Addresses and other papers / by William Williams Keen.

  • Keen, William W. (William Williams), 1837-1932.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Addresses and other papers / by William Williams Keen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/486 (page 1)
    THE EARLY HISTORY OF PRACTICAL ANATOMY* N welcoming you here this evening, gentlemen, at the JL beginning of the winter session,—and welcome you I do with the sincerest pleasure,—it has occurred to me that in no way could we spend a pleasanter hour than in reviewing the early history of practical anatomy. We shall see in the difficulties that attended its beginning, and the improve¬ ments that have been gradually introduced, how much better off we are than were our predecessors, and how zealously we should avail ourselves of these advantages. The life and labors of Vesalius have been so often and so fully discussed that you have readily at hand the means of acquainting yourselves with them. I shall not, therefore, enter into these in detail, but only allude to them when nec¬ essary. But Vesalius, who was bom in 1514, although the real father of anatomy, was by no means the first who prac¬ tised human dissection. If we wish to see its starting-point, we must go back to ancient times. We must retrace our steps to the third century before Christ, and transfer ourselves from the amphitheatre of Padua to that of Alexandria, to * The Introductory Address to the course of lectures on anatomy at the Philadelphia School of Anatomy, Tuesday, October 6, 1874. This was originally given as the Introductory to the course of 1870, and was then printed. The edition was soon exhausted, and by request was re¬ peated and reprinted in 1874 with corrections and additions. The address is reprinted from the edition of 1874 with the kind permission of J. B. Lippincott Company.