ANATOMISTS AND ANATOMY. 



marrow to the elbow, the fingers 

 were put in motion, and the arm 

 was agitated in such a manner, 

 that it seemed to point to some 

 spectators, who were dreadfully ter- 

 rified, from an apprehension that 

 the body was actually coming to 

 life. From these experiments Dr. 

 Ure seemed to be of opinion, that 

 had not incisions been made in the 

 blood-vessels of the neck, and the 

 spinal marrow been lacerated, the 

 body of the criminal might have 

 been restored to life. 



HARVEY'S EXAMINATION OF THE 

 HEART. 



In the time of Charles I., a young 

 nobleman of the Montgomery family 

 .had an abscess in the side of his 

 chest, in consequence of a fall. The 

 wound healed, but an opening was 

 left in his side of such a size that 

 -the heart and lungs were still 

 visible, and could be handled. On 

 the return of the young man from 

 his travels, the King heard of the 

 circumstance, and requested Dr. 

 Harvey to examine his heart. The 

 following is Harvey's own account 

 of the examination : "When I had 

 paid my respects to this young 

 nobleman and conveyed to him the 

 King's request, he made no con- 

 cealment, but exposed the left side 

 of his breast, where I saw a cavity 

 into which I could introduce my 

 finger and thumb. Astonished with 

 the novelty, again and again I ex- 

 plored the wound, and, first mar- 

 velling at the extraordinary nature 

 of the case, I set about the exami- 

 nation of the heart. Taking it in 

 one hand, and placing the finger of 

 the other on the pulse of the wrist, 

 I satisfied myself that it was indeed 

 the heart which I grasped. I then 

 brought him to the King, that he 

 might behold and touch so extraor- 

 dinary a thing, and that he might 

 perceive, as I did, that unless when 

 we touched the outer skin, or when 

 lie saw our fingers in the cavity. 



this young nobleman knew not that 

 we touched the heart." 



DR. JOHX REID HIS HEROISM. 



The late Dr. Keid was afflicted 

 with cancer in the tongue, which 

 ultimately extended to the throat, 

 causing his death. He was twice 

 operated upon, and directed the 

 surgeon's knife on both occasions, 

 the parts affected being those on 

 which he had thrown fresh light 

 by his physiological researches. In 

 his memoir by Dr. George Wilson, 

 an admirable piece of scientific and 

 religious biography, the folloAving 

 particulars are given: "There 

 were unusual elements of piety in 

 Dr. Eeid's case. The physician was 

 for the time the patient ; the public 

 speaker was struck inarticulate and 

 dumb ; and it was a surgeon who 

 was under the knife of the surgeons. 

 But this was by no means all. The 

 surgeons were the attached friends 

 of the patient. They did not gather 

 round him, with cold professional 

 eye, to discharge an official duty. 

 Fellow-lecturers, fellow-students, or 

 fellow-scholars, and old playmates, 

 they all were, and now they were 

 assembled to perform, with grieved 

 hearts, a cruel and painful task. 

 For doctors so circumstanced there 

 is no sympathy in the unprofessional 

 public heart. The surgeon who can 

 lift his knife upon his friend, is 

 looked upon as little better than 

 an assassin in spirit. Yet among 

 the medical men who were with Dr. 

 Reid on that painful day, were 

 hearts as tender, affectionate, and 

 gentle, as we need wish or may hope 

 to find. Sorely reluctant had they 

 been to undertake the unwelcome 

 duty to which they were now called. 

 Only the conviction that there was 

 no other way of serving him whom 

 they loved so deeply, gave them 

 courage to go on ; and no one under- 

 stood this better than he who was 

 the object of all this sympathy. 

 On his side there was corresponding 



