Description
Preface to the First Edition
One of my objectives in writing this book was to combine a home study exercise with a laboratory dissection experience. Each chapter is a separate dissection and lesson. Indexed to Clemente’s Anatomy, A Regional Atlas of the Human Body (4th Edition) with references to three other popular atlases (Grant’s Atlas, 11th Edition; Netter’s Atlas, 3rd Edition; and Rohen’s Atlas, 5th Edition), the student learns the step-by-step dissection pro-cedure for the laboratory along with relevant text information that enhances the laboratory work. At home, the learning process can be repeated by reading the text of each chapter and, following the dissection procedure, by simultaneously viewing the line drawings of this book and the relevant pages or plates in one of the referenced atlases.
The dissection directions are detailed beyond those of other currently used laboratory manuals, allowing students the opportunity to dissect on their own if they wish to do so, yet the text is brief and stresses essentials. Usually, each dissection will require one laboratory period of 2.5 to 3 hours. Exceptions to this may be the dissections of the pelvis and perineum, which may require some more time. The descriptions for these latter two dissections are similar in format. They include sections to be dissected sim-ilarly in both sexes and then special instructions required for individual dissections in male and female cadavers.
One need not defend again the value of dissecting the human body in schools of medicine and the other health profes-sions. Experience through the centuries has proved its value in introducing the student to the study of medicine and its allied professions. Some have claimed that often “irrelevant” information was stressed in anatomy dissection courses. I have tried to select a dissection method that exposed essential structures in the most straightforward manner. No part of the body is summarily excluded, allowing the book to be of value for various types of curricula.
One departure from other dissection guides introduced in this book and suggested by my colleague, the late Professor David Maxwell, is the dissection of the posterior triangle of the neck immediately following that of the axilla but before the remainder of the upper limb. This allows the student to see the source of the neurovascular structures that supply the shoulder, arm, forearm, and hand. This was changed in 2nd and subsequent edition.
In this book, significant attention is paid to surface anatomy in virtually every relevant dissection. This aspect of anatomy is of prime importance for its clinical implications.
Because the dissections are described in separate chapters, the study guide can be used in virtually any of the varied curricula and course sequences in our health science schools. The sequence of dissection chapters follows from the pectoral region to the upper limb, thorax, abdomen, pelvis and perineum, lower limb, back, neck, and head. Additionally, the separate dissection chapters and their subheadings can readily be selected to meet the needs of a systems curriculum or to a classical regional sequence that commences in parts of the body other than the pec-toral and upper limb regions.
Many of the line drawings in this book were done by the artist Ms. Jill Penkhus in Los Angeles. Many others were pro-duced under the direction of Professor Gene Colborn several years ago at the Medical College of Georgia for the Urban & Schwarzenberg Publishing Company. Still others were drawn by Ms. Patricia Vetter. I am most grateful to Ms. Penkhus, Ms. Vetter, and especially to Professor Colborn for their contributions. My appreciation is also extended to Mr. Timothy Satterfield and Ms. Susan Katz at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins for their patience as well as Ms. Ulita Lushycky for her most effective managing of the manuscript. Finally, but by no means least, I am most grateful to Julie, my wife, who has spent many hours at the com-puter during the development and eventual completion of the manuscript.