18 INTRODUCTION 



and artistic, in his work in the dissecting-room, how much better 

 for him than if at the outset of his career he become satisfied 

 with superficial observation, with interrupted and irregular 

 activity, with disorder and uncleanliness ! The habits formed in 

 the anatomy building have their effect upon the whole life of the 

 physician. 



Moreover, the very first dissection may be all-important as 

 regards the subsequent dissections. He who fails in his earliest 

 dissection to acquire the habit of working according to a definite 

 method seldom learns later to become an exact, quick, and careful 

 dissector. It is almost hopeless to try to make a man do exact 

 and clean work in the dissecting-room after he has once formed 

 inaccurate and dirty habits. The student in the beginning 

 should aim not so much at rapidity as at method. When he has 

 once formed the habit of proceeding always according to a care- 

 ful method, the rapidity will quickly follow. 



It is sometimes asked, " Why should the medical student 

 spend so much time and take so much pains in making a careful 

 and beautiful dissection? Is it not time wasted to work out the 

 smaller branches of the nerves and blood-vessels?" Expe- 

 rienced teachers who require thorough work are not disturbed 

 by such inquiries. Those who have had the best opportunity 

 for judging assert that it is only when a man succeeds in making 

 a fine dissection that he gains an interest and pleasure in an 

 occupation which may not at first be attractive to him. Further, 

 the importance of working out the finer structures lies not 

 always so much in the actual knowledge of these structures 

 gained by the student, as in the acquisition of the habit of thor- 

 oughness of observation and investigation. The medical student 

 who in the dissecting-room dissects out only the main trunks of 

 the vessels and nerves, or only the structures which at the 

 moment seem to physicians and surgeons of greatest practical 

 import, is likely as a clinician to be satisfied with the detection 

 of the more obvious and superficial symptoms, to the overlooking 

 of the less prominent symptoms and the more obscure physical 

 signs. The thorough dissector is much more likely later to 

 become a finely discriminating physician and an effective pro- 

 gressive surgeon. Again, if a dissector permit himself to expose 

 structures roughly, to isolate them incompletely, and to clean 

 them imperfectly, so that his dissection becomes indistinct, bad- 

 smelling, and repulsive-looking, he will quickly lose interest in 

 his work, slice the part desperately, neglect it, stay away from it, 

 and fail utterly to benefit by it. Each student should, therefore, 



