1. =AUTOPSY= (=Postmortem examination=, =necropsy=, =necroscopy=, =obduction=, =mortopsy=, =section=; Latin, =sectio cadaveris=, =sectio anatomica=, =autopsia cadaverica=, =sectio=, =obductio=; French, =autopsie cadaverique=, =nécropsie=; German, =Leichenschau=, =Section=, =Obduction=) is the term preferably applied to the examination of the dead body, conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of death, for the study of the pathologic conditions present with reference to their nature and cause, or for the obtaining of anthropologic, anatomic or surgical data. When carried out primarily with the view of obtaining evidence of legal importance, as in the case of a suspected crime, accidental death, the identification of a body, in damage suits for injuries received, malpractice, insurance, etc., the autopsy is usually styled =medicolegal=, or the German term =obduction= is not infrequently applied. The terms =prosector= and =obducent=, although used originally in a medicolegal sense, are now generally applied to the person performing the autopsy whether medicolegal or not. 2. =IMPORTANCE OF THE AUTOPSY.= The opportunity of performing an autopsy should be regarded by the physician and student as a very great privilege. Even to the prosector with an experience of several thousand autopsies to his credit, each new examination of a dead body becomes a new revelation and extends still farther his intellectual horizon. To the student and physician in practice each autopsy may, if performed in the proper spirit, become in itself an educational factor of the greatest value. In no other scientific procedure is there such a demand made upon the faculties of observation, judgment and interpretation, and in no other is there such intimate correlation between methods of technique and the higher intellectual processes. It is unnecessary to add that the ability to perform an autopsy in the proper manner presupposes a foundation of accurate anatomic and pathologic knowledge as well as a capacity for careful work.