Diseases of Domestic Animals, xxi 



cd to be clean, and unclean, are particularly designated. 

 But Greece first distinguished itself among nations, in the 

 study of anatomy, as a science, as it did in the study and 

 practice of the fine arts; and Homer,^ by the familiar use 

 of several anatomical terms, and the mention of certain parts 

 of the body, and their connexion with each other, shows that 

 some knowledge of the structure of the human frame was 

 then extant. Pythagoras, after an extensive tour to India 

 and Egypt, brought to his native country, the knowledge on 

 all subjects to be acquired at that time, and of anatomy 

 among others, and disseminated it among his countrymen, 

 with great ardour. His pupils, Alcmeon and Empedoclcs, 

 but more especially Democritus of Abdera, extended the 

 fame of their master, and raised themselves to deserved emi- 

 nence among the philosophers of that day. Upon the suppo- 

 sition that all the disorders of the human body proceeded 

 from bile, he endeavoured to discover its origin and course, 

 and by the ardour of his pursuits, and consequent frequent 

 seclusion from the public, laboured under the imputation of 

 insanity, until the sage Hippocrates, who was sent to visit 

 him, discovered his retreat, and while he undeceived his fel- 

 low citizens, with respect to his mental derangement, did 

 ample justice to his industry and merits. 



Aris'totle, however, was the first scientific anatomist : he 

 enjoyed particular advantages under (lie patronage of his 

 pupil, Alexander the Great, who granted him a very large 

 sum of money, to purchase animals for dissection, and to de- 

 fray the expenses attending his studies. He did honour to 

 the munificence of his royal ^jatron, by hh attention to, and 

 improvement of the subject : his regular anatomical works 

 have "been lost, but he has given much comparative anatomy 

 in the first part of his treatise on animals, and he has form- 

 ed an anatomical nomenclature, which is in part still receiv- 

 ed. Without dwelling on the labours of Diodes of Carystus, 

 and of Praxagoras of Cos, I shall pass on to mention tlic 



