Short answers, pulled from the story.
Anatomy is the branch of morphology concerned with the internal and external structure of organisms and their parts. It is a natural science dealing with the structural organization of living things, examining the appearance, position, and materials of body parts and their relationships to one another.
Gross or macroscopic anatomy studies structures large enough to be seen with the naked eye, and includes superficial anatomy. Microscopic anatomy uses optical instruments to study tissues and cells, and includes histology, the study of tissues.
The word anatomy comes from the Greek anatome, meaning dissection, derived from the verb anatemno, meaning "I cut up, cut open." That verb combines ana, meaning "up," with temno, meaning "I cut."
Andreas Vesalius, who lived from 1514 to 1564 and was professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, is considered the founder of modern human anatomy. He published De humani corporis fabrica in seven volumes in 1543.
Animal tissues are grouped into four basic types: connective, epithelial, muscle, and nervous tissue. Connective tissue gives organs shape, epithelial tissue forms closely packed linings, muscle tissue produces force and motion, and nervous tissue transmits information through neurons.
Herophilus was recognized as the first person to perform systematic dissections. Working in Hellenistic Alexandria in the third century alongside Erasistratus, he pioneered human dissection using the cadavers of condemned criminals, a practice considered taboo until the Renaissance.
Demand for cadavers led to body snatching in cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York, and to grave-raiding and even anatomy murder in Britain. The Anatomy Act of 1832 halted the practice in Britain, and similar legislation followed in the United States after William S. Forbes was found guilty in 1882.