Vlll PREFACE. 



practitioner. Following that great master, Haller, we 

 were desirous of giving to Anatomy a greater degree of 

 prominence than had been usual in Physiological works, 

 under the conviction that a thorough training in its several 

 branches, descriptive, physiological, and comparative, is 

 necessary to the formation of those habits of mind, which 

 best fit their possessor for the successful investigation 

 and the correct appreciation of physiological science. And 

 we aimed at resting our anatomical descriptions, at least 

 as regards the more important points, upon our own 

 investigations, and at repeating former experiments, or 

 devising new ones, whenever questions of sufficient 

 interest presented themselves. 



While we must humbly confess how small have been 

 the advances attributable to our own labours, the immense 

 extension given to the sciences of Anatomy and Physiology 

 during the last fifteen years, may be admitted as some 

 explanation of the delay that has occurred in the publica- 

 tion of our work, a delay that has been a constant source 

 of regret to us, since we began to discover how impossible 

 it would be for us to complete it within the term originally 

 contemplated. That, in spite of repeated procrastination, 

 it should have been so favourably received, both at home 

 and abroad, has been the greatest encouragement to us, 

 and demands our most thankful acknowledgments. If, 

 indeed, our pursuits had tended to no other end than the 

 cultivation of science, this book might have been finished 



