TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 



name is sometimes applied to two different structures Reform is therefore needed, but it is not the part of a translator 

 to undertake it, and I have perforce been content to follow the authorities. .\iy leading autnomy has been the tenth 

 edition of Quain's "Elements of Anatomy." but I have also had Macalister's "Text-boou ot Human Anatomy" in 

 constant requisition. From these works I have, when more than one name is used to denote any structure, taken all 

 those in common use, the order in which the alternative names have been printed showing most often the relative 

 frequency of employment ; in a few cases, however, where a name less commonly used has appeared to me distinctly 

 preferable for any reason to an alternative name more commonly used, I h ive given the less usual but preferable name 

 the precedence. To this small extent only have I been influenced by my own views in the matter of anatomical 

 terminology ; and, with the exception of those names which for the reason already furnished are preceded by an asterisk, 

 all the terms in the English nomenclature are in use by one or more of the leading English authorities. 



As regards the terminology employed in the United States of America, the contributions of the scientific investigators 

 of that country to anatomy have, owing to tue early perfection of this branch of study, been far less extensive than in the 

 case of the other sciences ancillary to medicine ; and the science of anatomy was for the most part taken bodily over, 

 text-books, terminology, and all complete. A few differences, however, exist, and I have therefore collated my manuscript 

 with that useful little work, Young's "Synopsis of Human Anatomy," and any divergent terms in use in America only 

 have been inserted in my translation, and distinguished by the addition of the letters " U.S." 



A considerable number of the references to the figures will be found to be in the English nomenclature only. These 

 are either cases in which the English and the International descriptive terms were identical, and the printing of both was 

 therefore superfluous ; or else cases in which in the original the reference was wholly in German. 



Measurements given in the original in centimetres have in all cases been reduced to inches. In illustrations of foetal 

 parts the age of the fcetus is given in months from the date of fertilization of the ovum. On the Continent, however, the 

 period of utero-gestation is usually reckoned as ten '' months " of four weeks each ; not, as with us, as nine calendar 

 months. To avoid mistake, I have in all such cases <fter the word "month" or "months" added in parentheses the words 

 " months of four weeks each." 



I cannot dismiss mention of the works of reference I have employed without alluding to the German-English 

 " Dictionary of Medical Terms," by Treves and Lang a book invaluable to all those engaged in the translation of 

 German medical works. 



Since this Atlas is intended for the use of beginners, as well as for that of advanced students of human anatomy and 

 of practitioners of medicine, I may fitly conclude this preface with a few words on the general principles of anatomical 

 nomenclature. For descriptive purposes the body is regarded as being in the upright posture, with the arms extended 

 by the sides, and the hands fully supinated, so that the palms look forward. With this attitude kept in mind, the meaning 

 of the terms superior and inferior, anterior and posterior, external and internal, is obvious. Sometimes, however, 

 descriptive terms of another kind are used, to remove the confusion liable to arise from the adoption by man of an 

 attitude different from that of all the other vertebrata, and to homolog ze the nomenclature of human with that of 

 comparative anatomy. Thus, cephalic and caudal in comparative anatomy correspond respectively with superior and 

 inferior in human anatomy ; ventral and dorsal, with anterior and posterior. Dividing the body into right and left 

 halves by a vertical median plane, which cuts the surface of the body at the median line, medial or mesial and la/,->,il 

 correspond respectively with internal and external in denoting position respectively nearer to, or more remote from, the 

 median pla e. Other lerms in frequent use are stipe > 'ficial and deep, central and peripheral, proximal and distal ' ; these 

 are self-explanatory. 



In some cases descriptive terms applied to portions of certain structures denote the relation of these portions to 

 other structures, as when we speak rf the vertebral and the sternal extremities of the ribs, or the acromial and the 

 sternal extremities of the clavicle. Terms of similar import are radial and ulnar applied to structures of the forearm ; 

 tibial and fibular (or peroneal} of the leg ; palmar and dorsal of the hand ; plantar and dorsal of the foot ; flexor and 

 extensor of any of the extremities. It is to be noted that internal and external are sometimes used in a sense different 

 from that previously explained, being employed to denote the interior and exterior positions respectively, either in relation 

 to the general axis cf the body or to the axis of one of its cavities. In this sense, for instance, we may speak of the 

 internal and the external tables of the cranial vault, or of the internal and the external oblique muscles of the abdomen ; 

 but it is, as a rule, better to use the words inner and outer to denote this relation, and to reserve internal and external for 

 position in r spect to the median plane. 



Finally we have to explain the terms used to denote certain directions, more e-pecially the direction of certain 

 sec' ions : these are horizontal and vertical, requiring no definition ; sagit'al, denoting a dorso-ventral direction either in 

 or parallel to ihe median plane ; and frontal or coronal, which are synonymous texms, denoting direction in a transverse 

 vertical plane. 



The definition of many of the terms used in descriptive anatomy, such as condyle and luberosity, process and tubercle, 

 sinus and cavity, ligament, tendon, and aponeurosis, would be superfluous, since the student w 11 best gain an accurate 

 notion of their meaning by an examination of the structures to which they are respectively applied. 



M. EDEN PAUL. 

 ALDERNEY, August, 1903. 



