Resumo

ROSELL PUIG, Washington; PANEQUE RAMOS, Ena R  e  GOMEZ MARTINEZ, Marxlenin. Historical evolution of Morphology. Educ Med Super [online]. 2005, vol.19, n.1, pp. 1-1. ISSN 0864-2141.

In the present paper, the most important events in the origin and development of Morphology related to the changes occurring in the society due to the interaction of the socioeconomic elements and the scientific and technical development, are stressed. It is approached the process of formation of the Morphological Sciences that started in Old Greece with the study of the macroscopic structures and of the development of some organisms by dissection in animals, which are the bases of scientific Morphology corresponding to Compared Anatomy and Embriology, and that was consolidated in Alexandria, where Anatomy was created as an independent science supported by the dissection of corpses. The reform of Morphological Sciences that took place in the Renaissance with the papers of descriptive character in Anatomy made by Vesalio, the discovery of blood circulation by Harvey and the study of microscopic structures as a result of the invention and improvement of the microscope, is dealt with. The differentiation and integration of the Morphological Sciences, two opposing trends that are a dialectic unit, that appeared due to the impetuous development of science in the XIX century, after the discovery of the cellular theories and of evolution, are analyzed.

Palavras-chave : History of Morphology; Anatomy; Histology; Embriology.