AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



Medicine has reached a point, at which Microscopical 

 Anatomy appears to constitute its foundation, quite as much as 

 the Anatomy of the Organs and Systems ; and when a profound 

 study of Physiology and Pathological Anatomy is impossible, 

 without an accurate acquaintance also, with the most minute 

 structural conditions. It seems, therefore, to be the task of 

 the cultivators of this branch of science, to communicate the 

 results of their researches, not only to their fellow inquirers, 

 and to those who have, in other ways, gone more deeply 

 into medical science, but to all who are devoted to the 

 study of Man in general, and especially to render them easily 

 available by students and practitioners. The attainment of 

 this object is sought, in the present work, by giving a view, 

 as condensed as possible, of the relations of the elementary 

 parts of the body, and of the more intimate structure of 

 the organs. In the execution of this plan, with the exception 

 of some important, but still doubtful questions, all polemical 

 disquisition is avoided, and the History of the Science 

 also left altogether in the background ; whilst as constant 



