146 Dr Craigie's Observations on the 



Straits, a circumstance rather to be wondered at, as the voy- 

 age must necessarily be less hazardous than that to Lancaster 

 Sound, since, according to Captain Parry, Fox Channel at the 

 head of the Straits is not only free from ice during summer, but 

 swarming with whales, unconscious of danger. This is certain- 

 ly a rich field for future adventure. The entrance to the Straits 

 is for the most part inaccessible till August, being hampei*ed 

 with icebergs driven about by the waves of the ocean ; these be- 

 come less numerous, and more insignificant, with the progress to 

 the westward, until they entirely disappear, when the chief ob- 

 struction lies in the floe ice, which had been formed in winter, 

 then in a state of rapid solution. 



Leith, Xov. 30. 1830. 



Observations on the History and Progress of Comparative 

 Anatomy. By David Ceaigie, M.D. &c. Communicated 

 by the Author *. 



Jr Ew sciences have undergone greater vicissitudes in their pro- 

 gressive advancement, than that of comparative or animal ana- 

 tomy. Originating at an earlier period than that of the human 

 frame, and cultivated as a substitute for it, both by the ancients 

 and also by some of the moderns, it fell under the contempt and 

 degradation which all misapplied departments of knowledge are 

 destined to incur. When at length prejudice began to subside, 

 and reflection taught anatomists that the knowledge of the struc- 

 ture of the lower animals, if kept in its proper place, and made 

 subsidiary to, but not substituted for, that of the human body, 

 may be not only free from harm, but productive of the greatest 

 benefits, it began to attract the attention of physiologists, and 

 to assume something like a definite rank among the natural 

 sciences. 



It may be observed, nevertheless, that on this subject a con- 

 siderable degree of misconception prevails, both generally, and 

 also amongst those whose pursuits require some knowledge of 



• Dr Craigie is author of Elements of General and Pathological Anatomy, 

 X827 ; joint Editor of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, and con- 

 ductor of the Anatomical department of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. — Edit. 



