PREFACE. 



THE Preface to this little volume may be written in a few words. It 

 first saw the light in the spring of 1840, and now, in the autumn of 1844, 

 has reached its Third Edition. In this short period, less than five years, 

 five thousand copies have been distributed among the Members of the 

 Profession, many also taking their place in the libraries of Gentlemen, 

 who, although not of the Profession, justly consider that some genera} 

 knowledge of the structure of the body is an essential part of a liberal 

 education. In the same period, a second edition of the work has appeared 

 in America ; and a translation, from the pen of Dr. Hollstein, has been 

 completed in Berlin. 



Thus the volume has quickly returned for review to the hands of the 

 Author ; and he trusts that an examination of the second and present edi- 

 tions will prove that he has not neglected this advantage. He has care- 

 fully corrected such oversights and omissions as may have occurred in 

 the completion of a work on so extensive a subject ; many parts which 

 seemed scantily treated, he has entirely re-written; and he has endea- 

 voured to give as full a description of every point in Anatomy, whether 

 important or trivial, as is consistent with the limits and objects of a Prac- 

 tical Manual. 



Two features in the Anatomist's Vade Mecum appear to the Author to 

 deserve notice: the first relates to the labours of his professional bre- 

 thren ; the second to the illustrations contained in the work. On the first 

 of these heads the Author begs to remark, that he considers it a duty, as 

 well to them as to his readers and himself, to quote all recent observations 

 arid discoveries in Anatomy which may have interest, and to give as 

 complete an abstract of such discoveries as the scheme of the work will 

 permit. By pursuing this plan, the Author trusts to distinguish his 

 volume as the Record of the Profession at large, and not as the text-book 

 merely of a particular school. And, in furtherance of his object, he has 



