LAUSR

In Galen’s De Anatomicis Administrationibus (On Anatomical Procedures) (Singer, 1956), written in Rome in the year A.D. 177, Book II (On Muscles and Ligaments of the Lower Limb), Chapter 3 is intriguingly titled “Why Anatomy is neglected or mistaught.” This chapter by Galen begins by chastising anatomists of the day by stating, “They (anatomists) have obviously elaborated with care the part of anatomy that is completely useless to physicians or that which gives them little or only occasional help. But they have given far less care to the part that needs urgent attention and is most useful and necessary for all to know. . .The most useful part of the science of anatomy lies in just that exact study neglected by the professed experts. . ..Perched high on a professional chair a man can say these things to his pupils without being able to instruct them in the actual practice of the Art. . . Further censure is due to all the anatomists whose investigations into such matters have been superficial.”