Showcase A – The Study of Anatomy and Postmortem Dissection “We murder to dissect”

1. Two postmortem (P.M.) dissection sets:
c. 1900–1920.
2. Postmortem knife: for abdominal exploration,
c. 1850, ebony handle.
3. Fibula: c. 100 BC, bronze. The Roman “safety
pin” used for holding the toga. Its form,
combining a thicker, slightly bent arm and the

other thinner, straight one resembling the
two leg bones (tibia and fibula), earned the
fibula its name.
4. Burial headrest: c. 100 BC, bronze.
5. Similar headrests were found throughout
the ancient world, used to position the
head of the deceased. On the right: a "modern"
Chinese 17th century head rest.
6. A folding postmortem headrest: made to
position and stabilize the head during
dissection. Prototype, Downs, UK, 1935.
7. Postmortem mallet and chisel: used to crack
open the skull or chest, c. 1880.
8. Postmortem chisel: typically used for opening
the chest cavity, c. 1840.
9. Postmortem chisel: for opening the skull
Showcase A – The Study of Anatomy and
Postmortem Dissection “We murder to dissect”

52 53
(cranial) cavity, c. 1840.
10. Ma’aseh Toviyyah : (facsimile) by Tobias Ben
Moses Cohn, Venice, 1707, The National
Library of Israel, Jerusalem.