THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 223 



of his nativity, his countrymen erecting a monument to his memory. 

 Aristotle may be justly styled the founder of zootomy, the anatomy 

 of animals. His writings, subsequent to his death, suffered a rather 

 changeable destiny : they fell at first into the hands of his heirs ; 

 then they were buried and barely escaped destruction from decay 

 and worms ; afterward they were conveyed to Athens, and finally to 

 Rome by the Romans on the capture of Athens, and from there 

 they have been dispersed over the world, but not without many 

 falsifications and changes." * 



His anatomical descriptions^ so far as they had reference to 

 man, were limited to topographical descriptions of the external 

 parts ; the formation of the internal was, as he himself says, little 

 known, but they were described according to analogy, from the ex- 

 aminations of similar organs in the lower animals. He describes 

 the brain and its membranous surroundings, as well as its ventri- 

 cles, cavities ; also the optic nerves in their passage from the brain 

 to the eye ; on the other hand, he denied any connection between 

 the brain and the ear ; he describes also the larynx, uvula, epiglot- 

 tis, the trachea and its bifurcations in the lungs, also the Eustachian 

 tubes, but had an incorrect idea with reference to the connection 

 between the heart and lungs ; he described the oesophagus, and 

 its passage into the stomach, as well as the extension of the latter 

 to the intestines; also the epiploon and mesenterium. Notwith- 

 standing much study, it was impossible for him to come to any defi- 

 nite conclusions with reference to the vascular system ; he looked 

 upon the heart as the center of the vessels, but described only three 

 cavities in that organ, missing the septum between the auricles ; 

 he notices the aorta and vena cava, as well as the main arteries 

 and veins of the head and neck ; also the diaphragm, liver, gall- 

 bladder, kidneys, and their pelvis, the ureters and veins of the kid- 

 neys, the urinary bladder and urethra, the testicles and their vessels, 

 as well as the same organs in the female, and the uterus. It is 

 doubtful, however, if he knew of the relation of the secretion of 

 the kidneys to the bladder, or of the organ at present considered as 

 the rudimentary male uterus. 



Aristotle had very imperfect ideas of the circulation : the blood 

 was generated in the heart and from there dispersed over the organ- 

 ism ; it sprang, coagulated, out of the vessels, and was of variable 

 color. The respiration served as a cooler to the organism — its or- 

 gans are the lungs and gills ; his incorrect idea of the connection 



* Schraeder-nering, " Bibliograph. Lexicon f. Thierarzte," p. 16. 

 f Aubert and Wiuimer, "Aristotle's Thierkunde," Leipsic, 1868. 



