TEANSLATOE'S PEEFACE. 



THE following pages have been translated from one of a series of volumes, 

 entitled " The Pocket Encyclopaedia of the Medical Sciences," by Dr. von 

 Behr and Dr. Minding, and now in course of publication at Erlangen. 



The translator has long experienced, in his daily intercourse with students, 

 the disadvantages under which they labour from the want of a really ele- 

 mentary work on Anatomy, one which would, by giving a well-defined 

 outline of the subject, lead them to fill up the picture from the book of Na- 

 ture, or more elaborate and highly finished works. ' Of such books the Student 

 has, now, as many as he can desire, but their size, beauty, or prolixity, render 

 them better adapted for reference than as class books for their course of study. 

 This translation was, therefore, undertaken in the hope that it might lead to 

 an assiduous and earnest study of the subject in the dissecting-room, and not 

 with the view of superseding the diligent prosecution of the inquiry by means 

 of dissections, the only mode in which an accurate and available acquaintance 

 with the structure and arrangement of the organs of the body can be acquired. 



To assist the Student, however, in the literature of the science, references 

 have been made at the head of each division of the work, to such monographs 

 in the English language as contain original observations. 



The translator has made additions in a few places, which are thus indi- 

 cated J ; and in the Topographical portion he has given such instructions 

 as he considers most suitable for the display, by dissection, of the parts de- 

 scribed. 



The abbreviations in the body of the work were adopted as consistent with 

 the intention of the book ; namely, to embrace as great a number of facts in 

 as small a space as possible. 



The marks ' , " , f " , express, successively a foot, an inch, a line. 

 The translator does not concur in all the observations made by the author. 



Should this translation be found useful to the Student, other volumes of the 

 series will, perhaps, be published. 



. London, October 1846. 



