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With what propriety can any one arrogate to himself the title of Physician, if he is ignorant of Anatomy? how shall he be able to discover the feat of a disease, or what chance has he of being in a condition to remedy it? Nor is a superficial acquaintance with Anatomy sufficient for either Physician or Surgeon. The latter, (that he may not mistake what is natural for a disease, and in attempting to relieve an imaginary evil, bring on a real one;) ought to know the smallest hollow or protuberance of a bone; which serve in many instances to direct him, how far he may operate with safety, as the situation of the nerves and blood vessels are often to be referred to them. It is requisite for a physician to search out every the least particular in the structure of all the internal parts, that he may be in a condition to distinguish the nature of the disorder with which it is affected. As a skillful Pilot informs himself of the least bank of sand or shoal where he is to avoid navigating his ship; so every follower of medical pursuits should be intelligent in the minutiæ of Anatomy, if he wishes to practice with ease to himself, and to the benefit of his patient.
The Materia Medica and Botany may very properly be termed the natural history of medicine, as from these branches of science we derive our knowledge of that part of natural history, which more immediately
