PREFACE 



THE appearance of a new text-book in a field which is so inade- 

 quately covered as that of normal histology and microscopical anat- 

 omy, needs no apology. The rapid development of medical science, 

 by the extensive application of the exact methods of the laboratory, 

 has steadily increased the importance of an accurate and somewhat 

 extended knowledge of microscopical anatomy, until now the medi- 

 cal student finds a ready command of the minute anatomy of the 

 human body to be essential to the satisfactory comprehension of the 

 sciences of physiology, pathology, bacteriology, and clinical medi- 

 cine. Thus the work of the histological laboratory in American 

 medical colleges has developed within the last two decades from 

 comparative insignificance to an importance which bids fair to rival 

 that of the dissecting room. The aim of the present volume has 

 been to present to the reader a sufficiently comprehensive view of 

 the subject to briefly cover the entire field in which the medical 

 student must now become proficient. 



To this end unusual space has been devoted to the microscopical 

 anatomy of those organs which serve as a field for the specialist in 

 medicine. This is especially true of the chapters on the central 

 nervous system, the extreme importance of the histology of these 

 organs, as the very foundation of neurological science, being con- 

 sidered a sufficient warrant for their extended consideration. 



In the selection of the illustrations, the aim has been to present 

 exact pictures of actual sections as viewed with known magnifica- 

 tion. Unless distinctly described as diagrams, the illustrations 

 invariably represent actual fields in actual preparations, the greater 



