X PREFACE. 



legiance to whose doctrines has, moreover, been freely 

 avowed, in the present work, on proper occasions. 



To the profound anatomist, whose inclinations lead 

 him to study every fasciculus of fibres composing a mus- 

 cle or a ligament, and every minute nervous or arterial 

 ramification, the. present Treatise on Anatomy will of 

 course, be a mere outline of the science. But to the stu- 

 dent of medicine and to the practitioner, who have only 

 time to dwell upon prominent and useful points, I trust 

 that it will appear sufficiently full for most professional 

 objects. The anatomy of the human body is of an ex- 

 tent much beyond the common conceptions of it, and is 

 rather a generic than a specific term. A full treatise 

 on it would contain matter to twice or three times the ex- 

 tent of the present work, and would even then be in 

 many respects deficient; for it must not only give a full 

 description of parts in the adult body, but their first ap- 

 pearance in foetal life, and their gradual development 

 into the perfect or adult state. It must also contain a 

 complete account of the properties of each kind of struc- 

 ture composing the human body, called, in technical lan- 

 guage, General Anatomy; also morbid alterations of 

 structure, and finally varieties in shape, position, &c. 



It is here proper to remark, that though every hu- 

 man body be formed on the same general mould, yet, 

 in examining the details of structure in an individual, 

 varieties will be met with causing a difference from 

 all other individuals. For as no two leaves or two hu- 

 man countenances are precisely alike, so the interior 

 organs of individuals differ in their phases, though the 

 same end is obtained. Hence, it becomes necessary 



