PREFACE 



TO THE 



FIRST EDITION. 



J.HE Council of the Royal College of Surgeons now present 

 to the public the fifth and last volume of the descriptive and 

 illustrated Catalogue of the Physiological series of Compa- 

 rative Anatomy contained in the Museum : thus completing an 

 important design, which Mr. Hunter was prevented from accom- 

 plishing by his sudden death. 



The primary objects of the Catalogue have been, to give a 

 clear and succinct description of each preparation, to determine 

 the species of animal or plant to which it belongs, to place it 

 rightly in the proper series, and thus to afford to the visitor of 

 the Museum every facility for studying and understanding this 

 important department of the collection. 



Before the formation of the present catalogue, the printed 

 works, from which information could be derived respecting the 

 physiological collection, consisted of the published writings of 

 Mr. Hunter, the subjoined Synopsis of the Hunterian collection, 

 and the Lectures on Comparative Anatomy by Sir Everard 

 Home. The latter profess to explain the Hunterian collection ; 

 but they contain descriptions of a small number only of the 

 preparations, and these descriptions are unaccompanied by any 

 reference to the particular specimens. 



