Vlll PREFACE. 



another, like vitriol upon tartar, and thereby ejecting 

 itself through the aorta. Of side passages in the heart 

 through the septum of the ventricles. Of the cele- 

 brated general of the Messenians, Aristomenes, known 

 equally well for his devotion and constancy to the cause 

 of his countrymen, having his heart filled with hair, a 

 proof of his invincible courage and daring. Of the eel 

 which was found in the heart of a patient of Dr. May. 

 These matters may possibly be excused on the footing 

 of episodes, intended to diminish the tediousness of a 

 long story. 



The oddities of this writer are likewise entirely cha- 

 racteristic : thus, we have in his Principles of Surgery 

 a regular diagram of the resemblance between the thigh 

 bone and a chariot with dished wheels. "Polonius. 

 Very like a whale." 



The last comment which we have to make touching 

 this " popular writer" is on his anatomical illustrations. 

 I cannot enter into an analysis of them, but have only 

 time to say, that if ever a simple matter was perplexed 

 by illustrations, we have this feat to perfection in the 

 account of the Circulation, of Respiration^ and of the 

 round of blood in the Foetus.* 



The character of the preceding vagaries may suit a 

 writer on common literary subjects, where amusement 

 only is intended ; but is totally unfitted to an instructor 

 in an exact science, where words should be used only 

 according to their technical meaning, and where patient 

 observation is the only guaranty from ridiculous mis- 



* The preceding observations are principally applicable to the first 

 and second volumes of the Anatomy of the Human Body ; the third 

 and fourth have been executed in much better taste by Mr. Charles 

 Bell. 



