Practical anatomy: a manual of dissections / by Christopher Heath.

  • Christopher Heath
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical anatomy: a manual of dissections / by Christopher Heath. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    The main trunks of the nerves and their principal branches are readil^^ followed out, but their minute rami- fications require more time and labor than a student can afford to bestow upon them. [Both arteries and nerves should be dissected from the centre towards the periphery in order to avoid cutting off the branches.] The student shonld bear in mind that his raanxial labor is onh a part of his duty, and will be thrown away, unless he at the same time stud^- the description of the part upon which he is engaged ; he should not therefore carry the dissection further than he can learn the description on the same day, and at the subject; and should if possible re- peruse the description in the evening, and always on the next morning, before carr3'ing the dissection any further. In order to preserve a part, it is essential that the dis- sector should himself secure the skin around it with a few stitches, and wrap it with damp cloths. These may be dipped in some preservative solution, or common salt may be grated finely over the part. This latter, however, de- stroys the color of the part and its smooth appearance. A dissected part should be sponged over daily, when it is uncovered for fresh dissection. [In our American dissecting-rooms it is customary to divide a subject into five parts, viz., the head and neck and the four extremities ; half of the chest going with each arm, and half of the belly with each leg. Hence, in the Dis- section of the Leg, I have included that of the perineum, the abdominal wall and hernia, as they are usually dissected with this part and previous to the dissection of the leg itself. Whenever the class agrees upon it, one of the assistant demonstrators demonstrates the viscera, whether of the head or trunk to the entire class. In case it is the student's firnt dissection it is best to take an arm or a leg ratlier than a head and neck; and also to begin the dissection say at the elbow or the knee, in order to become familiar with the appearance of the various tis- sues and the method of dissection before he undertakes so difficult a part as the axilla or the dissection of hernia.] 2*