ANATOMY. 
and makes thousands of the very minute 
ones visible, which from their delicacy, and 
the transparency of their natural contents, 
are otherwise imperceptible. The modern 
art of corroding the fleshy parts with a 
menstruum, and of leaving the moulded 
wax entire, is so exceedingly useful, and 
at the same time so ornamental, that it does 
great honour to the ingenious inventor, Dr. 
Nichols. The method of casting figures in 
wax, plaister, or lead is also a great acqui- 
sition to anatomy, as it enables us to pre- 
serve a very perfect likeness of such sub- 
jects as we but seldom meet with, or can- 
not w ell preserve in a natural state. The 
modem improved methods of preserving 
animal bodies, or parts of them, in spirits, 
has been of the greatest service to anatomy ; 
especially in saving the time and labour of 
the anatomist, in the nicer dissections of the 
small parts of the body. For now, whatever 
he has prepared with care, he can preserve, 
and the object is ready to be seen at any 
time. And, in the same manner, he can 
preserve anatomical curiosities and rarities 
of every kind ; such as parts that are un- 
commonly farmed ; parts that are diseased ; 
the parts of the pregnant uterus, and its 
contents. Large collections of such curio- 
sities, which modern anatomists are striving 
every where to procure, are of infinite ser- 
vice to the art ; especially in the hands of 
teachers. They give students clear ideas 
about many things, which it is very essential 
to know, and yet which it is impossible that 
a teacher should be able to shew otherwise, 
were he ever so well supplied with fresh 
subjects. 
When anatomy had thus become a clear 
and distinct science, it was inculcated and 
taught, in the different nations of Europe, 
by numerous professors, with a zeal and in- 
dustry highly honourable to themselves, 
and useful to mankind. As the prejudices 
of mankind respecting dissection have in a 
great measure subsided, the difficulties 
which formerly obstructed anatomical re- 
searches have mostly disappeared, and a 
sufficient quantity of subjects for anatomi- 
cal purposes can generally be procured. In 
most, perhaps in all, the countries of the 
continent of Europe, the government has 
provided for the wants of anatomists in this 
particular. In England, however, it still 
remains a matter of considerable difficulty 
and expense to procure the means of in- 
struction in practical anatomy ; and accord- 
ingly while foreigners have been enriching 
science with many splendid works, the name 
of one Englishman cannot for many years 
past be recorded in the annals of anatomy. 
We wish we could announce to our readers 
any prospect of a change in this respect ; 
but here literature and science are left to 
themselves, and must advance unaided by 
the patronage of government, or hot ad- 
vance at all. 
It would occupy us too long to detail the 
labours and discoveries of all the eminent 
men, who have immortalized themselves in 
anatomy during the last century. We may 
state generally, that every part of the hu- 
man body has been most thoroughly and 
minutely examined and described ; and ac- 
curate and elegant engravings have appear- 
ed of every part. So that a student in 
these days possesses every facility for the 
prosecution of his anatomical labotus. The 
bones and muscles have been most ele-V 
gantly represented and described by Albi- 
nus, Cheselden, Sue, and Cowper. The 
vascular system has been illustrated by a 
splendid work of the immortal Haller. 
Walker and Meckel of Berlin, and Scarpa 
at Pavia, have bestowed equal, or even su- 
perior diligence in tracing the distribution 
of the most important nerves, and repre- 
senting them in faithful engravings. Mr. 
Cruikshank distinguished himself by an ex- 
cellent book on the absorbing system ; and 
Mascagni has lately given to the public a 
most elaborate account of the absorbing 
vessels, with very splendid plates. Dr. 
Hunter, to whom anatomy owes more in 
this country, than to any individual, has 
published a complete history, with beautiful 
explanatory engravings, of the growth of 
the human ovum, and of the changes which 
the uterus undergoes after the ovum has 
been received into its cavity. His brother, 
Mr. John Hunter, also demands mention in 
this place, as an accurate and minute dis- 
sector, and a patient experimentalist. Fie 
surveyed in his researches the whole field 
of animated nature; and greatly promoted 
the science of physiology. He formed also 
the grandest and most beautiful anatomical 
cabinet in Europe; and this precious trea- 
sure has now passed into the hands of the 
Royal College of Surgeons in London. The 
structure of the brain has been represented 
with unrivalled elegance by Vicq D’Azyr, 
a French anatomist, in a folio volume of 
coloured plates, which we hesitate not to 
applaud as a chef d’oeuvre of anatomical 
science, and a most splendid monument of 
the arts. Some parts of this most important 
organ, have also been illustrated by the la- 
