“It Is In The Pages Of Death That We Read the History Of Life”

From an acquaintance with the structure and functions of the several parts of the human body when in health, we are able, for the most part, to judge of its state when under deviations occasioned by disease, and thus to act upon just and rational principles in the treatment of the innumerable derangements to which our frame is liable. It is in the pages of death that we read the history of life. It is by taking to pieces the machine that we discover at least some of the wheels that put it in motion. For the same reason, we are obliged to examine the body by dissection before we can explain its constitution and actions.