An e-mail:

I’ve noticed this thread for a bit in The Corner and feel that I need to throw my two cents in for whatever you deem it’s worth.
I’m a Physical Therapist by training and during school we used cadavers to study anatomy and physiology. It was there that I truly became convinced of God’s creation in the human design and function. I’ve always thought it a shame that the only people who get to view this miracle of human engineering are medical, PT, nursing etc. students.
When Body Worlds was recently in Los Angeles, I made the trip to see it while returning my daughter to school in S. CA. I can only say that it was wonderful. To see these dissected humans posed and “exposed” if you will to reveal structure and anatomy was wonderful. I felt that they were tastefully displayed according to whatever the “artist” intended to show. It’s my impression that Mr von Hagens is an anatomist first and artist second but uses both science and art to create a combination of art and science that is truly educational and inspiring.
I guess it’s not for everyone though but when I was there I was able to show a group of school children the complicated structures of the skull with the brain and spinal cords. Their teacher thanked me and I asked her what the response of the kids were, that is, were they uncomfortable.
She said they were a little quiet at first but then had taken to filling out the questionnaires the Science Museum had sent.
There was a small part that showed how this process took place. Everything I saw told me that these people who’d donated their remains were treated with respect and dignity in the preservation and modeling process. It’s a very labor intensive process and I can imagine that having a larger facility to work in would be very amenable.
A part that you particularly might find interesting and one both my wife (who’d gone some months earlier) found was the display of a pregnant woman. This was very respectfully done in a small alcove off to the side. The woman had known that she might not live as a result of her pregnancy and asked that this be done if she died. It’s a dissected view of the mother and baby in situ. Additionally there were stages of development of babies from 1 week to term. There was a note that said that these were NOT the result of abortions but of illness and/or injury to the mother. We both noted when we were there on separate times the number of women who were looking at the 4 week to 7 month stages. You could almost hear them thinking, “So this is what you looked like when I aborted you.” In my mind this was such a great exhibit to show what life REALLY is even when you use dead subjects.
I know I’m going on here, but one more thing. I detect in a few postings here and in other blogs a “connection” between von Hagens German heritage, Nazism, Poland and the Holocaust. I’m afraid I have to respectfully disagree with this characterization. I’m willing to keep an open mind if something surfaces such as von Hagen being a neo-Nazi or something similar, but in my mind, from what I’ve seen and what I know, this is truly an educational/artistic endeavor that doesn’t deserve such condemnation.
So, I don’t know what your “No comment” meant, but I took it to mean that you disapproved. If I’m mistaken, I apologize. I respect your writing and thinking an awful lot and read TC every day. I’ll tell you what, if I’ve mis-read what you or the other denizens of TC have said regarding this, I’ll subscribe to NRODT and make a donation to the USO. How’s that? Fair enough?

ME: What did “No comment” mean? Just that. That said, I find the whole thing creepy, for starters, particularly, as art. A tasteful science exhibit is one thing (from what I’ve gathered second hand, that is not von Hagens’s business, tasteful science lessons). I found myself in a medical museum recently and, yes, seeing a pre-born child at its different stages means more than thousands of words of rhetoric and debates. It’s neither in-your-face-or-subtle.

But why is this von Hagens stuff considered “art”?