250th anniversary of the academic department f human anatomy of I.M. Sechenov First Moscow tate Medical University (1764–2014)

Abstract

In 1755, due to the efforts of M.V. Lomonosov, the Imperial Moscow University was established. Its faculty of medicine opened in 1758. Six years later, in 1764, one of the oldest departments in the history of Russian medical education was formed – the Department of Human Anatomy.

The Department of Human Anatomy and its staff and managers have made an invaluable contribution to anatomical science by organizing the educational framework of the country’s medical schools, creating the Russian anatomical school, and training highly qualified specialists for public health care practice.

The first head of the Department of Anatomy (from 1764 to 1768) was Professor Johann Friedrich Erasmus, who had taught anatomy at the military hospital founded by Peter the Great in 1706. In 1764, at a Moscow University staff meeting, Erasmus stressed the importance of anatomy studies as part of the education of good doctors. He defined anatomy as a scientific discipline that studies all parts of the human body, including its shape, position, and structure.

To study the structure of the human body, Professor Erasmus conducted autopsies in a special room designated for this purpose. At his suggestion, the university press published anatomical drawings by Scharschmidt. Erasmus read his anatomy lectures in Latin.

In 1768, due to Erasmus' transition to practical work, Professor Sergei Gerasimov Zybelin became head of the Department of Anatomy. Zybelin gave his anatomy lectures in Russian, and they were accompanied by demonstrations of anatomical specimens. Zybelin introduced many anatomical terms that are still used today. He paid great attention to the "anatomical theater" (museum), which was regularly updated with new specimens, as well as to preventive medicine. In 1774, Zybelin was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

After Zybelin's transition to practical work at the university hospital in 1777, Professor Franz Franzevich Keresturi was appointed head of the department. A student of Zybelin, Keresturi devoted particular attention to the practical side of teaching anatomy. In practical classes, the students were shown the internal organs of humans and animals, and anatomical specimens were added to the department's anatomical museum. Specimens were also shown during lectures.

Moscow University moved to a new, large building on Mokhovaya Street in 1793. The anatomy department was allocated special rooms for practical classes and a large hall for the anatomical museum. In the museum, wet specimens were stored in glass jars, while bones and models were laid out on tables.