|
Traditionally, medical students familiarize themselves with the
human body through a process of removal. First they remove the skin
from the corpse, then they detach muscle after muscle from the limbs,
and finally conclude by removing the chest and abdominal walls. After
removing the organs, the remainder of the body is—to use their own
rather telling term—"dissected down" to the bones and ligaments.
According to medical encyclopedias, anatomy is a teaching discipline
within the field of medicine; it is based on the dismemberment of the
dead and concerned with the form, composition, and structure of the
human body up to and including the most intricate details of its
tissues, functions, and prenatal development.
Considered in this
light, Plastination does not differ from traditional anatomy in any
way. As an innovative preservation method, it does, however, make it
possible to create completely new types of specimens. When the polymers
harden, for instance, muscles that would ordinarily be slack can
provide support, allowing the body to be displayed in a variety of
unusual poses, either in its entirety or in various stages of
anatomical dissection. It is even possible to take a body that has been
dissected into components of interest and stretch it in all directions,
thereby creating gaps that allow for informative glimpses into the body
and reveal structural relationships that would otherwise remain hidden. Plastinates
are able to convey far more than man-made, three-dimensional models,
simply because they have come into being via the natural, individual
growth of human bodies—models, on the other hand, have at some point
had to be consciously designed. Sometimes plastinates even communicate
more than untreated anatomical specimens. Transparent slices of tissue,
for example, allow observers to trace the course of even the most
minute nerves into the depths of the body. The gray matter visible in
slices of the brain is easier to distinguish from the white medulla
oblongata than is the case with a fresh organ. When the
physical/chemical process is performed properly, even small,
microscopic bundles of cells retain their original form. The result is
a visually arresting plastinate—the ideal method for displaying a
preserved body in a way that sheds light on the functions of its
structures.
|
|
|
