ANATOMY. The actof dissecting bodies for the purpose of examining their structure, and the nature, uses, and functions of their several parts ; also the knowledge of the hu man body derived from such dissections and examinations. It is generally applied to the examination of animals, and it has discovered the following circumstances of their structure. 1st. A system of bones which in a human subject amount to 246; 2. Of cartilages or gristles, which unite the bones, and contribute to their motion, assisted by ligaments, mem branes, and bundles of muscle; called flesh, all relating to the strength and motion of the animal. Anatomy also discovers nerves, or white threads, which extend from the brain and the spinal marrow through all the organs, and are the means of sensation,- and instru rnents of the will. It appears, also, that the body is sustained and warmed by means of blood flowing from the heart through the ar teries, to every part of the body, and brought back by veins. There is also a stomach for digestion, and glands for separating and assi milating the element; and intestines to carry off what is not appropriated. When applied to animals, it is termed Comparative Anatomy. In the science of anatomy the body is divided into the head, trunk, and extremities, and is composed of solids and fluids. The solids are the integuments, bones, cartilages, ligaments, membranes, vessels, muscles, nerves, and glands. The principal fluids are the blood, the chyle, the lymph, and the bile. Anatomy, from the names of the parts treated .4 is di vided into osteogeny, or the doctrine of the growth of the bones ; osteology, the doctrine of the bones in the adult subject ; chondrology, the doctrine of the cartilages ; syndesmology, the doctrine of the ligaments ; myology, the doctrine of the muscles ; bursalogy, the doc trine of the bursa; mucosva ; splanchnology, the doctrine of the viscera ; angciology, the doctrine of the vessels; adenology, the doctrine of the glands ; neurology, the doctrine of the nerves, &c. Anatomy, taken absolutely, ap plies only to the dissection of human subjects ; the dissection and examination of brutes is call ed Comparative Anatomy. It is a wonderful system, and a most interesting object of study. ANATOMY, HISTORY or. The science of anatomy was doubtless coeval with that of medicine, for the connexion between the two studies would naturally suggest to the inqui rer into the diseases of the human body, the necessity of becoming acquainted with its com ponent parts. In Egypt, the practice of embalm nig rendering it necessary to open the body, led them first to make observations on the structure of the human frame, which was afterwards en couraged by their kings, who ordered dead bodies to be regularly dissected for the perfec tion of the art ; but, judging from some speci mens which have been preserved of their ana tomical observations, the science did not make any considerable progress among them. There is, 'however, no doubt but they laid the founda tion, and the Greeks, who derived their ear liest information from them, enlarged the boundaries of the science by their researches. Hippocrates, who lived about 400 years before Christ, is the first who expressly wrote on this subject ; and the first anatomical dissection re corded was made by his friend Democritus, of Abdcra. In Aristotle's works there are many minute particulars on this subject, which show that he had made the animal body his particular study. From the Greeks this sci-, am, after an interval of several centuries, passed again into Egypt, where, by the fosterH ing care of the Ptolemies, it was revived, and Made great advances. Erastratus, the pupil and friend of Theophrastus and Herophilus,I laid the foundation of the famous school of anatomy at Alexandria, which was for many centuries in such high repute, that no one was supposed qualified for the medical art who had not studied at Alexandria. Herophilus is said to have dissected not less than 700 bodies, and among the rest some living subjects, but probably, as such a monstrous piece of cruelty must have defeated its own purpose, this lat ter part of the story is only an exaggeration. The Romans learnt from the Greeks the sci ence of anatomy, as they did most other arts and sciences ; for the first rudiments were taught to them by Archagathus, a Greek phy sician, who first established himself at Rome, and afterwards by Asclepiades, who flourished in the time of Pompey, and gained such repute, that he was looked upon as a second Hippo crates. He was succeeded by Cassius, who was supposed to be the disciple of Asclepiades, Celsus, Rufus, Pliny, Cceliue Aurelianus, and Aratteus, whose works abound with anatomi cal observations, and prove although their researches were not deep, their attention was drawn towards the subject. This is also still more evident from the works of Galen, who, in point of accuracy and minuteness of detail, surpassed all that went before him, and also all that followed him, until within the last three centuries. The Arabians and Saracens, on
the decline of the empire, took the place of the Greeks and Romans in the cultivation of the sciences, but as by the tenets of their religion they were prohibited from touching dead bodies, and consequently could not practise dis section, they were obliged to content themselves with commenting upon Galen. To effect this object, we find that Abdollatiph, a teacher of anatomy in the thirteenth century, examined and demonstrated the structure of the bones by going to the burying grounds ; and by that means he detected some errors in Galen. Al though the Europeans were not under the same restrictions, yet during the middle ages it is certain that the science of anatomy made no advances. The best treatise then extant, which gained the author great repute, and was the standard book in the schools, was that of Mundinus, which appeared in 1315, yet this was nothing but an abstract of Galen. On the expulsion of the Moors, the prejudice against dissection abated, and copies of the Greek au thors having found their way into Europe af ter the sacking of Constantinople, the study of anatomy revived considerably in the fifteenth 'century. Among the Italians, Achillinus, Be nedictus, Berengarius, and Massa, added to the stock of anatomical knowledge by disco-. veries of their own from dissections. But the most distinguished names among the anato mists of that period, are those who flourished in the following century, namely, Yesalius, a native of Brussels, Sylvius, in France, Colum bus, Fallopius, and Eustachius, in Italy, who, contrary to the practice of Galen, drew their ebeerritions from the henna body, rather than from that of the brutes. Vegalins gave the names to the muscles, most of which are retained to this day. Gabriel Farlopins, in his treatise entitled Anatomirte, published in 1561, improved upon the de scriptions of Visalia:I. The Oposcula Anato., mica of Bartholormeus Eistachins, published in 1563, have ever been admired for the cur-1 rectness and exactness of their descriptions., His plates, which were intended for a large! work on the subject, were not' until 150 years after, when, teil found in an old cabinet, they were edited by Lanchi, the pope's physician, who added a that explanatory teat, because that of &rata chi= could not be found. The next in the list of di 'wed anatomists meet be reckon el NV. Harvey, who after having studied in Italy under Fanjet= ab Aquapendeme, was led by the writings of his master to coosider the manner in which the blood was circulated over the whole body, and the offices of the se veral vessels. Pabricina published an account of the valves which he discorered in the veins_ This disxnery affected the established doc trine of all ages, that the wan' s carried the blood from the liver to all parts of the body for nourishment; and Haney was led by this to consider more narrowly the functions of the heart and the vascular system. The result of his investigation was, that the heart is the grand reservoir of the blood, that the arteries, which had hitherto been considered as air ves sels, were the channels by which it was con veyed to all parts of the body, and the wins were the channels teLichich it was carried back to the heart. His doctrine at first met with considerable opposition, but farther re searches put it at length beyond all question, and led to ether di length of considerable importance. The lacteals, or vessels which carry the chyle to the inteens., disco vered by As elms, an Italian; the thoracic duct by in 1651 ; the lymphatics by Thomas Bartholine, a Danish anatomist; be sides numerous other discoveries which were made by the help of magnifyieg glasses. These were into use by Mal after by laurenms Benham, a ' anatomist of Italy, Swammerdam, Van Horn, De Graaf, and other Dutch anatomists, parti ndarly Antonius Liewenhoeck, of Delft, who improved on Malpighi's use of microscopes, and suite dad in discovering &boles In the blood, animeicuks in the semen, and many ether particulars which had hitherto escaped notice From this time the sdence of anatomy made prodigious advances towards acemacy, ao that each particular part has furnished matter for the labours of celebrated anatomists The ken esof the bones have been given in four large folio volumes, by Albinos, Chesel den, Trews, those of the muscles are given in two large folios, by Cowper and Al binna, the honer of which are particularly ad mired for their correct:mess. Haller has pub= fished a folio on the blood vessels; Dr. Ihm ro, junior, on the nerves; AlliMus, &Mere, and Hunter, on the gravid uterus; Wehrecht and others,ort the joints and fresh boner; Soma on the brain; Zinn an the eye; Comn nine Mickel, junior, and others, on the ear; Waker on the DerieS of the thorax and abdo men; Munro on the bums mimes; besides the several systems of anatomy from the pet= of Maims, Cheselden, Hunter, Munro, Douglas, Pik, Winslow, 'Sze.