In a previous essay, we wrote about the shortcomings of the four basic tissue dogma of histology - miscellaneous tissues lumped under the ill-fitting name "connective tissues" and the existence of human tissues that are not recognized as subtypes of any of the four "basic types". A provisional recla...

The rules of the anatomical nomenclature are sometimes in conflict with the principles of revision of the nomenclature. This is possibly most obvious is the debate about the use of the Latin words pudendus ("shameful") and sacer ("holy") in the anatomical nomenclature. The principles of revision str...

Textbooks frequently report that there are 206 human bones, or 200 bones and 6 auditory ossicles. The human bone counts in history and within adulthood were reviewed. Tallies of 197 to 307 bones have been reported over the past several centuries. The relatively low modern reckoning of 206 was due to...

The modern view that the human body is composed of tissues and body fluids, and that there are four basic tissue types, may be a more significant departure from Artistotle's homoeomeres, and from Bichat's membranes and tissues, than commonly appreciated. The older concepts described these body parts...