Anatomy. Proceedings at the National Political Union, respecting legislative interference in the study of anatomy, and the supply of bodies for anatomical research.

  • National Political Union
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy. Proceedings at the National Political Union, respecting legislative interference in the study of anatomy, and the supply of bodies for anatomical research. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    human being from any that can be performed on animals; very different indeed is the care and attention and know¬ ledge required in him who is to perform operations on liv¬ ing human beings in cases of disease, from those which can be performed on the bodies of healthy animals; so differ¬ ent indeed that in multitudes of cases there can be no analogy. How monstrously absurd then is it to imagine, that these modes of teaching can be efficient. There is a species of Anatomy which can be taught in no way but by the actual dissection of human bodies. I mean morbid Anatomy. I do not intend to make the mat¬ ter mysterious by the use of scientific terms, and will therefore explain the meaning of the words by calling them, anatomy of diseased parts. Now we are liable to a great many diseases to which animals are not liable, and in such cases there can be no studying of such diseases in animals which have them not; and even in maladies which equally afflict man and beast, the nature of these maladies, how¬ ever much they seem alike, do not affect the human being in the same manner they do the beast; the difference is in many cases very remarkable, and it would be absurd to judge of the one either from the mode of treatment or the inspection of the body of the other. All this is highly important, but it is not the most important part of the subject, of the anatomy of diseased parts. It frequently happens that the disease is in one part and the cause of the disease is in another and remote part. How is this to be investigated without dissection of human bodies? It is well known that one part produces effects on another part by what is called sympathy, that is, when one part is disordered or diseased, other parts by means of the nerves are also affected and disordered; and the cause of disease in the stomach and intestines must sometimes be sought for in the brain, and the cause of a disordered brain must sometimes be sought for in the stomach. Yet how could these things have been known but by dissection ? They might have been surmised in some cases, but they could be traced only by dissection, and if this had not been done, the chances of cure would have been much di¬ minished ; not only indeed would this have been so, but the old modes of practice would have continued; applica¬ tions would still be made to the wrong places, and medi¬ cines much more likely to kill than to cure would still be administered. These then, if there were no other reasons, would I think be sufficient to recommend the study of Ana¬ tomy, and induce every one to promote it as far as he could. Let us, however, look a little at the nature of actual ope¬ rations. Let us ask ourselves how pupils are to be taught