Text-book of anatomy / edited by D.J. Cunningham.

Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Text-book of anatomy / edited by D.J. Cunningham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    15/1358
    PREFACE. —♦— The form which this book has taken expresses the desire of those who have contributed the various sections to produce something which they might dedicate to their former teacher and master, Sir William Turner. With one exception, all the contributors have studied under Sir William Turner, and all but two have for longer or shorter periods acted as his Assistants. Bound together by this common tie, and animated by affection and reverence for their great master, they have sought to produce a book worthy of him whose teaching it so largely reflects, and if this object has not lieen attained it is not for want of will, but of power, on the part of the writers. In the preparation of a work such as this it is no easy matter to prevent over- lapping of the different articles and to keep the various sections in harmony with each other. Yet in this direction it is believed that a fair amount of success has been attained. Differences of opinion on particular points were l)0und to arise, but the Editor found in those concerned the greatest readiness to come to a mutual understanding, and he is deeply grateful to his colleagues for the manner in which they endeavoured to lighten his work and assist him in his task. Of course when totally different views were held by two authors on a matter which had to be dealt with in two sections, no serious attempt was made to urge these writers to qualify their statements so as to produce an apparent agreement. It was felt that if this were done the individuality of the author, which forms a characteristic feature of each article as it stands, would thereby be damaged; and further, it was believed that the same question discussed from two different points of view could not fail to be of advantage to the reader. At the same time it is right to state that the places in which a divergence of opinion appears are very few, and taking into - account that nine writers have co-operated with the Editor, a remarkable degree of harmony in the treatment of the different sections has been obtained. -The recent introduction of Formalin as a hardening and preserving reagent imposed an especially arduous duty upon those writers who had undertaken the chapters dealing with the thoracic and aljdominal viscera. The possibilities for establishing a more accurate topography and of improving our conception of the forms assumed by the viscera under different conditions have by this means been greatly extended; and in preparing the sections which treat of these organs the writers have taken full advantage of the new method. Much, therefore, which appears in this book on the topographical relations of the viscera departs con- siderably fi'om the older and more conventional descriptions hitherto in vogue. The arrangement of the matter treated in the following pages is very much the same as that adopted in the various courses of lectures delivered in the schools from which the different sections of the work have emanated. The first chapter is