HISTORY OF ZOOLOGY 9 



DEVELOPMENT OF MORPHOLOGY. 



Anatomists of Classic Antiquity. — Comparative anatomy — for this 

 chiefly concerns us here — for a long time owed its development to the 

 students of human anatomy. The disciples of Hippocrates studied 

 animal anatomy for the purpose of ol^taining an idea of human organiza- 

 tion from the structure of other mammals. The work of classical antiquity 

 most prominent in this respect, the LIuman Anatomy of Galen (131-201 

 A.D.), is based chielly upon observations upon dogs, monkeys, etc.; for 

 in ancient times, and even in the Middle Ages, there was repugnance to 

 making the human cadaver a sul:)ject of study. 



Middle Ages. — The first thousand years, in which Christianity ruled 

 the mental life of the people, held to the writings of Galen and the works 

 of his commentators, and seldom took occasion to prove their correctness 

 by observations. With the ending of the Middle Ages the interest in 

 scientific research first made its way. 



Vesal (i 514-1564), the creator of modern anatomy, investigated the 

 human cadaver and pointed out numerous errors in Galen's writings 

 which had arisen through the extension to human anatomy of the dis- 

 coveries made upon other animals. By his corrections of Galen, Vesal 

 was drawn into controversy with his teacher, Sylvius, and with his 

 renowned contemporary Eustachius, which did much for the development 

 of comparative anatomy. At first animals were dissected only for the 

 purpose of disclosing the cause of Galen's mistakes, but later through a 

 zeal for facts. It was natural that vertebrates were first studied, since 

 they stand next to man in structure. Thus there appeared in the same 

 century with Vesal drawings of skeletons by Colter; the zootomical 

 writings of Fabricius ab Aquapendente, etc. 



Beginning of Zootomy. — But later attention was turned to insects 

 and molluscs, even to the echinoderms, coelenterates, and Protozoa. 

 Here three men who lived at the end of the seventeenth century deserve 

 mention, the Italian Malpighi and the Dutchmen Swammerdam and 

 Leeuwenhoek. The former's "Dissertatio de bombyce" was the pioneer 

 for insect anatomy, since by the discovery of the vasa Malpighii, the 

 heart, the nervous system, the trachere, etc., an extraordinary extension 

 of our knowledge was brought about. Of Swammerdam's writings 

 attention should be called to "The Bible of Nature," a work to which no 

 other of that time is comparable, since it contains discoveries of great 

 accuracy on the structure of bees, Mayflies, snails, etc. Leeuwenhoek, 

 finally, was most fortunate in the field of microscopic research. Besides 

 other things he studied especially the minute inhabitants of the fresh 

 waters, the 'infusion-animalcules.' 



