The dark history of medical illustrations

THEY were pregnant, imprisoned, or desperately poor — forgotten in death as in life.

- LUCY E HYDE

Yet their dissected bodies became the foundation of anatomical teaching. Hidden within anatomy textbooks are figures stripped not only of skin but of identity. Eduard Pernkopf's Nazi-era Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy contains exquisitely detailed drawings created from the bodies of executed political prisoners. William Hunter's The Gravid Uterus (1774) clinically depicts dissected pregnant women, their origins and consent unknown.

Today, anatomy follows strict ethical codes: in the UK, the 2004 Human Tissue Act (2006 in Scotland) requires informed consent for both dissection and image production. Memorial services honour donors, and students are taught to treat cadavers with dignity — their “first patients.” Yet most historical illustrations predate such safeguards. The people shown never gave permission to be dissected, let alone immortalised. Should these images still be used, or does that perpetuate medical exploitation?