" To what has been enumeratedi.as offi ciating in the single act of a man's raising his hand to his head, must be added, like wise, all that is necessary, and all that con tributes to the growth, nourishment, and sustentation of the limb, the repair of its waste, the preservation of its health ; such as the circulation of the blood through every part of it ; its lymphatics, exhalants, absorbents ; its excretions and integu ments. All these share in the result; join in the effect : and how all these, or any of them, come together, without a design. ing, disposing intelligence, it is impossi ble to conceive." But the more immediate purposes of anatomy concern those who are to be the guardians of health, as this study is ne cessary to lay a foundation for all the branches of medicine.
The more we know of our fabric, the more reason we have to believe, that, if our senses were more acute, and our judg ment more enlarged, we should be able to trace many springs of life, which are now hidden from us; by the same sagacity we should discover the true causes and na ture of diseases, and thereby be enabled to restore the health of many, who are now, from our more confined knowledge., said to labour under incurable disorders. By such an intimate acquaintance with the economy of our bodies, we should disco ver even the seeds of diseases, and de troy them, before they had taken root in the constitution.
This, indeed, is a pitch of knowledge which we must not expect to attain.' But,. surely, we may go some way; and, there fore, let us endeavour to go as far as we can. And if we consider that health and disease are the opposites of each other, there can be no doubt, that the study of the natural state of the body, which con stitutes the one,4nust be the directroad to the knowledge of the other. What has been said, of the usefulness ofanatomy in physic, will only b e called in question by the more illiterate empirics among physi cians. They would discourage others from the pursuit of knowledge which they have not themselves, and which, there fore, they cannot know the value of, and tell us that a little of anatomy is enough for a physician.
That anatomy is the very basis of sur gery every body allows. It is dissection
alone that can teach us where we may cut the living body with freedom and dis patch ; where we may venture with grca: ciTcnmspection :nal delicacy; and where we must not, upon any account, attenipt it. This informs the head, gives dexte. rity to the hand, and familiarizes the heart with a sort of necessary inhumanity, the use of cutting instruments upon our fel ' low-creatures.
Were it possible to doubt of the advan tages which arise in surgery, from a know. ledge of anatomy, wc might have ample conviction, by comparing the present practice with that of the ancients: and upon tracing the improvements which ha% e been made i later times, they would be found, generally, to have sprung, from a more accurate knowledge of the parts concerned. In the hands of a good anato mist, surgery is a salutary, a divine art ; but when practised by men who know not the structure of the human body, it often becomes barbarous and criminal.
The comparison of a physician to a ge neral is both rational and instructive. The human body, under a disease, is the coun try which labours under a civil war or an invasion. The physician is, or should be, the dictator or general, who is to take the command, and to direct all the necessary operations. To do his duty with full ad vantage, a general, besides other acquire ments, useful in his profession, must make himself ma.ster of the anatomy and physi ology, as we may call it, of the country. Ile may be said to be master of the ana tomy of the country, when he knows the figure, dimension, situation, and connec tion, of all the principal constituent parts ; such as the lakes, ri% ers, marshes, moun tains, precipices, plains, woods, roads, passes, fords, towns, fortifications, &e. By the physiolog:y of the country-, which lie ought likewise to understand, is meant all the variety of active influence which is produced by the inhabitants. If the general be well instructed all these points, he will find a hundred occasions of drawing advantages from them ; and without such knowledge, he will be for ever exposed to some fatal blunder.