PREFACE. 



FOR some years past there has been a general demand 

 among the members of our profession for a manual of Histol- 

 ogy, summarizing, in concise and plain language, our present 

 knowledge in this fundamental branch of medicine. It is true 

 many books have been written -on the subject, but their great 

 brevity, on the one hand, or an unnecessary diffuseness on the 

 other, have prevented them from meeting with acceptance at 

 the hands of physicians and students. In the one class belong 

 the little handbooks of Rutherford and Schaefer, which have 

 done much to simplify and therefore popularize histology, but 

 they were intended for beginners, and especially students doing 

 class-work under the laboratory system now so much in vogue. 

 But both physician and student" need something of wider scope, 

 and they have been compelled to turn to Klein & Smith, 

 Strieker, or Frey, though no one of these excellent works is 

 thoroughly adapted to their wants. 



Apart from the expense of the two former, they all are 

 deficient in matters relating to human histology. 



The practical experience of a teacher made it evident also 

 that the volume to fill such an obvious gap should take the 

 form of a text-book. And the present time seemed opportune 

 for its appearance, since we have latterly made much positive 



