xxiv On Comparative ^Inatomy, and the 



consequence was, that Italy was the country in which human 

 and comparative anatomy was for a long time chiefly taught. 

 Upon the general diffusion of the spirit of inquiry in Eu- 

 rope, which continued to take place, the study of human and 

 comparative anatomy kept equal pace ; for nearly all those 

 eminent men who attended to one branch, were zealous in 

 the prosecution of the other. But the sixteenth century 

 may be considered as the Eera whence we must date the re- 

 vival of anatomical knowledge in general ,• during which, 

 we find among others that might be mentioned, the names 

 of Vesalius, Fallopius, Eustachius, and Fabricius,^ promi- 

 nent as teachers. The science was prosecuted with ad- 

 ditional spirit in the succeeding century, after the doctrine 

 of the circulation of the blood had been taught by Harvey 

 in London ; and more especially after his publication of the 

 great discovery in 1628, when a new field was opened, from 

 which both branches of our subject derived important bene- 

 fits, by the new stimulus to experiment which it excited, and 

 by enabling medical men to illustrate many points, before 

 inexplicable, relative to the animal economy. In the course 

 of the 17th, and the early part of the 18th century, the 

 world was favoured with the labours of Grew,« Willis,^ Ty- 

 son,« Collins,^ Lower,io Keill, and others in England ,• Pey- 

 er," in Switzerland ,• De Graaf,i2 Leewenhoek,i3 Blazius,!-* 

 Swammerdam,i5 Ruysch,!^ Steno, and others in Germany 

 and the Netherlands ; Rudbecki^ in Sweden ; and Bartho- 

 linens in Denmark ; Bellini, Valisneri, Malphigi,!^ and Redi, 

 in Italy; Casserius,2o Perrault, G.J. Duverney,^! and others, 

 in France. The collection of facts made by the foregoing 

 anatomists was great, no complete system however was 

 formed, until about the middle and latter end of the last 

 century, when the observations of preceding authors were 

 arranged, and the science was prosecuted with new ardour. 

 We were then favoured with the discoveries of D'Auben- 

 ton,22 the friend and coadjutor of the Count de Buffon, in 

 his great work on natural history, and Vic D'Azyr,23 in 



