192 
M. JOflIAH ROBERTS 
is evident that space should be given only to those objects that are essential for 
the instruction of medical students and the advancement of medical science. The 
answer, therefore, to this question is largely dependent upon the breadth and 
scope of the instruction, especially with reference to the amount of comparative 
anatomy that it is considered necessary or at least desirable for a medical student 
to have. 
A masterly resume of the whole question as to how much comparative ana¬ 
tomical knowledge would be desirable for a medical student to possess has re¬ 
cently been given by Prof. Burt G. Wilder, of Cornell University, in an introduc¬ 
tory lecture at the Medical School of Maine. (7.) Prof. Wilder is in a position 
to speak upon this subject intelligently and impartially, being Professor of Phy¬ 
siology in two medical schools,* and Professor of Comparative Anatomy and 
Zoology in Cornell University. As the answering of the question under con- 
sideration largely depends upon the amount of comparative anatomical knowledge 
which the medical student should have, I can do no better than to give some¬ 
what fully his answer to the question, “ To what extent should the study of com- 
parative anatomy be pursued by the medical student?” lie answers: “The 
student should have a good general knowledge of the animal kingdom, including 
the names and leading characteristics, external and internal, of the great primary 
branches.”! 
* The Medical Department of the University of Michigan, and Medical School of Maine, 
t “ Neither the radiates (star-flshes and sea-urchins), nor the mollusks and molluscoids 
(clams, snails and cuttle-fishes) need long occupy his attention. The same is to be said of the 
cmstacea (crabs and lobsters) and worms, though certain kinds of worms have a practical 
importance. He should know the difference between the spider and the true insects, and 
what kinds are liable to injure by jaws or sting. 
“ But among the vertebrates his knowledge should be much more extensive. He should 
know that a salamander and a lizard are members of two separate classes, the amphibia and 
reptiles; and that among the so-called “fishes’’are forms differing from one another as 
widely as do turtles from birds. He should know that a bat is not a bird, not only from hav¬ 
ing hair in the place of feathers, but also because the young are nourished with milk; it has 
two occipital condyles; its brain possesses a pont varolii, a fornix and a corpus callosum; and 
its red corpuscles are round and non-nucleated. But he should also know that in one group 
of mammals, the camels and llamas, the red corpuscles are oval, as in birds and reptiles. 
“But while the student should learn, at any rate from lectures, the names and distin¬ 
guishing features of the vertebrate classes, so as to appreciate the bearing of any generaliza¬ 
tion that may be presented to him, and while he would certainly be profited by the dissection 
of a lamprey, a shark, a sturgeon and a perch, as types of certain groups, as he would by the 
examination of a reptile or a bird, yet he should bear in mind that these are of a scientific 
rather than practical value. He should confine himself mainly to such forms and such organs 
as may facilitate the study of human anatomy and physiology in respect to convenience, in¬ 
telligibility or economy of time or expense ; and with these forms his acquaintance can hardly 
be too practical or extensive. *»****••* 
“ He should certainly know very thoroughly the structure and transformations of the 
trichina and tape-worm, to the extent—for instance, described and figured in Dalton’s 
“ Physiology.” 
“So, too, he should know the names and habits of venomous insects and serpents, and be 
aware that the bite of the jumping spider (Salticus) is more apt to do harm than that of its less 
vigorous relative, the garden-spider ( Epeira ); also that the so-called water-adder of the Mid- 
injury ” 68 haS n ° poisoa failgs or g^nds, and that its bite is therefore not apt to cause serious 
ith reference to the doctrine of evolutiou, he remarks: “ Certainly this is a very fasci- 
ufat^he U s^nd C pnt'^ < tnm r thQf 8Cieiltlflc inte , rest - But > for practical purposes, is it not enough 
that the student be told that many muscles, vessels and nerves are liable to variation and 
imf Sr nn.-mnla J[ ar / 1 ® tlon ® clo *ely resemble the normal condition of the parts in monkeys 
ical Use of th™Cat) ^ & 8 ° & paper 111 Y ‘ Med - J * for 0ct - or Nov., 1879 - The Anatom- 
