INTRODUCTION, 



1. The object of anatomy is the study of organized bo- 

 dies ; it is the science of organization, and all organized beings 

 are the subject of it. Man, the most complicated of all be- 

 ings, is the principal subject of this science. The special aim 

 of Anatomy, is the knowledge of the human body, of the 

 different parts of which it is composed, and of the relations of 

 these parts with respect to each other. 



Comparative anatomy, which might have been very well 

 called general anatomy, embraces all organized bodies; it has 

 for its object to seek, by comparison, which parts they possess 

 in common, and in what they differ from each other. Phy- 

 totomy is the general anatomy of vegetables, that of animals 

 is called Zootomy. Anatomy is still called general, when it 

 treats of a class, a genus, or of any group whatsoever of orga- 

 nized beings ; as for instance, that of domestic animals, or 

 veterinary anatomy. Special anatomy has for its object one 

 single species of organized bodies ; such is the anatomy of 

 the Elephant, Horse, Man, &c. 



In the anatomy of man, the expression general anatomy 

 has another acceptation, which will be mentioned hereafter ; 

 but we must first give a correct idea of organization in gene- 

 ral, and of the bodies which are endowed with it. 



SECTION I. 



OP ORGANIZED BODIES. 



2. The endless science, called Natural Philosophy, or 

 physics, the science of nature, treats of bodies which are ex- 



