THE COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



OF THE 



DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



DEFINITION AND DIVISIONS OP ANATOMY. 



Anatomy is the science of organization ; it studies the structure of animals 

 when these are dead. It comprises two grand divisions — physiological anatomy^ 

 which describes healthy organs, and pathological anatomy, the object of which is 

 the description of diseased organs. 



Physiological anatomy, which alone is treated of in this book, in its turn 

 embraces — 



1. General anatomy, which is occupied with similar substances or tissues of 

 the animal body, with regard to their texture, and their physical, chemical, and 

 physiological properties, irrespective of the organs in which these tissues are 

 found. The particular study of the anatomical elements entering into the 

 composition of the tissues, is named histology. Histology necessarily requires 

 the aid of the microscope. 



2. Descriptive anatomy, which studies the situation, form, and relations of 

 organs, as well as the relative arrangement of the various tissues composing 

 them, with the exception of the structure and properties of these tissues. 



If this study be devoted to a single species, it is designated special anatomy. 

 Example : human anatomy, or anthropotomy ; the anatomy of the Horse, or 

 hippotomy. 



When descriptive anatomy embraces the study of the organization of the 

 entire animal kingdom, and examines the differences which characterize the same 

 organ or the same series of organs in each class, family, genus, or species, it is 

 named comparative anatomy. Restricted to the domesticated animals, this study 

 constitutes veterinary anatomy. 



Philosophical or transcendental anatomy differs from comparative anatomy, 

 in that it indicates the analogies of organs or apparatus, rather than their 

 differences, in order to exhibit as clearly as possible the general laws of 

 organization. 



Finally, if descriptive anatomy be limited to denoting the relations existing 

 between the various organs of a region, particularly with a view to the perform- 

 ance of operations and the diagnosis of external diseases, it takes the names of 

 topographical, regional, or surgical anatomy. 



