January 20, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



85 



ANATOMY. 



It is not too broad a statement to say that 

 the modern methods of teaching anatomy 

 reflect the general progress of that science 

 during the past decade. In the limited 

 time at my disposal I am only able to ac- 

 centuate some of the main facts as they 

 pertain to instruction in human anatomy. 

 In this branch the revolution in the spirit 

 and method of our teaching is primarily 

 based on the recognition of man's scientific 

 position in the vertebrate series. We have 

 ceased, as teachers, to regard the human 

 body as a thing apart and by itself, and the 

 study of its structure and of the functions 

 of its parts is no longer attempted without 

 the aid which comparative anatomj' and 

 embryology so abundantly offer. The truths 

 embodied in the doctrine of evolution have 

 long furnished the quickening spirit of scien- 

 tific morphological study and research, but 

 their full utilization by the teacher of hu- 

 man anatomy as his most valuable guides 

 is of so comparatively recent date that I 

 feel justified in citing their pedagogic adop- 

 tion as the most important and funda- 

 mental advance in late years in the methods 

 of anatomical instruction. 



It is so evident that every complete or- 

 ganism is only fully comprehended in all its 

 relations when the method of its production 

 and development is known, and the fact 

 that the simplest conditions offer the logical 

 starting point in learning or teaching compli- 

 cated structural details is so in accord with 

 our daily experience, that the disregard of 

 phylogeny and embryology by teachers of 

 human anatomy seems little short of incom- 

 prehensible. And yet in my own experience 

 as a teacher of human anatomy I remember 

 grave academic deliberations as to the pro- 

 priety of placing the study on the scientific 

 basis which we occupy to-day, and some 

 doubtful queries as to whether after all it 

 would not be more advisable to uphold the 

 traditional method, somewhat as the Mos- 



lem Kadis have continued to teach the 

 Koran since the day of Mahomet. Human 

 anatomy, considered from the standpoint of 

 the instructor, has coursed through a curi- 

 ous cycle since Vesalius in the 14th century 

 raised it to the dignity of a science. 



From the point where he left it the 

 knowledge of man's structure continued to 

 develop during the succeeding centuries. 

 The details of human gross anatomy were 

 elaborated until every minute portion of 

 the human frame received its complete de- 

 scription, and at least one more or less ap- 

 propriate and length}' name. The teach- 

 ing of the science progressed along the same 

 lines, and the increase in the details of 

 descriptive anatomy found its response in 

 the anatomical text-book. Edition suc- 

 ceeded edition, each containing somewhat 

 more erudite and minute information than 

 its predecessor, and this accumulated mass 

 of facts confronted the student at the out- 

 set of his course. It is not remarkable that 

 under these conditions the important funda- 

 mental structural lines of the subject were 

 obscured and overshadowed by the quantity 

 of detail, nor that the study of anatomy 

 appeared to resolve itself into a more or 

 less successful effort at memorizing the 

 largest possible quantity of facts without 

 special regard to their quality or impor- 

 tance. 



I well remember in my own student days 

 that every man with any pretensions to 

 anatomical prowess could glibly and ac- 

 curately describe the five surfaces of the 

 orbital process of the palate bone and give 

 their boundaries, but I doubt if many of us 

 realized that said process was extremely 

 lucky if it attained the size of a respectable 

 pea, and a still smaller minority would 

 have passed with credit through a practical 

 demonstration on the skull. In the same 

 way the knowledge that the artei-y of the 

 vas deferens arises from the superior vesical 

 was a never- failing source of satisfaction to 



