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A. Macalister, 



Surgeons, stimulated by the rapid advances then being made in their 

 art had learned the vital importance of a thorough training in Human 

 Anatomy, and the labours of Cheselden and the Monros, of the two 

 Hunters, of John and Charles Bell, and later, of Sir Astley Cooper 

 all contributed to the advance of our knowledge, and gave a local 

 colour to British Anatomy which it still retains. 



The character of the teaching of Anatomy in any place depends 

 largely on the spirit which animates the teacher. When the utility of 

 Anatomical knowledge in Surgery is the prominent thought in the 

 teacher's mind, then minute accuracy of topographical detail becomes 

 the leading feature of his instruction and this has, hitherto, cha- 

 racterized British Anatomical research and instruction. Hence British 

 teachers devote their particular attention to those regions most fre- 

 quently involved in surgical malady or operations. This is illustrated 

 by the minuteness with which the region of hernia has long been 

 described in the British Anatomical works. The aponeuroses derived 

 from, and covering the abdominal rings, the boundaries and relations 

 of the inguinal canal, the structure and attachment of the conjoined 

 tendon, of the lower border of the transversalis muscle, are described 

 with painful minuteness. Similarly in the region of femoral hernia, 

 every small portion of the fascia lata around the saphenic opening, has 

 been the subject of special description, and in British works on the 

 region, usually retains the name of the Surgeon who specially empha- 

 sized the importance of that particular structure. The upper and outer ; 

 margin of the opening is thus commonly called Hey's ligament, the 

 lower crescentic border is Burns' ligament, and the band of insertion 

 from Hey's ligament into the pectineal portion of the fascia lata is 

 described by, and named after Colles, whose name is also associated 

 with the triangular ligament, derived from the upward and inward 

 reflection of the external pillar of the external abdominal ring, of 

 which he was the first careful describer. 



In like manner, the perineum has been a particular hunting- 

 ground of British Anatomists. The earliest good description of the 

 deeper perineal fasciae and their relations to the perineal muscles, is 

 that of Colles; while of the recto -vesical fascia the first account is I 

 that of Tyrrell, of the rectal mucous folds that of Houston, while Cowper, I 



