Literary notes about Dissection (AI summary)
The word "dissection" assumes a wide array of meanings in literature, ranging from the literal to the metaphorical. In many texts, it refers to the meticulous act of separating anatomical structures for study, as illustrated in detailed surgical accounts that delineate procedures, instruments, and specific regions of the body ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5]). By contrast, other works employ the term figuratively to denote the analytical breakdown of ideas or literary elements—as seen in a technical analysis of a poem’s structure or in philosophical examinations of cognition ([6], [7], [8]). The concept even finds playful expression in puzzles that challenge the reader to “cut apart” shapes or problems to reveal hidden truths ([9], [10], [11], [12]), while at times lending a humorous or satirical tone to narrative passages ([13], [14]).
- This probably means blunt dissection only, as none of the spathomeles found have edges sharp enough to be actually cutting.
— from Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times by John Stewart Milne - [p. 148] and the crico-thyroid artery, a very small vessel, needs no attention in the dissection.
— from A System of Practical Medicine. By American Authors. Vol. 3 Diseases of the Respiratory, Circulatory, and Hæmatopoietic Systems - THE SURGICAL DISSECTION OF THE SUPERFICIAL STRUCTURES OF THE MALE PERINAEUM.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery - COMMENTARY ON PLATES 54, 55, & 56 THE SURGICAL DISSECTION OF THE MALE BLADDER AND URETHRA; LATERAL AND BILATERAL LITHOTOMY COMPARED.
— from Surgical Anatomy by Joseph Maclise - THE SURGICAL DISSECTION OF THE FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH LAYERS OF THE INGUINAL REGION, IN CONNEXION WITH THOSE OF THE THIGH.
— from Surgical Anatomy by Joseph Maclise - "The Philosophy of Composition," his analysis of The Raven , is a technical dissection of its method and structure.
— from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - Neuburger says of Erasistratus that “dissection had taught him to think in terms of anatomy.”
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - § 1 Transcendental analytic is the dissection of the whole of our a priori knowledge into the elements of the pure cognition of the understanding.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant - Often a dissection problem is quite easy apart from this limitation of pieces.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - I have, therefore, thought it well to keep these dissection puzzles distinct from the geometrical problems on more general lines.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - It is quite a simple little dissection puzzle if rightly attacked.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - Puzzles have infinite variety, but perhaps there is no class more ancient than dissection, cutting-out, or superposition puzzles.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - Here’s a wenerable old lady a—lyin’ on the carpet waitin’ for dissection, or galwinism, or some other rewivin’ and scientific inwention.’
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - Adieu, my Liege; may freedom geck Beneath your high protection; An' may ye rax Corruption's neck, And gie her for dissection!
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
