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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Barbet skeptical about?

2. What was Mary Roach dismayed to find out about brains in the brain bank?

3. What is a mellified man used for?

4. Which organs were NOT being harvested from H?

5. Who ended the belief in severed head consciousness?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Barbet test the strength of the palms for holding up a person's weight?

2. What did Duncan McDougal try to measure?

3. What does Mary Roach find is the Catholic perspective on composting human remains?

4. Which were the best mummies for medicinal uses?

5. Describe the procedure in which H was opened.

6. What was Father Armailhac's request for scientific study?

7. How are animals disposed of at Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, in Mary Roach's account?

8. What is plastination?

9. What was H being used for at the UCSF Medical Center when Mary Roach was observing?

10. What is a mellified man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Mary Roach's relationship with the experts she consults with? What authority does her status as 'writer' give her on the question of cadavers and dead bodies? Does she have more or less authority than certain experts? What could she do with the authority she gained by writing the book?

Essay Topic 2

Americans are known for their technological optimism, that death can be defeated or overcome. What insight does Mary Roach's book give us into refusal to accept death?

Essay Topic 3

How effective is Mary Roach in presenting the controversy surrounding cadaver use? What techniques does she use? Does she give both sides of an issue? How does she use reason or emotions or humor?

(see the answer keys)

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