Should comparative anatomy be included in a medical course? / by Burt G. Wilder.

  • Wilder, Burt G. (Burt Green), 1841-1925.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Should comparative anatomy be included in a medical course? / by Burt G. Wilder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    But, upon the same principle as that which leads the teacher to contrast the two ends of his class, the genius and the dunce, it may be worth while to glance from man to the opposite ex- treme of the vertebrate series. The lancelet is worth exam- ination, if only to convince ourselves that the same essential arrangement of organs may exist in the little fisli three inches long and the whale of sixty feet. In fact, during my lectures I shall so frequently employ the Amjohioxus ibr odious com- parisons with man, that I fear some of you may be inclined to spell it with an initial D. If the reasons for recommending the dissection of the above-named forms are sound, they are equally cogent for the exclusion of all peculiar and specialized groups. Hence, neither birds nor ordinary fishes (Teleosts) should be especial- 1}' studied by the medical student. They present other and unusual combinations, and tend to confuse, rather than sim- plify, the ideas which may have been derived from more generalized forms. In the letter already referred to (2) Prof. Allen has sug- gested some other ways in which a knowledge of comparative anatomy and zoology may be of use to the medical student: An exact knowledge of the venomous animals—of internal and ex- ternal parasites—the relations of food-animals to one another and to man, are all of great importance to the physician. I think this will be admitted by all; but the real question is. How wide and how general should be the physician's knowl- edge upon these points? He should certainly know very thoroughly the structure and transformations of the Tricliina and the tape-worm, to the extent, for instance, described and fig- ured in Dalton's Physiology. But, in order to learn their relations to the other members of the immense class of worms, the student would have to neglect something else; and very likely that something else would be the treatment of the dis- orders produced by these parasites. So, too, he should know the names and habits of venom- ous insects and serpents, and be aware that the bite of a jump- ing-spider {Salticus) is more apt to do harm than that of its larger but less vigorous relative, the garden-spider ;