Having commented about how the Achilles tendon came to be named following the dissection by Philip Verheyen (1648-1710) of his own amputated leg, I came across a note I copied from an unknown source about William Harvey (1578-1657), the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. It reads…
'Harvey's quest for knowledge and lack of human material led him to dissect his own sister and father when they died. Surprisingly, Harvey did not like the idea of having his own body dissected after his death and requested his corpse be wrapped in lead to protect it from other anatomists'.
Upon checking this, I have found that there is a story in circulation (pun intended) about Harvey having dissected his own father and sister—or at least having witnessed their dissections. However, there also appears to be no historical evidence that this was ever, in fact, the case. Beware.
