What is it about?

Our atlas and the enclosed CD show this very dimension by means of photographs made only of original specimens, and by means of illustrations drawn of them and labelled, as well as of images providing spatial experience (anagliph images). The atlas was arranged so as to fulfil the requirements of higher education. Primarily it helps understanding and deepening the material of comparative anatomy labs by showing the original and natural position of individual organs. On many photographs the internal structure of certain organs is revelaed in such detail that it helps to understand the histological structure and the related functions. The enclosed CD might help higher- and secondary education, as well. The material is compiled so as to make – together with the atlas – individual acquirement of anatomical knowledge and reviewing the acquired knowledge possible. Our work may thus help students of biology, students of teaching biology or students of veterinary medicine, but we hope that physicians and agricultural specialists having an interest in comparative anatomy might also benefit from it. For the purposes of the atlas we worked on well-developed organisms of animals usually presented in comparative anatomy, if their size allowed us to employ our methods. In the case of the domestic fowl, we worked on 2-3 weeks old, sexually yet immature animals because of the size of the saw we disposed of. Our atlas does not include for example the green hydra or the Dugesia gonocephala (planaria) due to their small size.

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Why is it important?

Studying the 0.5 – 1 cm thick undyed macrosections made of different fixed animal bodies with unaided eyes, with a simple magnifier or binocular microscope (sectional anatomy) might render a great help to accomplish traditional anatomical studies, to establish a certain spatial experience / space perception.

Perspectives

The sectional anatomical approach is useful also because it provides information that are usually lost between the dimensions of normal anatomical (dissectional) and histological (microscopic) examinations or we do not even see them.

Dr Zsolt Kovacs
Eötvös Loránd University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Atlas of Comparative Sectional Anatomy of 6 invertebrates and 5 vertebrates, January 2010, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-211-99763-5.
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