134 REPORT — 1875. 



Anatomy and Phtsioloqt. 



Address to the Department of Anatomy and Physloloriy . 

 By Professor Cleland, M.D., F.R.S., Vice-President of the Section. 



I shall not venture to occupy the time of the Section with any rSsutne of the 

 work done in Anatomy and Physiology during the past year, as such information 

 is readily accessible in the pages of journals and year-books. I shall content myself 

 with making some comments on the condition of Anatomy at the present time in a 

 few important particulars. 



I had intended to speak also of some subjects connected with Physiology ; but I 

 find that I cannot do so without lengthening my remarks to a greater extent than 

 might be desirable. I shall be content, therefore, so far as that science is concerned, 

 to mention that, although Experimental Physiology is probably less cultivated in 

 this country than in any other in wliich Biology is studied, it has been practically 

 decided by Parliament that it is quite time to put some check on investigation in 

 that direction ; for, as every one knows, a Royal Commission has been appointed 

 to inquii'e into vivisection. In the scientific world all are agreed, whatever 

 opinions may prevail in other sections of the commimity, that the man who would 

 wantonly inflict pain on a brute beast is himself a brute, and deserving to be 

 roughly handled ; and because there is no difference of opinion on that subject, and 

 because no experimental science can well prosper if one man is to judge for another 

 what experiments are justifiable to institute or to repeat, or are likely to give im- 

 portant results, I do deplore the clamour which well-meaning persons have raised, 

 and regret that it has been so far yielded to. 



In Anatomy the most important progress in recent years has been made in those 

 departments which abut most closely on Physiology, namely, the microscopy of the 

 tissues and development. The whole conception of the nutrition of the body has 

 become altered in comparatively recent years by the additions to our knowledge of 

 the nucleated corpuscles, which are the living elements of which it is composed ; 

 and principally by the recognition of the secondary nature of cell-walls, the close 

 connexion or even continuity of the nerves with other textures, and the identity of 

 the white coi-puscles of the blood with amoeboid or undifferentiated corpuscles out- 

 side the vessels. The origin of every living corpuscle from corpuscles preexisting 

 is no longer difficult to imagine, but may, I incline to think, be almost looked on 

 as proved. The history of each may be traced back through conjugated germs to 

 the corpuscles of preceding generations in uninterrupted succession, and the pedigi-ee 

 of the structural elements is seen to differ in no way from that of individual plants 

 or animals. It is true, indeed, that no absolute proof exists that new li-siug cor- 

 puscles originating by mere deposit are not added to the others ; but the evidence 

 aoainst such a thing taking place is exactly of the same description as that which 

 exists against spontaneous generation of independent organisms, namely, that things 

 previously unexplained by the theory of parentage are explained now, while, on 

 the other hand, there is no sufficient evidence of the origin of life by any other 

 mode. _ . 



The advance of Plistology in recent years is owing in part to the facility of ob- 

 taining good microscopes at moderate prices having brought the study within the 

 reach of a great and increasing crowd of observers. At first the progress of His- 

 tology was influenced by the steps of improvement in the manufactiure of micro- 

 scopes ; but now, for a number of years back, we have been in possession of 

 instruments thoroughly suited for the investigation of tissues ; and I think it will 

 be generally admitted that the highest powers which have been manufactured are 

 not those which have advanced discovery most, or are most likely, in the present 

 state of science, to yield the richest hai-vest. We appear to be more dependent 

 now on new methods of preparation. Thus, if we go back for a considerable 

 number of years, we cannot but remember what a valuable addition glycerine 

 proved when it came first into use, and what a harvest of discovery followed the 

 introduction of chromic acid. More recently, the methods of transparent injec- 

 tion, of preparing sections by imbedding, the freezing of tissues, the use of carmine 



