ABSTRACT
In previous chapters we have attempted to trace the broad variety of perspectives that can be found in Western societies on the cultural and religious significance of cadavers, as well as on the historical development of ideas regarding cadavers. In doing this, we have encountered societies’ reactions to the dead human body, and in the light of these what procedures societies will or will not allow to be carried out on dead human bodies. Although some of the discussion has touched on clinical areas, these have been relatively peripheral to the main focus of the discussion, which has centred on the cadaver itself or on perceptions of the cadaver as a whole or skeletal or tissue remains.
