AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 53 



tinctly treated In books : let not, .however, this unnatural 

 separation lead you into the error of viewing the vital ma- 

 nifestations as something independent of the organization 

 in which they occur. Bear in mind, that every organ has 

 its living phenomena and its use, and that the chief ultimate 

 object, even of anatomy, is to learn the nature of the 

 function : — on the other hand, that every action of a living 

 being must have its organic apparatus. There is no diges- 

 tion without an alimentary cavity; no biliary secretion 

 without some kind of liver ; no thought without a brain. 



To talk of life as independent of an animal body — to 

 speak of a function without reference to an appropriate 

 organ — is physiologically absurd. It is in opposition to the 

 evidence of our senses and rational faculties : it is looking 

 for an effect without a cause. We might as reasonably 

 expect daylight while the sun is below the horizon. What 

 should we think of abstracting elasticity, cohesion, gravity, 

 and bestowing on them a separate existence from the bodies 

 in which those properties are seen ? 



Haller, the father and founder of modern physiology, 

 has furnished us the best example, both for the method of 

 cultivating the subject, and of treating it in writing. He 

 had devoted thirty years to the dissection of human bodies 

 and those of animals, and to observation and every variety 

 of experimental research, before he began to compose his 

 Elementa FhysiologicB. In this matchless work, a full 

 anatomical description of every organ, drawn from his own 

 dissections, precedes the history of its functions. I know 

 no anatomical descriptions superior to these ; none deserv- 

 ing more implicit confidence. To regard this work as a 

 mere register of opinions has always appeared to me very 

 unjust : it contains new and accurate information on almost 

 every part of the subject. It is no slight proof of its merits, 

 that, although published in the middle of the last century, 

 it remains the book of authority ; and particularly in this 

 country, which is still destitute of original standard works 

 in anatomy and physiology. 



In impressing upon your minds the close connexion of 



