We ought to say a few words in commendation of the ori- 

 ginal work of Beclard; but we believe its merits so well 

 known that we shall dispense ourselves from dwelling on them. 

 However, we know that there exists yet, among some of the 

 younger members of the profession, a very false and errone- 

 ous idea of what GENERAL ANATOMY really means. In order 

 to elucidate this subject, we shall extract the following excel- 

 lent explanatory passage from a Lecture of Dr. Godman on 

 General Anatomy. 



" We have in the outset to regret that the use of a term should 

 have led to misapprehension among some of the members of 

 our profession, who from the title General Anatomy, have re- 

 ceived an impression that it is nothing more than a general 

 outline, or sketch of common or special anatomy, stripped of 

 its minuteness. 



" Such an idea of General Anatomy is totally erroneous, and 

 has in some instances led to the most injurious neglect of pre- 

 cious knowledge. General anatomy is the science of organi- 

 zation, not of individual organs. It teaches the elementary 

 textures composing all the parts of the body without reference to 

 the specific structures they aid in forming. In this sense alone, 

 it is general, but in the determination of the qualities and laws 

 of the elementary textures, and of the manner in which these 

 are linked together, this science is most minute, precise, and 

 definite, bringing us into the most intimate acquaintance with 

 the entire economy of the system, and breaking down the bar- 

 riers which the habit of exclusively studying special organs, 

 invariably raises around us. 



" General Anatomy, then, is not descriptive or Special Ana- 

 tomy in outline, but the anatomy of elementary textures, of 



