces of the time:, "He lived for others but died for us," "Not for...