Since the study of anatomy by means of frozen sections and the use for the same purpose of bodies with the viscera hardened in situ have come into vogue, many new ideas have been acquired and many misconceptions corrected. While the study of soft preparations in the dissecting and autopsy rooms has been responsible for almost all our knowledge of gross anatomy, it is not until we examine conditions more nearly as they are during life that we get a really true conception of anatomic relations. The mere opening of the thorax and abdomen under ordinary conditions will of itself cause a change in the shape and relations of the various organs, and when conditions are still further disturbed by dissection or by the successive stages of an autopsy it is posible to get only an approximate idea of conditions as they existed during life.
Our work has consisted of