PREFATORY REMARKS. 



THE works legitimately ascribed to Bichat are volumi- 

 nous and expensive. In the French there are about ten 

 volumes, in the translations seven; .and they are not al- 

 ways, perhaps not generally, all found in private libraries. 

 These circumstances in part, induced me to attempt an 

 epitome of the works of this great man. The decisive 

 motive was the fact, that his works at large are, from va- 

 rious causes, toa little read by students, before they com- 

 mence their public studies, or before they graduate. I 

 allude now to the great proportion of medical students in 

 the interior of the country. It has been frequently said 

 too, that the arguments in support of his principles, and 

 the experiments illustrating their truth, are detailed by 

 Bichat with unnecessary prolixity and minuteness. 



If any causes tend to keep from the medical student a 

 familiar acquaintance with the writings of Bichat, they 

 should be removed; if any thing can be done to render 

 them more accessible, it should be done. I have thought, 

 and the plan has been approved by judicious friends, that 

 such an attempt as this volume exhibits might have these 

 effects; and it will be a great source of satisfaction to me, 

 if it in any measure succeeds. 



In all the sciences there is a disposition to familiarize 

 students with the most important authors, by reducing 

 their works to the compendious form of manuals. This 

 is done usually, in the aphoristic, or in the interro- 

 gatory style. The last has been pronounced, if not the 



