Wistar at the time he was in full occupation of the chair of Anatomy, the statement of Dr. Horner, in a letter to Judge Tilghman, dated Feb. 1st, 1818, is valuable, in consequence of having come from one so intimately associated with him. It is in the following words: “In reviewing the several particulars of his course of instruction, it is difficult to say in what part his chief merit consisted; he undertook everything with so much zeal, and such a conscientious desire to benefit those who came to be instructed by him, that he seldom failed of giving the most complete satisfaction. There were, however some parts of his course peculiar to himself. These were the addition of models on a very large scale to illustrate small parts of the human structure; and the division of the general class into a number of sub classes, each of which he supplied with a box of bones, in order that they might become thoroughly acquainted with the human skeleton, a subject which is acknowledged by all to be at the very foundation of Anatomical Knowledge. The idea of the former mode of instruction was acted on for the first time about fifteen years ago. It commenced with a model of wax, representing the bones of the Human Ear. This was followed by a wax model of the Temporal Bone, about eighteen inches in diameter; and one of the External Ear. The benefit attending this mode of instruction became now so obvious that a regular system of modelling was undertaken, and no year since has been passed over without the addition of some such article to his Anatomical Museum.”
The large-sized wooden models of the sphenoid, palate, and ethmoidal bones, the temporal bone, and the labyrinth of the ear, as well as of the brain in sections, from which the successive classes of students to the present day, in connection with the demonstrations of subsequent professors, have benefited, were most carefully prepared under the direction of Professor Wistar by Mr. Rush, the most celebrated carver of his time in Philadelphia.
In speaking of this mode of instruction, Dr. Dorsey, in a letter to Judge Tilghman, says, “that, finding it impossible to demonstrate to several hundred pupils at once the minute structure of the various organs, he contrived models on a very large scale, to illustrate these difficult subjects, and though not
