GLMS BOOK EVENTS REVIEW
HISTORY OF ORIGINAL GRAY ’ S ANATOMY AND ITS AUTHORS
The Anatomist : A True Story of Gray ’ s Anatomy
AUTHOR : BILL HAYES . PAGES 250 PUBLISHER : BALLANTINE BOOKS , RANDOM HOUSE , INC . NEW YORK , ( 2007 )
The Making of Mr . Gray ’ s Anatomy : Bodies , Books , Fortune , Fame
AUTHOR : RUTH RICHARDSON . PAGES 322 PUBLISHER : OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS , INC , NEW YORK ( 2008 )
Reviewed by M . Saleem Seyal , MD , FACC , FACP
Henry Gray ( 1827-1861 ) |
Gray ’ s Anatomy , 1858 |
Henry Vandyke ( 1831-1897 ) |
Bill Hayes ( 12-26-2007 ) |
Ruth Richardson ( 10-23-2008 ) |
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Gray ’ s Anatomy 42 nd Edition 2020
“ Man is only man at the surface . Remove the skin , dissect , and immediately you come to “ machinery .” - Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valery ( 1871-1945 ), French Poet-Philosopher
On enrollment at Nishtar Medical College in Multan Pakistan in 1968 , I purchased the 28 th Edition of Gray ’ s Anatomy . I was able to study a substantial portion of Gray ’ s Anatomy due to an unplanned hiatus from studies when the classes and dissections were suspended for about three months . I kept that Gray ’ s Anatomy even after completing my medical education .
Gray ’ s Anatomy is a classic medical reference book that has been in print for more than 160 years and is currently in its 42 nd edition . Henry Gray was a 25-year-old anatomist at the St . George ’ s Hospital in London in 1855 when he came up with a collaborative project of writing a book with his junior colleague , Dr . Henry Vandyke Carter : a dissection manual that was an easy read and was affordable for medical students and surgeons alike . He could not have envisioned the enduring popularity of this tome over the next 163 years . Dr . Carter was a member of The Royal College of
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Surgeons and a demonstrator in anatomy , and had worked with Henry Gray on his previous publication Spleen . For the second book , which would become their eventual magnum opus , Gray proposed joint dissections by both anatomists and illustrations by the accomplished draughtsman Dr . Carter , rightly known as “ The Anatomical Artist .” Carter agreed to the work , though he was not only poorly paid but had not even been acknowledged for his illustrations in Spleen .
Gray ’ s discussions with his collaborating partner Carter were tense prior to the latter ’ s acquiescence for working on the diagrams for the anatomy book . Carter considered Gray to be “ very shrewd ” and worried that he would be cheated because he was not paid what was promised for Spleen . For the new book , Gray offered to pay Carter 10 pounds per month for 15 months . Carter and Gray did equal amount of dissection and Carter did the excellent and skillful illustrations directly on the wood surface which were of high quality as compared to the drawings in the contemporary anatomy books . There were a few logistic snafus during the publishing process but the book was completed on time . Regrettably , against the publisher ’ s suggestions , Gray insisted that only his name be displayed on the spine of the book and trivialized Carter ’ s contributions by minimizing his credentials and reducing the size of his name on the front page . By that time , Carter , a shy , decent and deeply religious individual , was fed up with the whole