ANATOMY - NOMENCLATURE There is still much confusion in the nomenclature of anatomy. This has arisen from an attempt to revise and improve the terminology which had previously been in common use. At present either the original or the new "Basle" terminology or a combination of both is employed, a manifest disadvantage. The most important recent advance has been the application of X-rays in the study of macroscopic anatomy, particularly of the living body—an advance which has proved of immense importance in the practice of medicine and surgery. Great improvements have been made in apparatus and technique and particularly in use of materials opaque to the rays for injections.
Osteology.—Advances in connection with the skeleton have been largely concerned with its development, and new views have been expressed as regards the origin, growth and fate of osteo blasts and osteoclasts. Important contributions have been made dealing with the human clavicle, ribs and bones of the face, with sexual differences in the human skull and sexual and racial characters of the human ilium and with the morphology of mammalian teeth and sternum.
Muscular System.—The investigations of Prof. Kulchitsky upon the innervation of muscle fibres, the suggestions of Prof. Hunter that muscle fibres are of two kinds with separate nerve supplies from the central and autonomic systems, and the actual design ing of surgical measures for amelioration of muscle spasm based upon these ideas have not yet been sufficiently confirmed.
Nervous System.—C. W. Ariens Kappers has demonstrated that control is exercised upon the grouping of brain cells by forces, probably of a bio-electric character, emanating from the nerve tracts with which these are functionally associated. Atten tion has been given to the comparison of particular areas of the central nervous system in a series of vertebrates with a view to elucidating the evolutionary significance of these areas in man.
Organs of Sense.—Investigations have been carried out by Karl Pearson, E. Nettleship and C. H. Usher on the subject of albinism in man, showing that eyes, hair and skin may alone show perfect albinism, and that perfect albinism in eyes may be accompanied by imperfect or wholly absent albinism in hair. Other recent publications of importance concern the eye and the ear.
Vascular System.—Recent additions to the knowledge of the vascular system have been chiefly in relation to function, to the blood supply of the valves, the muscular architecture and the development of the human heart, and to the arterial supply of the pons, medulla, and fore-brain, and the development and com parative anatomy of the arteries of the extremities.
Digestive System.—Particular attention has been paid to the teeth, the shape and size of the tonsils at different ages, the minute structure of the oesophagus in mammalia, the form and immediate relations of the abdominal viscera with special refer ence to their peritoneal attachments, their blood and nerve supply and lymphatic connections.
Respiratory System.—Papers have been written upon the human and comparative anatomy and development of this system with special reference to the lobes of the lungs and the nerve supply of the larynx. Knowledge has been acquired, by means of X-rays, regarding the position of the diaphragm and thoracic viscera.
Genito-Urinary System.—Valuable additions have been made to our knowledge of the appearance of the urethra, bladder and ureter by the cystoscope, and of the kidney by radiography.
See Piersol, Human anatomy (6th ed. 1918) ; Testut, Traite d'anato mie humaine (7th ed. 1921-23) ; Cunningham, Textbook of anatomy (5th ed. 1922) ; Gray, Anatomy descriptive and applied (23rd ed. 1926). (F. G. P.; R. W. R.)