Dear Pam, et al: 'Not the recommended text' -- not recommended by whom?
Sisson and Grossmann's text is one of the most error-free in all of the
literature. What your veterinarian friend is expressing certainly sounds
to me like a case of "my teacher is better than your teacher" -- a common
disease of comparative habit which, although often carried in latent form,
becomes inflamed when the graduate of a veterinary degree program speaks
with someone who 'merely' holds a Ph.D.

(As the old joke goes: Q: What's the difference between God and a
veterinarian? A: God does not think he's a veterinarian.)

There are a number of standard "general" works which veterinary students
(as well as several other types of students) might use. All of them have
strengths, and weaknesses. By a "general" work I mean one that helps the
student learn the names to the anatomical parts pertaining to each body
system, i.e. musculoskeletal or digestive or circulatory and so forth. Any
veterinary student pursuing a career as a surgeon would also need to study
specialized texts, i.e. that dealt with physiology, physiochemistry,
microanatomy of various body zones, surgical approaches and techniques in
response to various diseases, etc. Few that fall into the latter category
would be of interest to the zooarchaeologist, with the exception of bone
and ligament pathology studies.

My bias is more or less toward equines, and if someone else on this list
who digs dogs or pigs or cows or chickens has favorite references that
deal with those animals, perhaps they would be good enough to list them.
By this means we might develop a relatively short 'reading list for
learning the anatomy of the musculoskeletal system' for all the species
commonly studied by zooarchaeologists.

Dr. Deb's favorite horse anatomy references:

Sisson, Septimus and James Grossman. 1945 (and later, and earlier;
editions prior to 1945 are a little out of date; the 1947 edition was the
best ever produced; after about 1970 it was revised into two volumes under
the editorship of Getty and re-titled 'Getty's Sisson and Grossmann's
Anatomy of the Domestic Animals'). W.B. Saunders & Co., Philadelphia,
about 550 pp. Best features: Ellenberger & Baum's illustrations and
excellent quality illustrations by other artists; conciseness and
precision of the descriptions; illuminating footnotes; simplicity and
clarity of organization. Drawbacks: yes, it's old, so that some of the
anatomical terms have been changed -- small problem to us I should think,
who have to memorize three different systems for the bones of the carpus
anyway.

Way, Robert F. and Donald G. Lee. 1965. The Anatomy of the Horse. J.B.
Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 214 pp. Best features: views of the muscles
of the inner groin and sublumbar region not found in any other volume.
Inexpensive black and white format, thus easy and inexpensive to photocopy
for use of students. Drawbacks: quality of illustrations sufficient but
not great. Simple text designed primarily for horse owners, so lacks some
technical detail.

Pasquini, Chris. 1991. Atlas of Equine Anatomy, 3rd ed. Sudz Publishing,
Pilot Point, Texas, 312 pp. Best features: simple, clear, and technically
flawless illustrations of all body systems. Inexpensive B/W format, easy
and inexpensive to photocopy for use by students. Drawbacks: Really, none.
I use this book so often in class that half the pages in my copy are
bloodstained; a mark of esteem in our line of work.

Goody, Peter. 2000. Horse Anatomy: A Pictorial Approach to Equine
Structure, 2nd ed. (revised and enlarged). J.A. Allen, London, 139 pp.
Advantages: views, especially of the skeleton, ligaments, and tendons not
found anywhere else. The only equine anatomy on the market (other than my
own books & DVD's on conformation biomechanics) which incorporates any
extensive amount on the elastic mechanisms built into the horse's back,
neck, and limbs, and which are essential to an understanding of its
locomotory function. Inexpensive B/W format, easy and inexpensive to
photocopy for use by students. Drawbacks: none; I don't dissect with this
book as I do with Pasquini's, but I sure do use it in the theoretical
parts of my classes.

Kainer, Robert A. and Thomas O. McCracken. 1994. (N.B., some editions of
this book are authored by McCracken & Kainer). The Coloring Atlas of Horse
Anatomy. Alpine Publications, Loveland, Colorado, about 150 pp. with 81
plates. Advantages: This really IS a coloring book, and if some vet of
your acquaintance claims he would never stoop to using a coloring book in
order to learn the pattern of the ciruclation of the blood or the nerves
used to execute a 'block' of the ankle, you can smile and nod politely but
don't you believe him for one second, because this book has been the vet
student's mainstay for years. What one does is buy two copies, as it is
inexpensive B/W: one to color, and one to keep pristine and/or to use for
student handouts. Disadvantages: There is a physiological bias, not a bad
thing, but the book focuses only on those aspects of horse anatomy most
likely to show up on the midterm and final examinations.

Ashdown, Raymond R. and Stanley H. Done. 2002. Color Atlas of Veterinary
Anatomy, Vol. 2: The Horse. Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Mosby-Wolfe,
London. About 200 pp. with lots and lots of color plates. The color plates
are accompanied (as they must be) by line drawings that tell you what you
are actually seeing in the photographs. The photographs are of
nicely-prepped pickled dissection specimens. If you want detail, this is
your book -- an advantage if you're planning on being a veterinary
surgeon, a disadvantage really to the zooarchaeologist, who mainly wants
bone-tendon-ligament-cartilage, and the book gives only the minimum on
this.

All currently available equine anatomy texts have been written by
veterinarians. The zooarchaologist must keep in mind that the vet has a
(quite necessary) bias toward regional -- as opposed to systems --
anatomy. One does not, in other words, normally skin the patient in order
to perform surgery. But we who seek to understand the locomotion of
extinct animals, or who want to know how a draft horse pulls a plow, or
how the Roman postal service must have worked, are those who must "skin
the patient" because the patient, by the time it reaches us, has long
since been more than skinned.

Since veterinarians generally receive no training in biomechanics, anatomy
books that they write inevitably reflect their bias toward surgical or
regional anatomy -- i.e. "spotlight" anatomy. This leads to a tendency to
a lack of insight as to continuity: i.e. hence the irritating phenomenon
that the same tube that starts out as the aorta, within ten inches of its
length has already acquired six different names.

Veterinarians also typically receive little or no training in embryology
or evolutionary studies. This accounts for the incredibly confusing and
erroneous terminology which plagues all the currently available books:
they make no distinction between yellow 'ligament' (which is converted
muscle tissue) and white ligament, which is really ligament. The two
tissues are poles apart histologically, have different gross shapes, and
function very differently. But students worldwide still talk about the
'nuchal ligament' in the same breath as the 'collateral ligaments' of the
stifle or ankle joints.

Someday I mean to correct this in print, and have been working on my own
textbook for years -- one of those things that everybody on this list will
readily understand, how they get put off in favor of just getting food
onto the table. Anybody who likes can sign up for one of my anatomy
classes, though, where we sure do discuss the problem. Next one's in two
weeks in southern Canada -- EMail me if you'd like to attend. It really is
not terribly often that the chance comes 'round for a non-veterinary
student to participate in the full dissection of an equine carcass, under
the direction of an instructor whose bias is biomechanics. -- Cheers to
all, and in hopes you find this useful. -- Dr. Deb









> See also: König, H.E. and H.-G. Liebich (eds.) 2010. Veterinary Anatomy
> of Domestic Mammals: Textbook and Colour Atlas, 4th edition. Stuttgart
> and New York: Schattauer
> This is the English version of the German "Anatomie der Haussäugetiere"
> and is fabulously illustrated. It is also fabulously expensive.
> Richard H Meadow
> Zooarchaeology Lab
> Peabody Museum
> Harvard University
>
> On 2/3/11 11:04 AM, Pam Cross wrote:
>> Hi all
>> While I find my copy very useful, I have been speaking with a Vet who
>> says that Sisson and Grossman is not the recommended text. Which is:
>> Dyce Sack and Wensing. Another good vet anatomy book is Nickel and
>> Sieferle (german). Also note that the online pdf copy recently
>> discussed is an earlier edition -- perhaps better? By Sisson, not both
>> authors.
>> regards
>> Pam
>> Pamela J Cross
>> PhD researcher, Bioarchaeology
>> AGES, University of Bradford
>> BD7 1DP UK
>> [log in to unmask]
>> or [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.barc.brad.ac.uk/resstud_Cross.php
>> http://www.brad.ac.uk/archenvi/news/EAA09.php
>