M. Richerand, one of the most celebrated professors of medicine of France, says, 'He who cultivates the science of human anatomy, resembles, in some degree, the chymist; in the same manner that the latter cannot attain to a correct knowledge of a substance without being able to decompose it, and to analyze it in all its parts, so the anatomist cannot obtain a perfect knowledge of the human body until, having studied separately, and with the greatest care, each of its organs, and each of the systems which are formed by a certain number of similar organs, he is able to assign to each of them its proper place—to determine the relations which they bear to each other, and the proportions into which they enter, in order to form the composition of this or that of our members.'
From these commendatory reports from some of the most scientific men of France, as well as from the opinion of a great number of physicians who were invited to give their opinion on the utility of his artificial skeleton, M. Auzouz drew the following results.
'1st. That these preparations differ totally from all others which have been hitherto made or constructed for facilitating the study of anatomy, and which have nothing further in common with them, than that their immediate tendency is the same.
'2nd. That they exhibit in the same subject, in a vertical attitude, all the parts which constitute the composition of the human body, with all the characters which belong to them.
'3rd. That the use of these pieces will considerably diminish the time which the students devote to the study of anatomy, and shorten their stay in the anatomical schools.
'4th. That they will possess the advantage of recalling the anatomical details to the memory of the students and practitioners in general, who have already devoted themselves to the science.
'5th. That they will render the study of anatomy possible in all seasons of the year, and in all countries in which the climate or prejudice is opposed to dissection.
'6th. Finally, with the assistance of these pieces, the study of anatomy may be made a branch of public instruction, and thereby become advantageous to every class of society, particularly to those who devote themselves to medicine, to the fine arts, to military science, or to navigation.
'Since the period that my first model appeared, artificial anatomy has been made use of in a great number of public establishments, for the purpose of anatomical illustration. Complete subjects have been sent to the following schools of medicine:—To Boston, to Martinique, Guadaloupe, Isle of France, College of Yale, (United States,) Metz, Strasburg, Lille, Val de Narre, the Museum, (Stockholm,) Evreux, Oxaca, (South America,) Louisiana, Vera Cruz, Cairo, Toulon, Turin, New Orleans, Harvard, (New England,) Charlestown, the Faculty of Medicine of Strasburg, &c. In regard to myself, many thousands of students have attended my lectures, or have studied in my cabinet. I have collected with great care all the remarks and observations that have been addressed to me; I have frequently, for the last eleven years, carefully revised, several times a day, all the parts of my labour; and I have introduced into them all the corrections which have been suggested to me; and finally, in order to render artificial anatomy more worthy of the success that it has obtained, I have constructed a new model, and thus many important modifications and numerous additions have been made to the subject of my labours.
'The augmentations do not consist of some minute details, nor of some additions of little or no importance. The former have been completely changed, and the incisions multiplied. The model published in 1825, consisted only of sixty-six regular pieces, and three hundred and fifty-six in detail; whereas that which was made public in 1830, consisted of one hundred and twenty-nine regular pieces, that is, pieces which are capable of being separated, and eleven hundred and fifteen pieces in detail. The skeleton taken for the model, represents a man of an athletic constitution. I have given it the attitude of Antinous, to which it may be compared, on account of the beauty and exactitude of its forms. The left foot is fixed in a wooden socket, for the purpose of giving it a rotatory movement. All the parts united present a man, from whom the skin only has been taken. One half of the subject is represented entire; all the parts which constitute the other half may be detached; every muscle, every organ may be removed, one by one, from the skin to the bone, with the greatest facility, and replaced in the same manner. An order number, corresponding with a synoptic table, is made to indicate the name of the organ, and the extremity at which the displacement should be made.