PART I. 



A GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF THE STRUCTURE 

 OF THE RABBIT. 



DIVISIONS AND METHODS. 



Biology, the science or study of living organisms, includes 

 several related sciences, the chief of which are Anatomy, the study 

 of organized structure ; Physiology, the study of function ; and 

 Embryology, the study of development. Anatomy, or Com.- 

 parative Anatomy, the latter referring to the comparative study 

 of organisms, and Embryology are also considered either as 

 divisions, or as practical methods, of Morphology, the general 

 science of the evolution of form. 



The term "Anatomy" was originally applied to the dissection or 

 study of the human body, and is still considered as referring more 

 especially to the latter. Even in the early stages of biological 

 science, however, the use of the term was extended to organisms 

 generally; and afterwards, chiefly as a result of the introduction 

 of the microscope as a new method of examining structure, it 

 attained its present comprehensiveness as a term applying to the 

 study of structure generally. 



It has been fotind convenient, especially in human anatomy, to 

 distinguish as Gross Anatomy, the study of that kind of structure 

 which is displayed by dissection, or is revealed by naked-eye 

 appearances, and as Microscopic Anatomy, the study of finer 

 structure through the application of the microscope; or, again, to 

 distinguish as Special or Descriptive Anatomy, the study of the 

 particular features of the organs of the body, and as General 

 Anatomy, the study of its more fundamental composition. General 

 Anatomy is practically equivalent to Histology, the latter con- 

 sidering the body from the point of view of the structure and 

 arrangement of its cells and tissues. 



These distinctions are of interest in the present case chiefly as 

 defining more exactly the practical method and the kind of structure 



