Credits: Line illustrations from this issue are taken from several works by Andreas Vesalius, professor of anatomy at Padua, Italy in the mid-1500's, and from Gray's Anatomy, 1858. For additional background on both the history of anatomy and the origin of bone names underlying the muscles, see the Vol. 38, No. 1, 1992 issue of the Kansas School Naturalist, "Bone Names" by Edward Rowe.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The so-called "technical" language presented here is not just for physicians, but for everyday citizens who will be patients, who will sit on juries judging medical practices, who will vote on health-related laws, and who individually monitor their own health and collectively determine our health insurance rates. The precise use of words is the natural and necessary consequence of being an educated person and is part and parcel of operating as a healthy educated person. Dr. Saunders' essay weaves these terms into everyday life.

About the Author

Dr. David Saunders is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Emporia State University. He is involved in the teaching of human anatomy and physiology and the bioscientific terminology course.