ABSTRACT
This chapter reassesses a fundamental episode in the history of pathological anatomy by examining the dissecting activities of Marcello Malpighi and some of his pupils active as a group in Bologna in the early eighteenth century. At this time the value of the knowledge gained through autopsies was contested, as the debates over the discipline of anatomia practica illustrate. The anatomists and physicians in Bologna shared a mechanical notion of the body, intense dissecting and awareness that post-mortem evidence was problematic, but they developed different solutions. In particular, Ippolito Albertini and Anton Maria Valsalva understood the relationships between anatomy, morbid dissections and medical practice in different terms. Their works were among Giovanni Battista Morgagni’s explicit resources, and by acknowledging this influential role historians have overlooked the variety of their approaches. Challenging the view of a linear development of pathological anatomy from Bologna to Padua, the chapter reveals some of the most significant implications of the debate on the uses of dissections and the complexities in the making of a tradition. </abstract>
