ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the uses of post-mortems in the context of early sixteenth-century academic medicine, focusing on the medical school of Ferrara and the work of Antonio Musa Brasavola. It shows that autopsies were part of humanist medical education in two interconnected ways. First, they provided the evidence with which commentators clarified controversial points of the ancient medical texts. Second, they represented a research and teaching practice, and were included in new genres of medical writing such as the curationes. These accounts of individual cases were becoming important vehicles for the transmission of knowledge and in particular were aimed at instructing young physicians in their bedside practice. The chapter reveals that far from being unusual, post-mortems were central to a range of medical pursuits at a time when humanist physicians were striving to place their knowledge and practice on the firm grounds provided by the restored ancient tradition.</abstract>
