PRACTICAL ANATOMY. [Hardcover] Clark, W. E. Le Gros.

Item Condition: Collectible; Very Good

A little wear to the top and bottom of the spine. PREFACE
In discussing the improvement of the anatomical curriculum with
experienced teachers of Anatomy, I have found that one opinion has 
been unanimously expressed. This is, that it needs to be shorn cf
a considerable amount of the topographical detail which is still
presented to the medical student in current text-books Much of 
this detail is of no practical value to the ordinary medical student;
neither has it any intellectual interest Indeed, by the demand
which it makes on factual memorization, it actually tends to dispel
all intellectual interest in the subject of Anatomy. The fact is that 
current anatomical text.books have developed and expanded by a 
process of gradual aceretion from the days when the subject was still
in its early descriptive stage, when the interest of the anatomist was
mainly focused on rather abstract problems of morphology, and when 
(before the modern organization of medical services had been developed)
almost any general practitioner might be called on to attempt major
operations of an emergency type demanding a fairly intimate know-
ledge of topographical anatomy. But the text-books have not
altogether adjusted themselves to the changing orientation of the
medical curriculum as a whole. For example, it is fair to say that
to-day probably les than 59% of medical students will ever unler-
take any major surgery after they are qualified. It thus appears
unneceary that the remaining 959% ahould still be required to study
and memorize factual data whose importance lies solely in their
application to specialized operative technique. The few who ater
decide to take up surgery as a career should be required, after 
qualification, to complete a further course of dissection, including all
those details of topography which are or may be of direet innportance
for the surgeon.
It is well recognized that the whole medical eurriculum has now
reacheda stage of supersaturation in the demands which it makes on
the student. But, apart altogether from the overerowding of the
eurriculum as a whole, there is another reason why many teachers of
Anatomy have for some time felt that the hours previously expended
on the study of gross anatomy should be reduced. This is the
recognition that there are important aspeets of anatomical scienee
which should be an essential part of the mental equipment of the
educated medical man, but to which sufficient attention has not been
given-in the past because of the already erowded time-table. These
include, for example, the study of morphogenetic principles either in
embryological development or in the post-natal growth and repair of
tissues,a thorough grounding in radiological and surface anatomy,