PREFATORY REMARKS. Vli 



long and intricate paths opened in the elaborate volumes 

 of Bichat. On the contrary, I fear these books may ma- 

 terially tend to exclude Bichat from private libraries. If 

 a compendium of the works of the Father of general ana- 

 tomy can be made to accompany the recent publications, 

 I humbly think it will conduce to the student's progress. 



I have read with unmingled pleasure the General and 

 Special Anatomy of Horner; and have seen with pride 

 how favourably it is noticed abroad, and I know how much 

 good it is doing at home. The volume of Bayle and Hoi- 

 lard is an excellent work, and deserving repeated and at- 

 tentive perusal. But these works, although founded on 

 the system of Bichat, should never supersede his writings. 

 There are in the latter so many new, curious and authen- 

 ticated speculations and facts, not to be found in any pre- 

 ceding or subsequent work, that they remain unrivalled 

 in value, immortalizing the author. 



To be valuable, such a work as I have executed, should 

 be well done. Neither time nor devotion to the object 

 have been spared. It has been my endeavour to catch the 

 spirit and the meaning of Bichat, and to express them 

 perspicuously. I do not suppose the work is free from 

 error, but it is hoped that these errors are neither numer- 

 ous nor important. I have depended on the French edi- 

 tions for the correctness of the book, but have been much 

 aided by the translations. 



Now that the works of Bichat are so valued, it is but 

 an act of justice to acknowledge the obligations of the me- 

 dical student to those who have translated them. It is due 

 to the taste and talents of Doctor Tobias Watkins, to an- 

 nounce him as the first who engaged in that undertaking. 

 He gave a fine translation of the work on Life and Death. 

 The treatise on the membranes was translated by Doctor 





