Engravings of the bones, muscles, and joints, illustrating the first volume of the Anatomy of the human body / By John Bell.

  • Bell, John, 1763-1820.
Date:
1804
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Engravings of the bones, muscles, and joints, illustrating the first volume of the Anatomy of the human body / By John Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I have endeavoured, alfo, to keep the explanation of thefe plates to the tnoft fimple and natural form; knowing, by long experience, that anato- mical defcriptions are, even to the moll earned: and diligent fludent, very tedious and hard to be underftood. The loading of fuch a ftudy as Anatomy with peculiar or affedted language, and with needlefs terms of art, where too many are really needful, has a tawdry and vulgar appearance, of which we have much reafon to be afhamed ; it is a barbarous jargon, to which our ear is fubdued only by long and inveterate cuftom : and our continual ufe of this trafhy language in fchool books, prefents to the ftu- dent the difficult and harraffing talk of learning at once a new fcience and a ftrange language. Swift, who commends fimplicity of language, and enforces his lelTon by the molt beautiful examples, fays, “ When the water is clear you will “ eafily fee to the bottombut anatomilts have ftirred up their techni- cal terms fo thick, that the lludent has but a poor chance of feeing to the bottom, unlefs we fhall agree in letting this fediment quietly fublide a- gain. The medical ftudent is, indeed, fo accuftomed to hard words, that he can fcarcely think any book accurate or complete that is without them; and however well he may underhand its defcriptions, cannot believe them true. He is not only accuftomed to know the moft difficult parts by the hardeft names, but to have the detail given to him in fuch expletives, as the Pofterior, Anterior, Superior, Inferior *; and often after all, this Superior Anterior por- tion * Onr fcience in this country has got this vile farrago, of Anterior, Superior, &c. through bad tranflations of Latin and French, where fuch words as Superieure or Superior are in their place.