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Show vi INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. vantage to it from his fortune, which has been otherwise disposed of. The work, from this circumstance, cannot appear at present with the number of plates it would have done, had he lived to publish it himself: we have also stistaiiied considerable loss, in being deprived of his extreme accuracy, good taste, and unwcaried perseverance. I meant to exhibit the absorbents of the. whole hour in one view. This could not be done from any one subject. No body would lcccp long enough, even in winter, to admit of the necessary injections, dissections, and drawings. "'e cannot here, as in dissecting, leave off when we please, and begin again at our leisure. It is almost impossibl e to inject the absorbents equally well in every part of one body. It was necessary tl ercfore, in order to exhibit the absorbents of the whole body in one view, to take whatever had been successfully injected in a variety of bodies, and to com- bine them together. JHZEMWWW M With this view I drew the outline of the human body of the ordinary size. On the trunk of the body I also drew the outline of the principal viscer a of the thorax and abdomen. The lymphatics were then ptit in their respective places, also of the natural size. When the whole was finished, the annexed figure was reduced to its present state, and the proportions every where accurately preserved. \‘Vlien the absorbcnts on the extreinL ties are represented by continued lines, it is to be understood that they are then superficial; that is, immediatel y under the skin, on the extremities, and immediately under the peritoneum or pleura, or some analogous mem- brane, on the viscera. When they are represented by dotted lines, it is to be understood that they are on the posterior side on the extrem ities. In this I have not taken an unpreceden ted liberty with my subject: the great Albinus informs us, that he const ructed his muscular figures precis ely in the same way,- tltat in the first place he procured a very fine natural skele- ton, had very accurate drawings made of it, and then, irom a variety of subjects, he placed the muscles on it in their relative situations: his words are, " Sic paratus, ct consilio certio re, et spe minus dubia, ad muscu los figuris scelcti inscribendos aggredi." And that it was even impossible for hiin to do this, btit from a variety of bodies: " Non poteram certe, ex uiio e0- demquc corpore, niusctilorutn plei‘o runique figuras consequi, nedu m omniurn: , -~ «m»; PMQEW‘" as a-wwm~wn~m .flpo, vii nium: imo vero satis apparebat, aliquot fore impendendos annos, corporaque adliibenda multa." He farther informs us, that he not only collected from a number of bodies, but that he selected what appeared to him the finest of its kind: " Corpora adhibita adtiltoruni, corumque qiiee maXime erant idonea: musculi autem, quales frequentius occurrerant, tales exhibiti, poti simiimque electi, quos absolutiorcs siniul et laiidatiores esse licebat ex- istimare." I have done nearly the same thing With the lymphatics.- Dr. Hunter's trustees once proposed to have engraved and published all the drawings we had on this subject, and to have placed this figure the last; so that the reader, having seen the sep' 'atc plates, each of which were taken from one body only, and are faithful copies of nature, might better judge of the degree of liberty I had taken in combining them into one; but the cxpcnce of engraving induced me to lay before the public what Dr. Hunter and I had done in the absorbent system in one view : and, if they are inclined to encourage the work, the different parts of which the figure is composed, will appear afterwards separately. Almost all the, in- jections, from which the drawings were made, are still preserved in VViiidmill Street. The same vessels are never represented twice in the same limb, or on the same viscus; nor were more than two or three different drawings combined in any one part. The liver, for example, appears more crowded with lymphatics than any other part: the appearance, however, is produced from the combination of two preparations only, in which I had injected these vessels with quicksilver, and from which drawings w 're made at the time. No vessels are represented btit such as I had 1|]jeetetl with quicksilver: I have seen the foot covered with lymphatics, but I have drawn none but those. I had injected. . ‘ I am sufficiently aware of the objections which will be made to this ha ‘UII'C. Eustacliius, Vieussens, and many of the celebrated aiiatoinists, have Sreviously employed this method; but Haller objects to the making the eye travel over an inmw (ll/mm, as he chooses to call it, drier/(mun, ivenarum, autncrmrmn. Neverthcl I say, that though it is certainly true that vessels or nerves thus exhibited do not convey so good an idea as when shewn precisely in their situation, respecting parts more commonly known, yet it may give a very good general idea; and, as I have added the Outline )1 |