PREFACE. 



The preparation of this work was undertaken with three chief considerations in 

 mind. i. The presentation of the essential facts of human anatomy, regarded in its 

 broadest sense, by a descriptive text which, while concise, should be sufficiently com- 

 prehensive to include all that is necessary for a thorough understanding not only of 

 the gross appearances and relations of the various parts of the human body, but also 

 of their structure and development. 2. Adequate emphasis and explanation of the 

 many and varied relations of anatomical details to the conditions claiming the atten- 

 tion of the physician and surgeon. 3. The elucidation of such text by illustrations 

 that should portray actual dissections and preparations with fidelity and realism. 



To the first of these ends the co-operation of several American teachers of 

 anatomy was enlisted, whose contributions have been welded into a homogeneous 

 whole. 



Dr. Thomas Dwight has written the description of the skeleton, including the 

 joints, and that of the gastro-pulmonary system and of the accessory organs of 

 nutrition. 



Dr. Carl A. Hamann has contributed the account of the cerebro-spinal and 

 sympathetic nerves. 



Dr. J. Playfair McMurrich has supplied the systematic description of the mus- 

 cular and of the blood- and lymph-vascular system. 



Dr. George A. Piersol has written the introductory, histological and embryolog- 

 ical paragraphs throughout the work and contributed the description of the central 

 nervous system, including the deep relations of the cranial nerves, of the organs of 

 special sense, of the carotid, coccygeal and aortic bodies, and of the uro-genital system. 



The second desideratum — adequate consideration of the practical applications 

 of anatomy — has been ensured by the co-operation of Dr. J. William White, 

 whose ripe experience, both as a surgeon and as a teacher of surgery, has enabled 

 him to point out with unusual force the relations of anatomy to the requirements of 

 the practitioner, and to associate for the benefit of the student anatomical facts with 

 those conditions, resulting from injury or disease, that these facts elucidate. 



While no attempt has been made to cover the field of operative surgery, brief 

 descriptions of operative methods have been given when they have seemed necessary 

 to complete the study of an anatomical region or of an important organ. Occasion- 

 ally a relatively rare operation has been included because of the exceptional practical 

 importance of the subject from an anatomical standpoint. 



The writer of the Practical Considerations has aimed at presenting, in connection 

 with each organ or system, enough facts illustrati\'e of the dependence of the diag- 

 nostician and practitioner upon anatomical knowledge to awaken interest and to com- 

 bat the tendency to regard anatomy as something to be memorized during student 

 days and forgotten when examinations are over. Even when such facts do not seem 

 at a first glance to come within the scope of a text-book of anatomy, it will be found 

 that a careful comparison of this text with the descriptive portion of the book will 

 show a real and practical relation between them — a relation which, once established 



