Actually, unless I donate my organs before I die explicitly, you can't do that.
At most, my descendants can donate me, if they choose to. You can't take an organ just because you feel like it, even for science.
At most, my descendants can donate me, if they choose to. You can't take an organ just because you feel like it, even for science.
Historically though, they very much could and did. In fact, until quite recently they bought cadavers for medical schools (for anatomy and such) quite freely.
And on some jurisdictions, probably even today.
We'd take these brains out to schools and museums for public education. There were a lot of brains in the educational brain bank at the school. There were many different sections and cuttings of the brains, the dura mater, the spinal cords, eyes, etc. A great educational experience for anyone that wanted to learn more about the human body and their nervous system in general.
All the brains were fixed, and were the classic tired bubblegum color. It's that firm density you're thinking of and the texture is a bit cheese-like. They abrade easier than you think. The weight is always more than you think it's going to be.
Putting a real human brain into the hands of a child is a very magical experience. Again, it's heavier than you think, so they always seem to just not drop them, but know it's a very special thing so they all try their best to hold it up. And after that initial shock, the child's eyes just explode. You can really see their fascination, amazement, and reverence all at once. The 'adults' do the exact same thing, by and by.
It's a strange thing to transport the brains too. You have to go and get them out of storage (which is also a bit weird; you store them all over the place in the labs in very obvious locations and in very dull plastic buckets. This is so weirdos can't find them. There are no glass jars all up on a wall). It's typically a brain to a bucket, maybe some other parts. Then you just take them to your car, put them all in the trunk/back, and drive off to the location. You bring a bunch of gloves and coats, of course. I was always so worried that I'd be pulled over and the cop would want to look in all the buckets in the back, open them and see a ton of brains, and I'd be in a lot of shit. You don't need a permit on you to do this, you just move them like any old end table.
Eventually, the brains would get old and worn out. We'd dutifully collect every bit and ablated speck for disposal. I wasn't part of that part of the process, but I was told that all the bits were buried/cremated/disposed-of in the way that the previous owner or their family desired.
The donation process and the previous 'owner' of the brains is kept very secure. We never had any idea of the name/sex/race/ethnicity/gender/nationality/etc of the brains. From what I knew, all these were donated specifically for public education.
Happy to answer any questions yall might have on this!
Kids of a certain age get to hold them directly in gloved hands. The place has to have some ventilation, as again, the fixative doesn't smell the best and is also bad for the skin.
Thanks for the questions!
What is 'fix'? Chemical preservative?
And often quite illegally, despite the practice being common.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodi...
It gets downhill fast too:
https://www.icij.org/investigations/tissue/body-brokers-leav...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bodies-donated-to-science-large...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvm201gd
https://www.icij.org/investigations/tissue/from-the-archives...