'M. Auzouz has taken for his model the corpse of an adult of five feet six inches high, and he enforced upon himself the task of reproducing it in all its most minute details.
'This new model, compared with that previously made, even with the complete piece which was submitted for your examination in 1825, and which appeared to leave nothing further to desire, exhibits, however, these differences, which could not have been expected from the same individual. The forms have been completely changed, the details almost doubled; and by means of some ingenious incisions or cuts, M. Auzouz has succeeded in reproducing everything which has any relation to the various branches of the science. It is not only the bones that have been reproduced with an exactitude and fidelity which, if we had not been aware of the circumstances, would have led us to consider the bones as real,—the most tender, the most delicate, as well as the most voluminous; the softest, as well as the hardest; the most superficial, as well as the most profound, all are represented with the most scrupulous exactness in their form and colour, their relations and connexions. We consider that it would be useless to lay before you an analysis of all those details, and will therefore only draw your attention to some particular facts to which your commissioners have principally directed their attention.
'The heart has been produced with the happiest success, by means of a particular cut. This organ is divided into two moieties, on each of which are two cavities, which may be opened in such a manner as to admit of a full inspection of the valves. All these parts are united with such extreme nicety and exactness, that the traces of the division are scarcely distinguishable; and when combined, they exhibit a heart of the natural size, from which the vessels arise which digress from it, or which terminate in it. All these vessels being produced from their origin to their termination, it becomes an easy task to study the branches which depart from it, the numerous anastomoses which they have between them, and their relations with the different organs.
'The preparation of the head, in which are found the head, the pharynx, the larynx, the nasal cavities, with the muscles, the veins, the arteries, the nerves which accompany those parts, or which are distributed about them, appears to your commissioners to exhibit a whole, which has never before been produced.
'This work is, however, not yet complete; even M. Auzouz himself admits that some errors may have crept in. Your commissioners have employed several sittings in the examination of this new preparation, and they have discovered some inaccuracies, some anatomical errors. These inaccuracies and errors were, however, no sooner pointed out, than they were rectified, so great is the facility with which M. Auzouz can remove and replace every one of the parts.
'Your commissioners congratulate themselves on having announced to you the entire realization of the hopes which not only your former commissions and those of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the Medical Society of Emulation have entertained, but also of several very able physicians who have been called on to give their opinion.'
In regard to the measures adopted in this country to legalize the sale of bodies, Mr. Warburton has succeeded in carrying his Bill through the House of Commons, extending the provisions of it to Ireland. It is supposed that some of the clauses of the Bill may have an injurious effect upon the private anatomical schools; but taking the general principle of the Bill under our consideration, we are convinced that, when certain prejudices are overcome, it will be found fully adequate to remedy the evil which has so long existed, to the odium and disgrace of the country, and that the general interests of science will be encouraged and supported by it.
THE END.
Printed by W. Clowes, Stamford Street.