Types of Anatomy

Anatomy could be classified into:

Human Anatomy – Human anatomy involves the study of the physical structure of the human body. It focuses on numerous systems, including circulatory, digestive, endocrine, skeletal, lymphatic, nervous, respiratory, urinary, reproductive and muscular systems.

Plant Anatomy – Also called the phytotomy. It is the study of the internal structure of a plant including the tissues, root system, stem, leaves, flower, fruit and seeds.

Animal Anatomy – Also called the zootomy. It deals with the study of the internal structure of an animal including the cells, tissues, organs, bones and other organs of the animal body.

As mentioned above, Anatomy was primarily learnt through dissection. The word ‘Anatomy’ and ‘dissection’ have virtually the same meaning in Greek and Latin. Besides the fact that both the words have the same source, anatomy has a broad discipline of its own and the word “dissection” is completely removed.

On the other hand, Physiology mainly deals with the functions and processes of the human body. It is distinctly different from anatomy as the latter deals specifically with the structure of the organism.

Anatomy is classified into:

1. Microscopic Anatomy (Histology)
2. Gross Anatomy (Macroscopic anatomy).