ANATOMY, literally a cutting up; but anatomy usually signifies the special study of the structure of organic bodies, morphology (q.v.) and applies to both animals and plants. Animal morphology is the study of human or other animal forms, the study of the relation ship between the forms constituting Compara tive Anatomy (q.v.). The study of the minute or microscopical anatomy is termed Histology (q.v.). Developmental Anatomy is the study of the gradual growth of the animal, Embryology (q.v.). In the plant world there are also the correlated branches of Plant Morphology, Com parative Anatomy, Histology and Embryology. The study of the microscopical structure of the single cell is termed Cytology; of collections of related cells and tissues constituting organs, Organology; thus the study of the bony system is termed Osteology, of the structures of circu lation Angiology, of nerve structures Neurol ogy, of the muscles Myology, of the viscera Splanchnology, etc. Each in its turn has its special departments of investigation.
The study of anatomy may be approached from the purely descriptive side, Descriptive Anatomy, or may deal with the anatomy of re lated organs in related animals, as Systematic Anatomy. Applied or Practical Anatomy, or that branch dealing with its study as an aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, may be designated as Medical or Surgical Anatomy. Regional and Topographical Anatomy deals with the study of special parts or the special relations to surrounding parts.
History.— The beginnings of human knowl edge of the structure of organic bodies are preserved from the earliest times in fragments only, but there are very good reasons for be lieving that much more was known many thou sands of years before the Christian era than there is written evidence to substantiate. The history of anatomical study. is correlative with the history of medicine, and even in very early times inquiries were made concerning the structure of the human and animal body.
It is usual to ascribe to the Greeks the first foundations of anatomical knowledge, but it seems that Chinese culture, which was highly developed when the peoples of Europe were in a very primeval condition, had a well system atized medical lore that included much exact pharmacological knowledge, with some few anatomical facts, although the anatomy of the early Chinese was largely speculative. Section
of the human as well as lower animal bodies was forbidden by at least two of the religious sects of early Chinese culture, the •Alman and Buddha worships. It is interesting to note that as early as 2838-2699 a.c., Shinnong was a half mythical medicine man in China, and it is said that Chinese works on medicine were written as early as 2698-2599 B.C. (Hwang Ai).
In India the sacred work of the Ayur Veda, supposed to date from between the 14th to the 9th centuries a.c., at least 100 years before the cult of 1Esculapius had begun, contains descrip tions of the human body obtained from dissec tions, and it has been maintained that Charaka and Susrutu, the earliest of Indian physicians, should be considered the earliest anatomists. Inasmuch as the probable dates of these Indian worthies is much more recent than was former ly supposed (100 A.D.), little can be made of these claims. At all events their anatomy was much cruder than that of the Hippocratic school circa 400 KC Egypt contributed some what to the knowledge of anatomy, and the Papyrus Ebers, 1553? a.c.., is a monument of old Egyptian medicine. It is of interest to note that some of the Hippocratic nomenclature of anatomy is of Egyptian origin. The influence of religion, however, was very strong in the shaping of Egyptian medicine. Evisceration was largely practised and undoubtedly led to the collection of many anatomical facts, the im portance of which has become lost to students. It is certain, however, that the school of medi cine situated in Greece, on the island of Cos, laid the firm foundations of our knowledge of anatomy. It was in Greece also that the phy sician's profession was amply recognized. This early Hippocratic age gave rise to a profes sional conscience, and the °Physician's Oath,B or the °Hippocratic Oath," °is a monument of the highest rank in the history of civilization) (Gomperz: (Greek Thinkers)).