On man's cranial form : together with some remarks on the attitude of the medical profession towards anthropology / by Arthur Thomson.
- Thomson, Arthur
- Date:
- 1903
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On man's cranial form : together with some remarks on the attitude of the medical profession towards anthropology / by Arthur Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![ON MAN’S CRANIAL FORM HEN first I undertook the delivery of this address I was uncertain with which particular part of my subject I should deal. For this reason I was led to select a title which would afford me the opportunity of varying the details of the matter I might possibly discuss. There is no lack of interest or variety in the science which I have the honour to represent. The difficulty consists, rather, in the choice of such an aspect of this particular branch of knowledge as may appeal alike to those who are specialists and those whose interests are less technical, for ] am anxious to lay stress upon the fact that even the busy practitioner may render immense service to science, if only he will accurately record the observations which often he alone has the oppor- tunity of making. I have no wish to delay you with a detailed reference to the history of medicine, but I may perhaps be permitted to point out that science owes much to medicine. It was Erasmus who described theology as the mother of the sciences. This may be true as regards the philosophies, but it can hardly be considered applicable so far as the natural sciences are con- cerned. When we remember how closely blended, in the past, were the interests of the Healing Art with those of Anatomy, Physiology, Botany, Chemistry, and Physics, we recognize how much each owes the other, and how much the cultured physician of the time was of necessity an authority on, and oftentimes an exponent of, these several branches of study. With the acquisition of knowledge, however, and the vast accumulation of new facts and theories, it became no longer possible for one man to attain proficiency in his calling and at the same time maintain a position as an authority on all, or even one, of these kindred studies. In consequence, we](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33426727_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
