The Anatomical Accuracy of the Robber King Ou Xi Fan (and his 56 dissected gang members)

Shaw, Vivien

Abstract

Anatomical drawings have formed the cornerstone of anatomical education in the West for centuries before the arrival of photography, the internet and virtual resources. The images in Vesalius’ On the Fabric of the Human Body and later in Gray’s Anatomy have been the textbooks for countless physicians. In China there is an anatomical atlas called the Anatomical Atlas of Truth, which dates back to the Song Dynasty (906-1279CE). In it are drawings made by Cun Zhen Tu. The question posed in this study is ‘can this atlas be considered comparable to the works of Vesalius and Gray?’ There are some characteristics of anatomical drawing that are proposed to be crucial for an atlas of human anatomy to be considered valid.(i) Drawings must be based on dissection; (ii) dissection must have been carried out on many individuals to account for variation; (iii) the drawings must accurately depict the observed body; (iv) information depicted must be verifiably true, i.e. still be visible on dissection today; (v) the author must demonstrate a commitment to veracity. The Song dynasty drawings are substantially different in style from that of the later European illustrators, making them seem clumsy. On close examination, however, with the focus on anatomical content rather than illustrative style, they are labelled appropriately, the blood vessels connect between organs and heart, retroperitoneal organs are shown next to the spine, and abdominal organs are in the space in front, etc. To conclude, the drawings are based on the body as seen through the dissection of 57 individuals, fulfilling criteria 1 and 2 of this study. The structures recorded are in the right place can be verified today, fulfilling criteria 3 and 4. The commitment of the author to fidelity can be seen in the title of the book ‘Anatomical Atlas of Truth’. In sum, this implies that Cun Zhen Tu, like Vesalius, wanted to correct the errors in anatomy that were current in his time. He did this by creating an accurate atlas. This in turn implies that anatomists in China, as in Europe, had similar scholarly concerns and methods.

Citation

Shaw, V. (2014, December). The Anatomical Accuracy of the Robber King Ou Xi Fan (and his 56 dissected gang members). Poster presented at Joint Meeting of the Anatomical Society and the Primate Society of Great Britain: Primate Ecomorpholgy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: Joint Meeting of the Anatomical Society and the Primate Society of Great Britain: Primate Ecomorpholgy
• Start Date: Dec 15, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 22, 2021
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3858392
• Additional Information: Introduction to the Symposium Proceedings: https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12455