ANATOMY. 
the origin and progress of anatomical science, 
we shall give a general description of the 
component parts of the human body, aiid 
their functions ; and proceed in the last 
place to the more particular enumeration 
and description of the various organs. 
HISTORY OF ANATOMY. 
The want of records leaves us in the dark, 
with regard to the origin of this art; yet it 
is reasonable to conclude, that, like most 
other arts, it had no precise beginning. The 
nature of the thing would not admit of its 
lying for a time altogether concealed, and of 
being suddenly brought to light, either by 
chance, or genius, or industry. 
All the studies and arts which are neces- 
sary in human life, are so interesting and ob- 
vious, that man in every situation has always 
by instinct and common sense turned his 
thoughts to them, and made some progress 
in the cultivation of them. To talk seriously 
of the invention of agriculture, architecture, 
astronomy, navigation, mechanics, physic, 
surgery, or anatomy, by some particular 
man, or in one particular country, or at a 
time subsequent to some prior aira, would 
be to discover great ignorance of human na- 
ture. We might just as well suppose, that 
till a certain period of time, man was with- 
out instinctive appetites, and without obser- 
vation and reflection, and that in a happy 
hour he found out the art of supporting life 
by taking food. All such arts, in a less or 
more cultivated state, were from the begin- 
ning, and ever will be found in all parts of 
the inhabited world. 
The first men who lived, must soon have 
acquired some notions of the structure of 
their own bodies, particularly of the exter- 
nal parts, and of some even of the infernal, 
such as bones, joints, and sinews ; which are 
exposed to the examination of the senses in 
the living body. 
This rude knowledge was indeed gra- 
dually improved by the accidents to which 
the body is exposed, by the necessities of 
life, and by the various customs, ceremonies, 
and superstitions of different nations. Thus, 
the observance of bodies killed by violence, 
attention to wounded men, and to many 
diseases, the various ways of putting crimi- 
nals to death, the funeral ceremonies, and a 
variety of such things, must have shewn 
men, every day, more and more of them- 
selves ; especially as curiosity and self-love 
would urge them powerfully to observation 
and reflection. 
The brute -creation having such an affi- 
nity to man, in outward form, motions, 
senses, and ways of life ; the generation of 
tiie 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. 
Ihe opportunities of examining the bo- 
dies of brutes were so easily procured; in- 
deed so necessarily occurred in the common 
business of life, that the huntsman in mak- 
ing 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 operations, 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, 
without the assistance of letters, have yet 
a considerable share of rude Tor wild ana- 
tomical and physiological knowledge. When 
Omai was in Dr. Hunter’s museum, al- 
though he could not explain himself intelli- 
gibly, it appeared plainly that he knew the 
principal parts of the body, and something 
likewise of their uses, and manifested a 
great curiosity, or desire of having the func- 
tions of the internal parts of the body ex- 
plained to him; particularly 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 po- 
pularly knowm in his time ; lie probably 
possessed the general information on the sub- 
ject. The following passages display a know- 
ledge 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 /Eneas, 
is said to have broken the acetabulum, and 
to have torn both the ligaments which con- 
nect the thigh in its situation. These parti- 
culars are not mentioned in Mr. Pope’s 
translation, we therefore cite the original : 
Tw (2a\tv Aiyaxo xcvt fyvtx T£ 
l^rifog 
wrfsQnx.1- xotuAw )s n xk- 
Ae ucn' 
©AstCCTE rJE ot KOTUXYiy) 'crpoj 
teSwte. II. 5. 1. 305. 
