in view. He was first in the work of establishing the Marion County Medical Society, in 1847, and he was prominent in helping to organize the State Society of Indiana in 1849. In both societies he was an active and prominent member. In 1868 he was elected president of the Indiana State Medical Society. His inaug ural address was upon "The Necessity of a State Medical Journal and a Medical College." His paper on lithotomy of the gall-bladder, from which my report of the operation is taken, was published in the same volume of the transactions with his

presidential address. The latter part of Dr. Bobb's life was devoted mainly to surgery. He was well read in the literature of his specialty, and as an operator he was bold and original. Like most of his contemporaries, he was not a frequent contributor to medical literature. Dr. Jameson, in the paper which I have quoted, mentions an operation in which he assisted, in which Dr. Bobbs removed the superior maxillary bone together with the eye of the affected side for extensive carcinoma. The operation lasted several hours, but the patient made a good recovery. The hemorrhage was so well controlled that little blood was lost and the patient recovered from the operation and was much more comfortable afterward. He also mentions a successful operation for extra-uterine pregnancy and an unsuccessful operation for umbilical hernia. Dr. Bobbs was a brigade surgeon during the Civil War, and in the latter office he was medical director for the district of Indiana. During the Civil War he was with the staff of General Morris, of Indianapolis, and showed his courage by bringing off the field under fire a soldier who was fatally wounded.

Besides his professional services, Dr. Bobbs was a public-spirited man who took active part in the affairs of his city and state. For one term he served as state senator. He was one of the original commissioners who organized the Indiana Hospital for the Insane, and he gave liberally to general charitable purposes. In person he was slender, of medium height with striking features. His forehead was high, his eyes dark grey, his nose large and aquinline, his chin prominent. He generally wore a suit of black broadcloth

and a silk hat, and had the manners of the old-style gentleman.

He may be truly considered one of the founders of scientific medicine and surgery in the middle West. As the greatest general surgeon and teacher of his day in that section of the country, as a publicspirited man and soldier, his name will long be remembered in the region in which he practiced.

Several others besides Bobbs did valuable pioneer work in gall-bladder surgery, but there is no evidence that I have been able to find that any one, at an earlier date, ever opened the gall-bladder after celiotomy.

ANATOMY FOR THE PRACTITIONER.*

BY CLARENCE M. JACKSON, M. S., M. D., Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Histology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.

The post-graduate study of gross anatomy, normal and pathologic, is for the practitioner a subject of great importance. There is a strong necessity for a continued review of these fundamental subjects, in order that clinical procedure may rest on a scientific basis. A mere book review, however, on which the great majority of practitioners are obliged to depend, is very inadequate. How then shall the practitioner review his knowledge of practical anatomy? The ideal method is, doubtless, for the practitioner to attend from time to time the post-graduate courses in normal and pathologic anatomy offered in the leading medical schools. Here he will find an abundance of material, well-equipped labortories and valuable assistance from the instructors. Only a small percentage of the practitioners, however, are fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of these facilities. For numerous reasons such courses are inaccessible

to the great majority. It is the purpose of the present paper, however, to call attention to numerous opportunities for the home study of practical anatomy which are open to every practitioner who is willing to devote a little time to the subject.

*Read at the Fifty-third Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, in the Section on Surgery and Anatomy, and approved for publication by the Executive Committee: Drs. H. O. Walker, A. J. Ochsner and DeForest Willard. Printed in the Journal American Medical Association, of Oct. 4, 1902.

states except South Dakota and South Carolina. From these replies it appears that in regard to their anatomic laws, the states and territories may be divided into three classes, nearly equal in size: 1. Those in which there is no statute whatever relating to the subject. This class includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indian Territory, Montana, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Is

land, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. 2. Those in which dissection. is legalized but only medical schools are entitled to cadavers. This class includes Connecticut, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. 3. Those in which, under certain conditions, practitioners as well as medical schools are entitled to cadavers for dissection. This class includes California, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin. The restrictions under which practitioners may obtain cadavers vary somewhat in the different states. A bond is usually required to guarantee the use of cadavers for scientific purposes only. Most states specify that the needs of the medical colleges shall be met before cadavers are available for practitioners. No one, I presume would question the justice of this rule, since dissection is absolutely necessary in the medical schools. point to be emphasized is this: The medical profession in every state should demand a law appropriating for anatomic uses all bodies to be buried at public expense. This law, properly enforced, would secure an abundance of material for practitioners as well as for medical schools. The difficulty usually lies in the vigilance necessary to secure an enforcement of the law. It should be the duty of the physicians in each locality to see that the law is enforced, in order that sufficient material for all who desire it may be provided. An excellent provision in the New Jersey law requires physicians who wish to dissect to organize themselves into an anatomic and pathologic association (of three or more) for the advance

But the

ment of medical and surgical science. The Wisconsin law provides that such work may be done under the auspices of the county medical societies, an idea which I shall discuss later.

USES OF FETUSES.

But are there no opportunities for practitioners who for any reason are unable to procure cadavers? There are many. First, let me call your attention to the neglected opportunities in the way of fetal specimens. Advanced fetuses are fairly abundant, easily preserved, and valuable for anatomic study. A full term fetus in many respects makes an excellent substitute for an adult cadaver. A careful

study of such material is also of great peculiarities incident to infancy and childhood, a subject of especial interest to those concerned with diseases of children.

value in demonstration of the anatomic

In passing, let me say that fetal specimens, especially the earlier stages, would be very thankfully received at almost any anatomic laboratory, in case the physician did not wish to keep them. Methods of preservation are given below.

Another source from which valuable material may be derived for the study of normal and pathologic anatomy, especially of individual organs, is from specimens obtained at operations and postmortems. A little zeal combined with tact can accomplish a great deal in this line. Think of the amount of material which might be used for anatomic study, but which is thrown away and absolutely wasted. This state of affairs, I believe, is due largely to the fact that few practitioners know how to preserve properly and to make use of such material.

The remainder of this paper will, therefore, be devoted to the explanation of a few simple methods, which may, perhaps, be of some practical value. Of these, three will be given: 1. To preserve a cadaver for ordinary dissection. 2. To cut a body into sections for topographic study. 3. To preserve individual organs with their natural colors (Kaiserling's method).

PRESERVATION OF CADAVERS.

To prepare a cadaver for ordinary dissection, it should be embalmed by the arterial injection of some fluid which will preserve the body indefinitely, and yet re