The anatomist's instructor, and museum companion. Being practical directions for the formation and subsequent management of anatomical museums

Front matter

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ANATOMIST S INSTRUCTOR,

Preface

Ir. Museums, whether of healthy or morbid anatomy, are of any use in the acquisition of anatomical knowledge, it has for many years appeared to me that a practical Treatise on their formation and subsequent management, would be a great boon to the student. Few of the museums now existing in Britain have any thing like a descriptive catalogue at-’ tached to them; and even where such does exist, it forms more a subject for occasional reference than frequent examination. I many years ago suggested the propriety of printing such catalogues in fasciculi, ° and the benefits which would have resulted, I am still quite satisfied would have been very great.

Perhaps few persons have enjoyed more extensive opportunities than I have done, of acquiring a practical knowledge of the almost endless variety of anatomical arts. - Whilst assistant to my brother, then Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, I dissected and displayed, for a succession of years, from two to three hundred preparations annually. . In‘ addition to sundry ‘minor collections which the Royal College ‘purchased, ‘the - Windmill Street Anatomical Museum (consisting of between 3000 and 4000 preparations) also became the property of the Royal College; and in consequence of vi PREFACE.

the difficulties attending the transport of suéh delicate materials, and the unhappy want of accommoda- ‘tion then experienced by the College, my duties were most arduous. Within the short period I think of three years, this collection was removed from London to Edinburgh, and whilst in Edinburgh, was removed from place to place, and displayed twice over. The actual labour which this gave rise to, can be appreciated, I am convinced, by only a very few individuals. Many. of the preparations composing the Windmill Street collection had been put up by the first masters of the art; and in repairing the damage done by the repeated removals, I had an opportunity of seeing all the various plans resorted to by Wilson, Cruickshanks, and others, for displaying healthy or morbid structure.

In drawing up the following treatise, my leading ‘object has been to make the student really fond of visiting museums; and, with this view, I have done every thing in my power to make him practically acquainted with the mechanism of anatomical and pathological museums. So long as mere amusement forms the inducement for visiting a museum, not the slightest benefit can accrue from such visits ;—there can indeed be nothing in an anatomical museum calculated to amuse any one. Instruction, and that of the very highest order, ‘is to be sought for, and will in general be found if sought for aright.. It appears to me quite an axiom, that what we do znoé understand we take little or no interest in; and I trust it will be admitted, that few on entering the profession understand any thing

PREFACE. Vil about museums. The Hunterian Museum in Lon- ‘don proves that the individual who formed it preceded his contemporaries by nearly a century, in every thing connected with the scientific part of our profession. It is admitted that a great many preparations in that museum point out facts with which we are still unacquainted. So few indeed appear to me to be aware of the true nature of museums, and what they are to see and learn by visiting them, that I for a long time doubted very much. the use of extensive collections. Experience, however, has convinced ine that museums cannot be too numerous or extensive. Without museums the profession would be in the . state of man without a language.

Most professions admit of being divided into what is merely mechanical’ and what is strictly speaking scientific ; but it will be found, I rather think, that this distinction can scarcely be made in anatomy. The surgeon) in order to rise to eminence, requires to be equally well acquainted with the saw as with the growth and régeneration of bone; and unless the conservator of a museum can himself perform every little manipulation, in addition to that which is purely scientific, the work of the museum will never thrive in his hands. I by no means wish it to be understood that assistance cannot be procured ; only I am quite sure that the best directors in any undertaking (and all surgical operations come strictly under this denomination) will be those who are themselves thoroughly acquainted with all the minutiz. It is also very sa~ tisfactory to think that all manipulations in the museum department are strictly professional. The indivill PREFACE.

vidual who can display to advantage a pathological preparation, will find little or no difficulty in performing all the minor operations of surgery ; on the other hand, let the scientific acquirements of a person be ever so great, without a practical acquaintance with the use of the forceps, he will never succeed in extracting a stone from the bladder: now the whole steps in lithotrity, or that of breaking down the calcu- Jus in the bladder and removing it piece-meal, are purely mechanical; perhaps the less scientific the operator is the better.

In the Second Part of the work, I have given, under separate heads, lists of the pathological appearances of the various textures admitting of being preserved. J anticipate that these lists will enable the student, on entering a museum, to direct his attention more particularly to any class of pathological preparations, and thus form, as it were, a groundwork for new and future investigations. My observations will, I trust, also enable the student at once to perceive whether the preparations have really had labour bestowed on them, or are merely preserved. from decomposition ; and will at all times put him on his guard with respect to the inevitable changes on the colour and delicate textures caused by the modes adopted for preservation.

A

Contents

INTRODUCTION, : A : A - ‘ 1 Eey

Part I. On The Mode Of Forming Anatomical Museums

CHAPTER IL.

1, Various methods followed for preserving the soft textures. 2. Preservation of textures by simple drying.—-3, 4. Caution against the use of varnish.—5. The real use of vascular preparations.—6, 7. Preservation by means of alcohol, and care necessary in preparing parts to be thus pre-

’ served.—8. Period for finally putting up a preparation not optional,—9. Difficulty in preventing the evaporation of alcohol, and modes generally resorted to.—10. The application of Caoutchouc for this purpose._-11. Turpentine used in destroying insects, and displaying certain preparations. The evaporation of the spirit effectually prevented. —~12, 13. Best form of the glass-jar, . ; , 9-22

Chapter II. =

Injecting the arteries, veins, lymphatics, and lacteal vessels. —15. Instruments required.—16, 17, 18. Remarks on the kind of injection to be used.—19, 20. Size or minute injections,—21, 22. Varnish or fine injection.—23;

“hs CONTENTS.

Wax or coarse injection.—24. Paint or cold injections. — 25. Mercurial injections.—26, 27. Instruments required for mercurial injections. —28. Corroded preparations — 29. Vascular preparation of the thoracic extremity.—30. Display of minute distribution of vessels. —3). Preparations of veins.—32. Lymphatics.—33. Lacteals.—34, 35, 36. Preparations of the nerves, : 3 : 23-40

Chapter III

. Of the skeleton—Difficulties of procuring and preparing in Britain. —38. State of the bones proposed to be cleaned.— 39, 40. Macerating process when the bones are in a favourable state. —41. Other circumstances favourable for maceration.—42. Unfavourable circumstances.——43, Cleaning bones which have become soiled, . : - . 41-45

Chapter IV

45. Use of the skeleton to the student.—46. The crania of all animals most useful 47, 48. Process for procuring the bones of the head separate.—49. Useful sections.— 50. Horizontal section of the cranium.—51. Vertical section.—52. Tympanal bones.—53. Mechanism of the pars petrosa.——54. Section of the inferior maxilla.—55. Mode of displaying the diplée, and veins of the diplée.—5é6. Cancelli of bone. —56. Medullary cavity and structure of Jong bones.—57. Parenchyma of bones. —58. To display the earthy part of bone.—59. Vascularity of bones, 46-54

Chapter V

. Articulation, general remarks on.—62, 63. Mode of articulating the spinal column,—64, 65. Pelvis, ribs, and sternum.—66. Pectoral extremities.—67. Radio-cubital articulation. —68. Wrist-joint.—69. Elbow-joint.—70. Sterno-clavicular articulation.—71. Pelvic extremities. —72. Knee-joint.—73. Ankle.—74. Foot.—74”. Position of the human skeleton.—75, 76. Skeleton of quadrupeds, 55-65 xis ; CONTENTS. ) xl

Chapter VI

77. On natural skeletons.—78, 79, 80, 81, 82. General remarks, instruments required, and mode of preparing fcetal and young skeletons.—83. On drying the skeleton.—84, 85. Skeleton of birds.—86, 87, 88, 89, 90. Skeletons of fishes, osseous fishes, cartilaginous fishes.—91, 92. Reptiles. —93. Skeletons of aquatic animals, care requisite in making, so that they may be useful, . ; : 66-84

Part II

ON THE MODES OF PRESERVING DISEASED STRUCTURE ILLUSTRATIVE OF PATHOLOGY.

Chapter I

94, 95. Introductory remarks. —96, 97, 98, 99. Injuries and diseases of bones.—100, 101. Teeth.—102, 103. Joints. —104. Cartilage.—105. Tendons.— 107. Muscles.— 108. Brain and membranes.—112. Medulla spinalis.—1 14. Nerves.—116. Sight.—119. Hearing —122. Smell.— 124, Taste.—125. Touch.—] 26. Organs of circulation, — 128. Blood.—129. Organs of respiration.—133. Skin.— 138. Alimentary canal.—140. Liver.—141. Gall-bladder. —142. Spleen.—143. Pancreas.—144, Kidneys.—145. Bladder.—146. Urethra.—147. Prostate.—148. Couper’s glands.—149. Urinary calculi.—150. Organs of generation, introductory remarks on.—155. Male organs of generation.— 156. Female organs of generation. —158, 159. Mamme.—160, 161. Malformations.—162. Tumours. — 163. Product of generation or fetal existence, . 85-132

_%e ~~ xi CONTENTS.

Part III. Chapter I

165. On the art of Drawing.—169. Modelling.—170. Use of the Microscope.—172. Hints to Travellers, : 133-145 ee

THE

ANATOMIST

AND

MUSEUM COMPANION.

Introduction

WHEN engaged in communicating instruction in Practical Anatomy, I have been repeatedly applied to by the student for information not directly connected with the pursuits in which he was then engaged, and consequently misplaced. I at the same time could not but observe, that part of the information required would greatly have facilitated the student’s labours ; and regretted that the lengthened details necessarily involved in the questions put, rendered it altogether hopeless to give him such verbal instructions as might be useful to him. It has repeatedly suggested itself to me, that practical instruction on the mode of investigating and preserving healthy and morbid textures might be given, with quite as much advantage to the anatomical student as Practical Chemistry ; but this would have been expensive, as adding another L.3, 5s. to the student’s already very heavy outlay, and I disliked even the chance of prematurely withdrawing his attention from the practical rooms as now conducted, and which must always precede his engaging in the investigation of morbid structure and.tle anatomy of tex- A tures, which indeed constitute the scientific and more refined departments of his profession.

A careful perusal of this publication will, I sincerely trust, enable the student to benefit much more than hitherto from attending lectures, whether of Anatomy or Physiology, and more. especially Pathology. In visiting museums, I am perfectly satisfied (notwithstanding all that is said to the contrary), that the student has hitherto derived little or no advantage ; to him they are, in fact, * sealed books.” Lectures on Anatomy are, or should be, perfectly finished demonstrations, combining as many illustrations or proofs as is possible, of the facts more immediately*under the lecturer’s consideration. There can be, I presume, but one opinion of the importance of museums to a teacher. It is a fact that Dr Barclay (the most successful teacher that ever lived). demonstrated the arterial and venous system solely from dry preparations. Many objections have been urged against this practice ; and although I admit that it is highly objectionable, yet it seems to me the best which can be adopted, considering the extremely limited period to which the course of anatomy is confined, and more particularly during the existing regulations regarding dissection. A perusal of the following pages will also explain to the student the true nature of vascular preparations; and, being put on his guard as to the faults and imperfections under which they labour, the beginner even may study them with comparative safety.

Anatomy cannot be taught without a museum, and the more extensive the better, provided the lecturer himself is perfectly acquainted with the museum from which he purposes to draw his illustrations. The student, however, should also know something at least, of the various _ manipulations resorted to in preparing the materials for

such lectures. I feel assured that, if the student enters fully into the spirit of the following pages, a vast number of the minor details which the lecturer finds it necessary to enter into might be omitted in lectures, and thus enable him to devote a great deal more time for the difficult and complex anatomy of the nervous and vascular systems. It is a fact universally admitted and acted upon by all lecturers, that they cannot avail themselves even of the small collections which many possess, owing to the destruction consequent on exhibiting the preparations, arising solely, as I think, from the total ignorance on the part of the student of the nature of these preparations. A lecturer not a hundred miles from Edinburgh, although an enthusiast in museums, and possessed of a very valuable one, will not allow any student to handle, or even touch, a single preparation: his reasons are the same as those of other lecturers, viz. the consequent destruction of his museum. One would imagine that some kinds of _ preparations might be with safety entrusted to the student’s inspection; but this gentleman thinks not, and states, that, when he was a student, he used to perforate the top (see sect. 9) of preparation jars with pins. This procedure would certainly rapidly destroy a museum, and ‘give rise to an expense on the part of the teacher that nothing but a wealthy endowed chair could stand. So far as my own observations go, I am quite certain that few preparations can be entrusted into the hands of students; and I feel extremely anxious, if possible, to correct this most unfortunate want of knowledge.

By referring, for instance, to chapter V, the reader will perceive that the articulated skeleton will not bear the same violence which may be applied with impunity to the living body; and a knowledge of this, instead of it apparently giving pleasure to many to twist off a toe or a finger, will give them real pain from perceiving that they have seriously and permanently injured an anatomical preparation. Again, a perusal of sects. 7, 8, &c., will at once convince them that preparations in glass-jars must not be inverted (a proceeding actually recommended to me, whilst Assistant-Keeper of the Museum of the College of Surgeons, by an ancient surgeon, as a means-of preventing the evaporation and consequent great loss of the whisky), and that a pin thrust through the top is. a mode of injuring the private property of their instructor, indicating a feeling on the part of the student which must render all attempts on the part of the teacher to in-- struct him entirely abortive. A collection of sufficient extent to enable the teacher to give a complete course of anatomy in the short space of five or six months, cannot be supported under an annual expense of L.250 Sterling, exclusive altogether of the cost in purchasing objects, and in originally fitting up premises. The trouble of keeping the museum of a teacher in order, very far exceeds that of a public collection, however extensive... Preparations are often even carried away out of mere wantonness, causing a feeling of distress to the proprietor which it would be impossible to describe.

The value of a preparation may be greatly heightened by some peculiarities in the case ; and a series of lectures may possibly hinge, as it were, upon this single record, whilst in the mean time the preparation is itself of little value, and certainly of none to the person so removing it. In most public museums the preparations, besides being secured in glass-phials, &c., are enclosed in glazed cases, and I admit not easily seen by the student so as to be useful to him. The projecting shelves, so extensively adopted in the arrangement of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, were first resorted to by me in consequence of the want of room ; their premises being at that time much more limited than at present. The preparations are well displayed, but, in consequence of the exposure to handling, and the constant change of temperature which must be going on in a room heated during the day, and left for three days in the week, and every evening, to sink down to an extreme degree of coldness, must be continued at great loss by evaporation. The preparations inclosed in glazed cases are by no means exposed ta the same vicissitudes of temperature, and are consequently much better preserved. Under these circumstances, and the printed Catalogues being, without exception, a mere list of barren names, it is only whilst attending the lectures of those teachers possessed of private museums that the student ever has an opportunity of understanding the greater number of anatomical preparations.

Anatomical Museums contain the various parts of animal bodies preserved in such a manner as to exhibit either general formation, or healthy and morbid structures, &c.; and seeing that the elementary textures of animal bodies are in reality so few, it is truly astonishing, and at first thought surpasses belief, that collections of such vast extent as even Britain now possesses can possibly be required for the purposes of science. In giving instruction in every art or profession, certain means must be resorted to by the teacher; and he who attempts to teach anatomy without a museum bona fide his own, and, if possible, made by himself, as strictly deserves the name f impostor, as the mechanic who would undertake to enable any one to make an article of furniture, by reading over to him some of the ordinary principles of mechanics, without even exhibiting the saw, chisel, hammer, &c. I have observed that each individual exhibits certain peculiarities proper-to themselves, and that every museum takes its character, as it were, from the person who may have formed that collection. It is sufficiently striking that most anatomical collections now existing have been founded and completed by single private individuals. It would appear that the love of discovery is the only incentive to induce a person fit for the task to continue his labours, so as ultimately to form a museum of any extent. If the collection is to be of any use, the person must be capable of not only using his mental faculties, but possess manual mechanical dexterity ; and when both these are called into play, few con - stitutions can stand the nature of the work more than a few months ; so that a very high salary to a conservator will seldom produce an extensive museum.

If money is the sole incentive, the collection will not increase, or, if it does, mere trash will in general be preserved. Whole days may be spent on a single preparation, which could have been put into a jar containing alcohol without a minute’s time having been given to it ; and if the principal proprietor, or public body, should be incapable of appreciating the extent of labour bestowed, then it is clear that it has been bestowed in vain, or, at all events, with a most baneful and withering effect on the person who bestowed the time and trouble. The preparation might have been preserved, as we have remarked, in a few minutes, and the conservator enjoying himself in the fields, instead of laying the sure foundation for ill health by his labours. Whilst in charge of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, the preparation No. 907, Table No. 1 (a hydrocephalice head), was brought to me, with much of the soft parts present, but in a state which I knew well would not have yielded to maceration before the bones themselves were also destroyed. It was too valuable to risk boiling, and it was evident, indeed, that the softness of the bones would not have admitted of this. I accordingly deliberately cleaned this head with infinite labour.

Every one having the slightest desire for anatomical knowledge, and who hopes to derive the least advantage from visiting museums, should have dissected and prepared most textures with his own hands. It is well known that the museum now belonging to the Royal College of Surgeons of London was the work of John Hunter.. He injected, dissected, and finally prepared most things with his own hands. I remember, whilst assistant keeper of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, of being visited by a Dr Y g, who, in consequence of my having repeatedly had occasion to point out to him the care necessary to preserve the museum from visitors (not merely students, but professional men) not knowing what will admit of being touched and what will not, related the following anecdote to me. Whilst visiting Dr John Hunter’s museum with some friends, Dr Hunter as usual accompanying them, they reached a corner of the room where a corroded kidney had been deposited to dry, The preparation lay broken into two or three pieces, and the attention of the party was roused by Dr Hunter exclaiming, Who has done this? <A painful silence ensued, when, a young man standing near being apparently on the point of confessing, Dr Hunter said, “ But do not tell me, for I shall curse him to the hour of my death.” This was a dreadful expression, but I can readily understand how any one, after having spent perhaps days, or it may be months, in preserving a preparation which can never be replaced, may be driven to a state of actual frenzy by the idle curiosity of some uneducated person.

Dr Hunter would allow nothing to be thrown away, so that, at his death, the quantity of things in store, t. e. not finally displayed, was immense, nearly equalling his manuscripts, and, as it appears to me, are likely to build the future temporary reputation of some dozen pretenders. It is, however, a foundation of sand; but the foundation would be surer were those persons at once to inform the public of the sources from which they draw their wonderful discoveries. I am perfectly aware that original research into animal structures is painful, and destructive to health; but I presume that, unless the route followed be that of Hunter, Tiedemann, or Meckel, posterity will be sparing of praise, however lavish the world may be of their riches and honours me duning the life of the individual.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.

. Skeleton of the Bantom, prepared as a Natural Skeleton, and finally set up to dry. A, portion of a frame supporting the head during’ the drying process; and particularly described in the section treating of the mode of preparing the natural skeletons of birds.

Drill-stock, of almost universal application in the hands of the Practical Anatomist; the addition of the screw a most important one.

Best form of glass-jar fur enclosing wet preparations. -

Farm of glass-jar in ordinary use.

Part I. On The Mode Of Forming Anatomical “museums

CHAPTER I.

1. Various methods followed for preserving the soft textures.— 2. Preservation of textures by simple drying.—3, 4. Caution against the use of varnish.—5. The real use of vascular preparations.—6, 7. Preservation by means of alcohol, and care necessary in preparing parts to be thus preserved.—8. Period for finally putting up a preparation not optional.—9. Difficulty in preventing the evaporation of alcohol, and modes generally resorted to.—10. The application of Caoutchouc for this purpose.—11. Turpentine used in destroying insects, and displaying certain preparations. The evaporation of the spirit effectually prevented.—_12, 13. Best form of the glass-jar.

1.. Att parts of animal. bodies, when life has ceased, have a constant tendency to decay and return to dust ; and although nothing can. prevent this entirely, yet its progress may be arrested for a certain number of years. Some textures are evidently more prone to decay than others, and even certain conditions of the animal during life. seem. more favourable for hastening decomposition than others. The presence of oil or fatty substances forms the principal difficulty encountered by the anatomist in preserving either morbid or healthy structure. If the texture admits of being dried, such as the bones (although even these will decay rapidly if they contain oil), then. all. that is necessary, when fully cleaned, and dried, is to preserve them from dust and damp. Most of the textures admit of being dried, but this may entirely defeat the object of the anatomist, and thus the use of certain fluids possessing an antiseptic power has been resorted to.

2. The variety of soft textures which may be preserved by simply drying them is very great; and the dried preparation which has been assiduously attended to whilst drying has always appeared to me to give a clearness and an extent of information which is seldom equalled by the wet preparation, or that preserved in spirits of wine. Those preparations intended for drying will either require to be stretched out by means of pins, on a board composed of soft wood, and perfectly smooth ; or, in the event of being hollow, such as the stomach, bladder, &c. they must be distended with air, if entire, or, if not admitting of being distended with air, may be stuffed with baked hair or wool. Oiled paper, such as is used for tracing, may be used, so as to prevent the preparation adhering to the board or the material made use of in stuffing. All preparations of this kind should be as fresh as possible, and yet they should be completely cleared of blood, &c., by means of maceration in water. Should any fat be in the texture, it will of course render the preparation always oily ; so that, if a choice can be had, those which are free from fat should be prefer- - red. We cannot of course at all times command the summer heat, and must sometimes have recourse to artificial heat to dry the preparations, for the quicker the drying . process proceeds the better. I have found it often impossible, in consequence of continued moist weather, to ‘dry a preparation in winter, and have thus been compelled as it were to invent some means of enabling me to wait for more congenial weather. This I found I was enabled to do with a striking eg to the preparation (sect. 3).

3. The part, being quite ‘eaily for drying, should be

PRESERVATION OF THE SOFT TEXTURES. Ik

. put into a dish, covered with proof spirits, and evaporation prevented by means of a close cover; or, if bulky, merely wrapped in a cloth moistened from time to time in alcohol. It may afterwards be finished off at any period, and it dries and looks the better by having been immersed in spirits. These preparations, when dry, if membraniform, may, if the anatomist thinks proper, be varnished with fine copal varnish; but I have entirely given up the use of varnish for many years. If the preparation is bulky, such as an extremity, to shew the distribution of the arteries, then I particularly urge the anatomist never on any account to use varnish.

4, My objections to the use of varnish, I am aware, will require to be clearly and forcibly stated, as its use is at present almost universal. Whilst in charge of the Museum of the College of Surgeons, an extensive collection of vascular preparations was presented to the college by Dr John Thomson. They had all evidently received abundance of varnish ; and in consequence of the succession of coats of varnish and dust obscuring the arteries and veins, an attempt had been made to paint these. I observed, in the mean time, that these preparations had not been in the museum for many hours, when, on lifting. any one of them, there invariably re~ mained various little hillocks of a fine brownish-looking dust. I knew this to be the effect of a very active small black beetle, common in museums, and instantly gave these preparations a thorough examination. I found these beetles in thousands ; they had undermined every texture, the thick coating of varnish in many parts only remaining. It is true that repeated applications of turpentine destroys all insects ; but the varnish so effectually prevented the turpentine from reaching the central parts, that I despaired of completely clearing the preparations. I kept them in an apartment separate from the museum, and gave them a daily visit for many months. My mode of preserving the largest vascular preparations, however great the quantity of muscle may be, is simply to dry it, having previously cleared it as effectually as possible of blood, and soaked it well with spirits of wine. During the winter months a little mould will often make its appearance, even in the best arranged museums ; but this can be instantly removed by means of turpentine applied with a brush. In summer, air should be freely admitted to the cases containing the preparations, and turpentine freely applied. If oil should appear on any part, it may be removed by means of a little tow. I have now in my possession vascular preparations preserved in this manner ten years ago, and which look quite as well as when prepared, and, 1 may add, as well as any I have had an opportunity of examining. The Barclayan Museum was very rich in vascular preparations, and, having had it under my care for a length of time, I observed that all these preparations had been varnished. The insects were abundant, but not so numerous as in the collection to which I have already alluded. The greater proportion of those in the Barclayan museum were intended to shew the number of minute branches into which arteries divide, having all the muscles, nerves, &c., cut away, so that little was left for insects to pick at. Another set of vascular preparations, of very superior utility to the minutely dissected ones, had suffered prodigiously from insects, the material used in filling the vessels having mostly been composed of tallow.