IV PREFACE. 



hour, moreover, of remodelling would have been almost 

 equal to the writing cf a new book. 



Neither is there any work extant from the British 

 press, which presents a good model for a body of Ana- 

 tomy. This assertion may surprise some, and yet it 

 is entirely true, and especially so in regard to the 

 British publications most circulated in this country : 

 I allude to the Anatomy of Mr. Fyfe,* and to that of 

 Mr. Bell.f The first, from being unpretending, good 

 in its way, and having accomplished the object for which 

 it was intended; to wit, as a general outline of anatomi- 

 cal objects, requires for the present no farther comment. 

 But the second, being presented to us in the imposing 

 form of four octavo volumes ; illustrated by numerous 

 diagrams and plates; abounding in strictures upon the 

 opinions of others, and written in a fanciful pleasant 

 manner; has had a much more powerful influence on 

 the taste of the American student, and is, therefore, a 

 very proper subject for a short analysis. It is not going 

 beyond bounds, when I say, that there is no work which 

 affords more amusement to the young student on the 

 first perusal, or whose authority is viewed by him with 

 more deference. Its sprightly style; its confident man^ 

 ner of address; the many exploded, antiquated errors 

 which have been disentombed from absolute oblivion, 

 in order to make the reader laugh at them; the gro- 

 tesque dress put upon the valuable opinions of others; 

 and their travestied doctrines; all contribute to make it 

 read like a production of the imagination, and to have 



* A Compendium of the Anatomy of the Human Body, intended 

 principally for the use of Students. Philad. Ed. 1802. 



t The Anatomy of the Human Body, illustrated with one hundred 

 and twenty-six engravings. By John Bell, Surgeon. 



