SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 212. 



its possessor, while a student wlio faced west 

 on Madison Square had no occasion to strain 

 his descriptive faculties in the least in order 

 to enumerate the Fifth Avenue Hotel in its 

 correct position among the structures re- 

 lated to his common carotid artery. But 

 the morphological connection and the mu- 

 tual relation existing between prosenceph- 

 alon and diencephalon, the principles gov- 

 erning the development and structure of 

 the lung and vascular system, the disposi- 

 tion of the peritoneal membrane, and many 

 like problems, were regarded in much the 

 same light. 



What knowledge of these structures the 

 student obtained he gained in the most dif- 

 ficult manner, by a pure eflfort of memory. 

 He had no constructive details at his com- 

 mand, no series of stages which, while dem- 

 onstrating the road by which a complicated 

 human structure reached its highest degree 

 of development or regression, enabled him 

 at the same time to grasp and hold the de- 

 tails of that structvire as a permanent and 

 lasting addition to his knowledge, not as 

 facts memorized and hence to be forgotten. 

 In this sense teaching by comparison and 

 development marks our most important 

 and fundamental advance in methods of in- 

 struction. That this advance will be pro- 

 gressive lies in the very essence of its char- 

 acter. We all recognize the practical 

 importance of careful descriptive detail in 

 teaching human anatomy. But in striving 

 after the necessary accuracy and elabora- 

 tion the minutiaj should not be permitted 

 to obscure and hide the broad morpholog- 

 ical and functional pi-inciples which under- 

 lie the construction of the animal body. 



They, after all, form the fundamental 

 lines upon which the student must build 

 his anatomical knowledge if the same is to 

 be enduring, and these lines, if once firmly 

 established, readily and logically permit 

 the addition of the necessary details. The 

 function of comparative anatomy and em- 



bryology, as aids in the teaching of human 

 anatomy, is to define clearly and demon- 

 strate, beyond question or doubt, the cardi- 

 nal morphological principles upon which 

 the structure of the vertebrate body is 

 reared. I can merely refer in passing to 

 the development of the equipment neces- 

 sary to the A'itality and success of the 

 method. Perhaps no other single fact ac- 

 centuates the advances in morphological 

 education more than the change which is 

 to be observed in the spirit and purpose of 

 the anatomical museum. It has ceased to 

 be a storehouse for a heterogeneous associa- 

 tion of curios, and has assumed its proper 

 place as an important factor in scientific 

 education, presenting the cardinal struc- 

 tural and functional principles of the verte- 

 brate body in concrete serial form. From 

 a collection it has become a library in which 

 he who runs may read. 



While we are justified in characterizing 

 this fundamental change in the spirit and 

 conception of anatomical instruction as our 

 most pronounced methodical advance in re- 

 cent years, a number of other improvements 

 are entitled to j'our consideration. Hardly 

 secondary in importance to the principle of 

 the comparative and developmental method 

 of teaching is the application of the pi'inci- 

 ple in practice. I need not detain this au- 

 dience with illustrative examples, which 

 will suggest themselves, but I may be per- 

 mitted to emphasize the fact that we have 

 advanced materially in substituting true 

 object-teaching for theoretical instruction. 

 Perhaps nowhere more than in anatomy is 

 lasting and valuable knowledge gained only 

 by direct and personal examination of the 

 object of the study. 



ISTot only have our courses in practical 

 anatomy increased in the time and material 

 required and improved in the application of 

 a thoi'ough test bj' practical examination, 

 but we have carried the same cardinal prin- 

 ciple of sound anatomical instruction into 



