ANATOMY. 



more of themselves ; especially as curiosi- 

 ty and self-love would urge them power- 

 fully to observation and reflection. 



The brute creation having 1 such an af- 

 finity to man, in outward form, motions, 

 senses, and ways of life, the generation of 

 the species, and the effect of death upon 

 the body, being observed to be so nearly 

 the same in both, the conclusion was not 

 only obvious, but unavoidable, that their 

 bodies were formed nearly upon the same 

 model. The opportunities of examining 

 the bodies of brutes were so easily procu- 

 red, indeed so necessarily occurred in the 

 common business of life, that the hunts- 

 man in making use of his prey, the priest 

 in sacrificing, the augur in divination, 

 and, above all, the butcher, or those who 

 might out of curiosity attend his opera- 

 tions, would have been daily adding to 

 the little stock of anatomical knowledge. 

 Accordingly we find, in fact, that the 

 South-sea islanders, who have been left to 

 their own observation and reasoning, with- 

 out the assistance of letters, have yet a 

 considerable share of rude or wild anato- 

 mical and physiological knowledge When 

 Omai was in Dr. Hunter's museum, al- 

 though he could not explain himself intel- 

 ligibly, it appeared plainly that he knew 

 the principal parts of the body, and 

 something likewise of their uses, and ma- 

 nifested a great curiosity, or desire, of 

 naving the functions of the internal parts 

 of the body explained to him ; particular- 

 ly the relative functions of the two sexes, 

 which, with him, seemed to be the most 

 interesting object of the human mind. 

 The poems of Homer likewise shew us 

 that many facts were popularly known in 

 his time ; he probably possessed the gene- 

 ral information on the subject. The fol- 

 lowing passages display a knowledge of 

 some of the internal parts of the body : 



" Antilochus, as Thoon turn'd him round, 



Transpierc'd his back with a dishonest 

 wound. 



The hollow vein that to the neck ex- 

 tends, 



Along the chine, his eager jav'lin rends." 

 Iliad, b. 13. 



The stone, which Diomed threw at JEneas, 

 is said to have broken the acetabulum, and 

 to have torn both the ligaments which 

 connect the thigh in its situation. These 

 particulars are not mentioned in Mr.Pope's 

 translation, we therefore cite the original : 



' xorvv JV re 



01 

 revovrg 



II. 5. 1. 305. 



From the sources which have been just 

 enumerated was derived the anatomical 

 knowledge of early times. This know- 

 ledge was general or popular. Anatomy, 

 properly so called, viz. the knowledge 

 of the structure of the body, obtained by 

 dissections expressly instituted for that 

 purpose, is of much more recent origin. 



Civilization and improvement of every 

 kind would naturally begin in fertile coun- 

 tries and healthful climates, where there 

 would be leisure for reflection, and an ap- 

 petite for amusement. It seems now to 

 be clearly made out, that writing, and ma- 

 ny other useful and ornamental inventions 

 and arts, were cultivated in the eastern 

 parts of Asia,long before the earliest times 

 that are treated of by the Greek or other 

 European writers ; and that the arts and 

 learning of those eastern people were, in 

 subsequent times, gradually communica- 

 ted to adjacent countries, especially by 

 the medium of traffic. The customs, su- 

 perstitions, and climates of eastern coun- 

 tries, appear, however, to have been as 

 unfavourable to practical anatomy, as they 

 were inviting to the study of astronomy, 

 geometry, poetry, and all the softer arts 

 of peace. In those warm climates, animal 

 bodies run so quickly into nauseous putre- 

 faction, that the early inhabitants must 

 have avoided such offensive employments 

 as anatomical inquiries, like their posteri- 

 ty at this day. And, in fact, it does not ap- 

 pear, by the writings of the Grecians, Jews, 

 or Phoenicians, that anatomy was particu- 

 larly cultivated by any of those nations. 



The progress of anatomy in the early 

 ages of the world was more particularly 

 prevented by a very generally prevalent 

 opinion, that the touch of a dead body 

 communicated a moral pollution. When 

 we consider the extent and inveteracy of 

 this prejudice, we shall cease to wonder 

 at the imperfect state of anatomical know- 

 ledge in the periods now under review. 

 The practice of embalming the bodies of 

 the dead did not at all reconcile the Egyp- 

 tians to dissections. The person who made 

 the incision, through which the viscera 

 were removed, immediately ran away, fol- 

 lowed by the imprecations and even vio- 

 lence of the bye-standers, who considered 

 hjm to have violated the body of a friend. 

 The ceremonial law of the Jews was very 

 rigorous in this respect. To touch seve 



