It was our first day of Human Anatomy.  In moments, we would peel back a plastic sheet enshrouding a cadaver which we would spend the next few months dissecting and studying.  Myself, Joti, Eldad, and Erin were grouped together, and although we had all read the assignment, none of us really knew how or where to begin.
 Just then, Dr. Laitman, our instructor, stopped his patrol of the room and stood at the foot of our table.
 

Joti teaches Eldad the finer arts of dancing with the  MD lab skeleton as a partner. Keep practicing, Eldad.

“Hello.  My name is Jeff Laitman.”  He extended his hand to each of us.  “You had better tell me each of your names now, because we will be getting to know each other very well in these next few months.”  We each introduced ourselves.  He repeated each of our names, adding that it was nice to meet us.  He seemed like a nice enough guy.  Maybe all of the horror stories we had been told about him were just rumors after all.  “So…I trust you have all done the reading for today’s dissection of the back?” It was a subtle interrogation.  We all nodded.  “Great.  Then you won’t mind if I ask you a few questions.”  He immediately reached into the pocket of his gray smock, grabbed a fistful of human vertebrae, and sprinkled them across the back of our cadaver like jacks.  “Take a moment to examine these vertebrae.  These are all taken from a real human skeleton.  So…”  I raised my head to meet his glance.  Oops.  I gave him the opportunity to single me out.  “Brian: tell me what kind of bone is found in the center of a vertebra?”   “Spongy bone.”  He seemed pleasantly surprised, moving his head up and down (just once) and smiling slightly in approval.  “Very good.”  Had I passed the first test?  “Now, Brian…examine this vertebra.”  He handed a middle-sized one to me.  “Observe that through the spongy bone of this vertebra, there are two parallel holes.  Notice that these holes are ubiquitous.  You find them in every vertebra, in the same location within the bone, such that they form a continuous channel.  So, tell me Brian…what do you think goes through these holes?”

 I panicked slightly.  I had done the reading, but maybe not as critically as I could have…and I had no idea what these holes were for.  I’d never noticed them mentioned in the text.  They probably held some ligament…or was it called a tendon in this case?  Under the expectant gaze of Laitman’s eyes, squinting at me behind thick glasses, I felt my confidence waning.
 “Uh…some sort of…connective…element?”
 He furrowed his brow as he digested my answer, as if my ignorance personally offended him.  “Connective element, huh?  Interesting response.”  I guess I actually failed the first test.
 Laitman turned to prey upon my lab partners next.  “Eldad.  What do you think these holes are for?”
 Eldad picked up a vertebra, turning it over in his hands.  He was unsure, and he knew it.  “I think they’re for blood vessels.  Maybe a large artery or vein.”
 Laitman looked at Eldad’s face with heightened interest.  “Wow.  Isn’t this incredible?  Look at how he has responded to my question, physiologically I mean.  All of the small vessels supplying the skin of his face have dilated, resulting in a reddened color.  Can each of you see this?  Eldad, turn a little so we can all see.  This really is an amazing effect.”  It was true.  He was plenty red.  Not only that, he was getting redder.
 Next, Laitman looked to Joti.  “So, what do you think about the vertebra?”
 Joti spent a quiet moment examining one of the small cylinders, rubbing his fingers over each of the protruding processes.  What a scientist.  “I agree with my colleague.  I think it probably provides a channel for a blood vessel, or some sort of innervation.”  Only Joti would use a word like “colleague” to describe a lab partner.
 Finally, Dr. Laitman turned to Erin, the only girl among our group.  “What do you think, Erin?”
 Mouse-like, she answered, “I’m…not sure…”
 “Well, Erin, did you do the readings in preparation for today?”
 “Yes.”
 “Do you remember reading about these two holes?
 

“No.”  “So, what do you think then?  “I…don’t think that they’re supposed to be there.”  Laitman grinned.  He was about to deliver the punch line of his little joke.  He addressed all of us, raising and lowering his index finger in time with his words:  “Lesson number one in Gross Anatomy: don’t be deceived when you know something to be true.  These two holes in each vertebra are for the wires that we use to string the vertebral column together when we display a skeleton.  They are drilled into the bone after the vertebral column has been removed from the cadaver, so they would not be described in your text.”  The collective embarrassment which emanated from each of us was so thick you could almost see it.  Laitman continued.  He was clearly enjoying this.  “I believe that you all knew this answer.  But isn’t it interesting that the power of my suggestion made you doubt yourselves?”  He somehow managed to verbally boldface his next sentence:  “Do not question what you know to be true.” “Now, good luck with your dissection.  I will check back with you later.”  Dr. Laitman moved on to victimize the adjacent table, and, humbled, we pulled back the sheet masking our cadaver.

Ettie and Abby prepare last minute for Gross Lecture.