14 Anatomy and Physiology 



Art. IV. A familiar Treatise on the Anatomy and Physiology of 

 the Organs of Vision in Man and other Animals. By B. S. 



Sir, 



Your article on the " use of the botanic microscope" 

 (Vol. III. p. 184.) has induced me to put together the follow- 

 ing extracts from my own private journal. Should you agree 

 with me that they might prove useful towards promoting a 

 taste for natural history, by turning the attention of beginners 

 to anatomical pursuits (without some knowledge of which no 

 one can become a naturalist), or by assisting them in the ma- 

 nagement of the microscope, I feel sure you will not grudge 

 the space which the paper w^ill occupy. The prevailing taste 

 for natural history has fortunately dispelled that dread which 

 was at one time prevalent at the bare idea of anatomical in- 

 vestigation as a rational amusement ; but even now there are 

 some who are of opinion that these pursuits lead to hypo- 

 chondriasis, and that many individuals are thus worked up to 

 imagine themselves attacked by every disease to " which flesh 

 is heir," and hence become the prey of designing quacks, and 

 allow themselves to be made the receptacles of all the elixirs, 

 pills, lotions, and God knows what other nameless compounds 

 (some harmless, some dangerous — all expensive), which every 

 nostrum-monger and dealer in superior advice concocts, ad- 

 vertises, and dispenses, solely for the good of the public, of 

 course. I am quite of a contrary opinion : the charlatan dreads 

 the idea of his expected victim gaining any knowledge of the 

 structure of that frame into which all his stuff is poured, lest 

 his own ignorance should be discovered, and his trade fail. 

 Natural history is one of the best means of dispelling the dis- 

 ease called the vapours, as it tends to withdraw the mind from 

 brooding over fancied ills, and promotes healthy bodily exer- 

 cise. Whoever, indeed, takes the most cursory view of the 

 natural objects which surround him, cannot but observe that, 

 however much they may differ in figure, structure, dimension, 

 temperature, and their component parts, each has its own espe- 

 cial office to perform in the vast and beautiful economy of the 

 universe ; that nothing is without its use, from the greatest to 

 the most minute substance ; and, lastly, that all these tend, 

 either directly or remotely, to the comfort, the welfare, and 

 the happiness of mankind. I do not, therefore, apprehend 

 that any body who peruses the outline of the construction of 

 the eye, in a state of health, will rise from the perusal with 

 any great sensations of approaching Blejphar ophthalmia^ or any 

 other sesquipedalian complaint. 



Every part of every object which surrounds us sends off 



