The study of human anatomy has always operated on a basic principle: to see is to know. This same principle led Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Islamic cultures to a progressively more scientific understanding of the human form. Public dissections during the Renaissance furthered this understanding, laying the foundation for our modern medical institutions and for this Exhibition.
Following this same principle- to see is to know—Bodies…The Exhibition uses dissected human specimens to provide you with a visual textbook to your own body.
The specimens in this Exhibition have been treated with the dignity and respect they so richly deserve.
Our bodies are indeed intricately more complex and wondrous than all the computers and gadgetry that surround us today. Yet many of us do not know what is beneath our skin – how our bodies function, what they need to survive, what destroys them, what revives them.
BODIES: THE EXHIBITION is an attempt to remedy this unfortunate set of circumstances. Take the knowledge gained from the Exhibition, expand on it and use it to become an informed participant in your own health care. This involves more than improving your diet or beginning a long overdue exercise program. It involves partnering with your doctor to understand what you – and your unique body – need to sustain a full and rewarding life.
The exhibition is divided in 9 different galleries:
Skeletal System
The bones of the skeleton comprise the body’s supporting internal framework. This specimen reveals the types of bone that make up the human body: long bones
(arms, forearms, thighs and legs); flat bones (sternum, scapula and skull); short bones (wrists and ankles); irregular bones (vertebrae) and sesamoid bones (kneecap).
Muscular System
Muscles give the body much of its individual shape and generate heat to help maintain its optimal temperature. When a muscle contracts it shortens, pulling bones together, causing movement at the joint it crosses. For example, the biceps brachii muscle of the arm crosses joints at the shoulder and the elbow. Its contraction can cause movement at one or both of these joints.
Nervous System
Nerve impulses travel to and from the surface of the body along microscopic nerve fibres. Thousands of these fibres are collected together within a
peripheral nerve. This arrangement is very similar to the bundle of individual fibres found within a fibre optic telephone cable that carries multiple conversations in many directions. Tough white peripheral nerves are clearly visible in the upper and lower limbs of this specimen, while a more delicate network of nerves can be seen in the cheek.
Digestive System
The length of the digestive tract illustrates the importance of our digestive systems. More than 6.09 metres (twenty feet long), our digestive tracts convert the food we eat into the fuel our bodies need. Once converted, it is absorbed through the wall of the tract and carried by the bloodstream throughout the body to reach and nourish the cells that perform all of the body’s vital functions.
Respiratory System
The lungs resemble a soft sponge that expands with each breath. When you inhale, air enters the lungs filling the three hundred million or more alveoli (air sacs) at the ends of the airways. In the alveoli, oxygen from the outside air is absorbed into the body and exchanged for carbon dioxide, which is then exhaled. The absorbed oxygen is then transported via the blood to every cell of the body.
Circulatory System
The circulatory system is made up of the heart and thousands of kilometres of blood vessels. One of the largest of these blood vessels, the aorta and its branches, supplies oxygenated blood to every part of the body. Two major arteries on either side of the neck (the right and left common carotid arteries) supply the brain. These are the arteries pressed when taking your pulse.
Reproductive System
The ovaries produce the female sex cell, the ova; the testes produce the male sex cell, the sperm. When the sperm and ova join, a process known as fertilisation occurs.
Urinary System
This system includes the ureters, the bladder, the urethra and the primary organs of the system—two kidneys. The kidneys lie within the abdominal cavity where they are slightly offset because of the location of the liver. The right kidney lies a bit lower in the abdomen than the left. They produce urine, the fluid by which the body rids itself of its harmful waste material, which is then stored in the bladder until eliminated through the urethra. The urinary bladder, surrounded by the pelvic bones, can store more than 0.7 litres (1.5 pints) of urine before needing to be emptied.
Integument System
This system is made up of the skin and its major appendages—the sweat glands, hair and nails. The skin is the largest and heaviest organ of the body. It functions in many different ways: as a sensory receptor, as a protector of the tissues beneath it, and as a regulator of body temperature. In addition, the skin contains a series of genetically determined ridges that are responsible for our fingerprints.