A TREATISE ON ANIMALS, 



IN THREE BOOKS 1 . 



BOOK I. 



Of the Structure and Composition oe Animal Bodies. 



CONTENTS. 



Chap. I. Introduction. 



Chap. II. Of the Bones, Cartilages, and Ligaments. 



Chap. III. Of the Muscles and Tendons. 



Chap. IV. Of the Heart, Blood-vessels, and Lungs. 



Chap. V. Of the Brain, Medulla Spinalis, and Nerves. 



Chap. VI. Of the Stomach and Intestines. 



Chap. VII. Of the Organs of Secretion. 



Chap. VIII. Of the Organs of External Sensation. 



Book I. Chap. I. — Introduction. 



People who stand up for antiquity, and want to carry all knowledge 

 as far hack as the first teachers, which knowledge really does not 

 helong to them, instead of raising their character rather injure it. They 

 are obliged to strain points, wrest meanings, and collect different pas- 

 sages of such authors which are most to their purpose ; and, after all, 

 they make it but very imperfect. Now, if the ancients really under- 

 stood any piece of knowledge that we look upon as modern, and if 

 their account be really so dark and imperfect that there is no under- 

 standing them without previously understanding the subject, it shows 

 that they were much more stupid in not transmitting to us intelligibly 

 what they knew, than if they had not understood the subject at all. 

 This, however, is not the ancient way of writing ; for, whatever they 

 understood themselves, they have recorded it to us in a plain per- 

 spicuous manner, which is much to their honour. 



Let us consider how we are to judge whether a branch of knowledge 

 be ancient or modern. First, let a man that knows nothing of the 



1 [This is, apparently, the outline sketch of the anatomical part of the great 

 work on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, the materials for which form the 

 Hunterian Museum in the Royal College of Surgeons of England.] 



2b 



