Dissection, box (2)

For the undergraduate, the biting Formol smells in the Prisoner's Hall are a first hurdle - as the eyes tear and the stomach revolts. But concrete anatomical experiences belong to the basic knowledge of surgery, and, as the great anatomist Friedrich TIEDEMANN (1781-1861) said:
"Physicians without anatomy are like the moles, they work in the dark and their hands are mounds of earth".

Exhibit

The box presented here comes from my student days in Freiburg - a reminder of the Anatomy Courses under Prof. Eugen FISCHER (1874-1967) and Prof. Ludwig KELLER (1910-1977). Both prohibited the use of chain hooks, which at many universities, the tissues are kept apart on the corpse. They rightly considered the risk of injury to be too great and did not want to see the chain hooks in their room: the fear of the "corpse poison" was reversed. In fact, many a student has sustained a dangerous finger / hand injury, in the worst case a deadly injury while preparing corpses.

The body parts of killed or deceased animals may contain corpse poison, protein decomposition products such as cadaverine and putrescine. The decomposition of animal protein usually involves the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. These bacteria multiply particularly well on meat and fish and produce the poison "botulinum toxin", which orally (ie when eating) in the tiniest amounts is deadly - namely at 0.001 mg. Botulinum Toxin is a Synapsengift, which prevents the release of messenger substances (acetylcholine) on the musculature. Death occurs through respiratory paralysis, i. The diaphragm is no longer controllable by our brain. Incidentally, the corpse poison is considered as a possibility in the production of biological weapons e.g. Poison drinking water.

Leichengift (also Ptomain, corpse base or Leichenalkaloid called) is a (mostly misleading) name for the resulting in protein decomposition by bacterial decomposition of lysine and ornithine biogenic amines cadaverine and putrescine, which are a reason for the smell of corpse corpses. In addition, sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide play a role, which are toxic in itself, but not present in high concentration. Although corpses have also been used to poison wells and bodies of water in warlike conflicts, the substance "corpse poison" does not exist. Depending on the cause of death and degree of corrosiveness of the body, a particular pathogen (eg, pest bacilli) or a bacterial toxin is responsible for the ill effects. In dealing with corpses z. B. in funeral companies, that a harmful effect due to skin contact or inhalation of "corpse poison" is excluded. In case of oral ingestion or transmission by injection or incision injuries (trauma), however, diseases are possible:

- by bacterial toxins (eg botulinum toxin, tetanus toxin),

- by fission products due to protein rot.

Accidents in dissecting rooms are therefore never due to corpse poison. At most, they are caused by particularly virulent bacteria, despite surviving formaldrough the body survived resp. the body settled after the death of the person ...

Nota: the hooks in the foreground of the picture are from the estate of the doctor, Roger SEILER (1911-1975), who had settled in the capital since 1945.