124 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 630 



(was absorbed in it, some will say) while 

 it was fossilizing in medical schools can be 

 viewed as a fortunate condition from a 

 number of standpoints. For us it hastened 

 the destruction of certain traditions, which 

 can now be ignored while we are construct- 

 ing a new anatomy and establishing a new 

 modus Vivendi with the medical disciplines. 

 With this change we are placing ourselves 

 in a new and a better position than ever 

 before. While anatomy is well represent- 

 ed in college and university departments 

 not connected with medical schools, we must 

 look for the highest development to anat- 

 omy in connection with medical education. 

 In order to be more effective in the train- 

 ing of scientific physicians, we are gradu- 

 ally making our anatomical instruction 

 more and more inductive and this naturally 

 reacts upon the instructor in a beneficial 

 way. 



To bring about the desired reform it is 

 necessary to have represented in an ana- 

 tomical department, even in a medical 

 school, all which naturally belongs to this 

 science. The study of anatomy begins 

 with the cell, ends with the entire indi- 

 vidual, and includes man. In fact the 

 greatest anatomical problems almost always 

 involve a consideration of human anatomy. 

 The teachers and students in an anatomical 

 f,;;..^iument should be given a free hand; 

 they should not be retarded by arbitrary 

 lines; they should dissect sometimes with 

 the scalpel, sometimes with the microtome 

 knife; they may look through spectacles or 

 through the microscope and they may study 

 the arm of a human embryo or the negro 

 brain. In other parts of the world this 

 liberty is a self-evident necessity and has 

 always been granted. It follows from what 

 I have said that an anatomical department 

 must include histology, histogenesis and 

 embryology; in a medical school it must 

 cover vertebrate anatomy in the fullest 

 sense. In general, due to the influence of 



this society, an unrestricted anatomical 

 department has found its way into nearly 

 a dozen important universities during re- 

 cent years. Among the universities in 

 large centers those in this city are the only 

 ones in which the scope of the anatomical 

 departments is still limited, since here his- 

 tology and embryology are not included. 

 Our wandering society, meeting as it does, 

 in different portions of the country, will 

 be, I believe, a great force in helping to 

 perfect and to extend anatomical depart- 

 ments. 



This is not the time to enumerate the 

 really good anatomical departments, nor 

 those that have been markedly improved in 

 recent years, but I must not fail to note 

 the great advancement which has been 

 made in our state universities, due to the 

 enlightened policy of their presidents, who 

 are of the opinion that a professor of anat- 

 omy should be a specialist ranking high in 

 his profession. It is safe to say that those 

 departments in which the staff is actively 

 engaged in scientific research are contrib- 

 uting most to medical progress and are 

 exerting the best influence upon medical 

 students. Yet, American anatomical de- 

 partments taken as a whole are rendering 

 an unsatisfactory account of themselves, 

 and it is eminently desirable that this 

 should change. In our wanderings as an 

 association during the last dozen years we 

 have had good opportunities to witness the 

 improvements and growth which have 

 taken place from year to year in the better 

 universities. During this period we have 

 met at Columbia three times, and it is a 

 pleasure to me to acknowledge to Professor 

 Huntington the obligations of this society 

 for the splendid example he sets before us. 



It is stated in our constitution that "the 

 purpose of this association shall be the ad- 

 vancement of anatomical science. ' ' I firm- 

 ly believe that sucb advancement can be 

 made through scientific investigation only. 



