Page:A Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America - John Morgan.djvu/42

 ballancebalance [sic] of healing arts; their relation to each other; and how far the knowledge of them respectively contributes towards the cure of diseases.

ANATOMY, taken in a general sense, consists in knowing the structure of the animal body; considered in particular, it implies a knowledge of the frame and organization of the human body. It teaches of what kind of substance all the parts are composed; it shews their figure, texture, firmness, connection, and relation to each other. From this source we derive our first knowledge of the seat of diseases; of the proper or improper arangementarrangement [sic] of parts; of the danger or safety of an operation; and learn the best manner of performing it with dexterity and success; In studying the art of healing we commonly begin with Anatomy, and very justly; for, unacquainted with this, it is impossible to learn the functions of the body in a healthy state, to know of what kind its diseases are, or how to remedy them.

is Anatomy that guides the doubtful step of the young votary of medicine through an obscure labyrinth, where a variety of minute objects present themselves in such a group as, at first, to perplex his imagination. It is Anatomy which unravels the first difficulties in his pursuit; it lays open to his view the diversity of parts, their combination,