2 LANDMARKS MEDICAL AND SbRGICAL. 



tomed to deal with the living subject, might possibly find 

 himself at a loss to answer. 



2. Object in view. Our main object, therefore, is to 

 induce in students the habit of looking at the living body 

 with anatomical eyes, and with eyes too at their fingers' ends. 

 The value of this habit cannot be too highly estimated. Is it 

 not of the utmost importance to an operating surgeon that he 

 should have in his mind's eye the various structures of the 

 body as they lie grouped, connected, and working together ? 

 Should he not try at least to see them with the same clearness 

 and accuracy as if they were perfectly transparent ? 



Moreover, the habit of examining the living body with 

 ' anatomical eyes ' and ' surgical fingers ' teaches the eye and 

 the hand to act together, and trains that delicate sense of 

 touch which every surgeon should possess. 



This habit is within easy reach of any one who has care- 

 fully dissected for himself, and learned what to feel for. 

 Plates will not give him this knowledge. Let a student 

 examine his own body with a skeleton before him. Better 

 still that two should work thus together, each serving as a 

 model to the other. 



Teachers of anatomy should follow the example of Sir 

 C. Bell, who was in the habit of introducing, from time to 

 time, a powerful muscular fellow to his class, ' in order to 

 show how much of the structure of the body, such as the 

 articulations and the muscles, might be learned without 

 actual dissection.' l 



At the same time, it is only fair to say that ' landmarks ' 

 cannot always be defined with precision. A considerable 

 latitude must be allowed for natural variations in different 

 persons. In some, their anatomy stands out beautifully 

 clear ; in others, it is masked by obesity. Selecting, there- 

 fore, for study a moderately lean person, let us begin with 

 the head. 



The references throughout are to Notes at the end of the book. 



