Anatomy is a visual subject: ideally, you need to see, touch and feel to get an idea of three dimensions. When you read a portion of text you should try to picture the structures concerned: dissected parts and a good anatomical atlas, whether on paper or computer, will help.
Surface markings and vertebral levels
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Introduction
Different people study differently, and some find an understanding of three dimensions easier to come by than do others. Nevertheless, as a basis for study I recommend that you use the nervous system and the main arteries, together with the following conceptual framework, common to all living things:
• we reproduce
• we seek sustenance
• we absorb and distribute nutrients
• we excrete waste products
• we try to prolong our own existence; and
• we endeavour to control these processes.
The surface projection of internal organs is important since it forms the basis of the clinical examination of a patient. When you read about any structure, the heart for example, you should try to picture the body and relate the printed word to a precise location. Better still, get a friend to be a surface anatomy model (it is no good looking at yourself in a mirror because right and left are the wrong way round).
