As an anatomy lesson "Body Worlds 2" starts out somewhat basic -- with skulls, knee-joints and hip bones displayed under lights in glass cases. But move along and things get more complicated, more provocative, and, some would say more 'icky.'

"Ew. It makes me feel all gurgley up inside," says one visitor. "It's more interesting than gross... It's definitely the more unique position I've seen so far...with an actual skateboard in his hands, all of his muscles are visible."

And that's the point. The visitor is staring at a full-body 'plastinate' titled "The Skateboarder." He (and he is a he) has no skin. He's doing a one-armed handstand the way a skateboarder would in a skateboard park but his pose is permanent.

'Plastination' is a preservation process invented by Dr. Gunther Von Hagens in 1977 where body fluids and fats in cadavers are replaced with polymers. The specimens are posed and cured, leaving their soft tissues dry, rubbery-looking, and oddly suspended in space and time.

The plastinates in the next room are more extreme. At a preview last week Angelina Whalley described "The X-Woman." Whalley is married to Dr. Von Hagens and designs the "Body Worlds" exhibitions: "This is a very unique dissection; you would not find this dissection in any dissection book nor would this be done in an anatomy class."

"The X-Woman's" flayed head looks like an image from a comic book or horror film. But she and the rest of the plastinates here walked the earth not too long ago. Some died healthy, others diseased, and creator Von Hagens says their authenticity gives them power: "A model actually is not convincing, but someone who died and I'm standing in front of him -- it's like he gives me a push to live healthier, drink less, don't smoke."

The fact that the organs and full-body specimens in "Body Worlds" are real raises questions, according to Boston University Bio-ethicist George Annas: "Did the people whose bodies are being used - being displayed, if you will - give their consent? Did they have any idea what they were going to be involved with even though they're dead?"

View more images from the exhibit.

In the past Dr. Von Hagens has been accused of using the bodies of executed Chinese and Russian prisoners but he's never been prosecuted. In 1993 he established The Institute for Plastination in Germany where he runs a consensual body donation program. Still, concerns over the origins of the 200 specimens in "Body Worlds 2" drove officials at American museums such as the Los Angeles Science Center to conduct independent investigations before hosting Von Hagens' plastinates.

Boston's Museum of Science President Ionnis Miaoulis says their findings are sound: "They actually went to Germany to confirm that all the bodies were indeed donated and matching the death certificates with the donor forms, so we concluded that it was truly legitimate." Miaoulis describes the plastinates and the exhibit as "pure anatomy displayed in a beautiful way."

Aaron Ginsburg is a pharmacist who lives in Sharon, Mass., and a member of the Science Museum. He saw "Body Worlds 2" in Cleveland, OH last year and is protesting the Boston run. Ginsburg says plastination assaults the dignity of the dead: "Bodies should be buried or treated with respect. There are no bodies left, they are just these balls of rubber."

Others liken the plastinates to art. Each figure has a plaque bearing a title, date and Von Hagens signature. Dr. Von Hagen refers to himself an 'aesthetically oriented anatomist.' Von Hagens' trademark black hat resembles the one worn by Dr. Nicholas Tulp in Rembrandt's painting of a 17th century anatomy lesson. Da Vinci dissected cadavers to gain insight into the details of the human body.

But Nancy Scott, a professor of Art History at Brandeis University, says Da Vinci's exploration was different than Von Hagens: "It was all in his notebooks, it was for his artistic practice and for his own intellectual investigation. We know he especially thought of his notebooks as rather private because he used the famous mirror script which he wrote backwards."

But public dissections attracted huge crowds in Europe, especially in the 16th century, according to Anna Dhody, the Collections Manager at the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She says we've been both fascinated and repelled by the inner-workings of the body for centuries. Von Hagens, she says, fulfills our curiosities.

And then there's the sense of awe. Matt Medoza of Haverill, Mass., reacts to the startling "X-Woman": "I think the whole exhibit is infused with a whole spirit of humanity. Even things like this that seem really disfigured or transfigured -- it's still pretty amazing to see it as a human body and in some ways my own."

The Museum of Science expects around 400,000 vistors before "Body Worlds 2" leaves Boston, Mass., in January 2007.

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