Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/153

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ANA

A K A

in I7I5\ containing an account of almoft all the writers who have treated on Anatomy, cither exprefsly or occafionally, from Hippocrates to Harvey, wherein he gives neceflary par- ticulars relating to their Jives, enumerates the feveral edi- tions of their pieces, together with judgments or cenfures of many of them. It may be added, that Van Leempoel in 1725, gave a hiftory of the origin and progrefs of Anatomy, and almoft all the writers from Alcmeon to Vefalius inclu- sive*. He is fuller than Douglafs, both in the number of authors, and in the lives and merits of anatomifts, but more fparing in noting the editions, of which he only indicates the firft, referring the reader for the reft toVander Linden k ; b ut this work being only continued as low as Vefalius incluftve, " excepting that he gives an account of the life and merits of Harvey, many other good authors, who have published books on Anatomy iince Vefalius, are therein omitted. Of thefe an account has been given in a diiTertation exprefs by Frank '. The hiftory uf the difcoveries of the laft age has alfo been given by Heifter m — [s De Difciplina Anatomica, quo ortu cceperit, & quomodo fenfim au&a & ad pofteros tranfmifla fit. Noremb. 1513. h Hift. Anatomise nova sque acantiqua. Hake Madg. 1713. 8°. ! Bibliogr. Anatom. Spe- cim. five Catalog. Auctorum, &c. Lond. 1715. It. Lugd. Bat. 1734. 8°. k Anatomes Origo, Progreflus. &c. Ludg. Bat. Defcript. Med. ' Bona nova Anatomica, hoc eft noviter inventum per Anatomicorum accuratorum diligentiam. Hei- delb. 1680. 4 . m Oratio de incrementis Anatomise in hoc feculo 18. cum annexo program mate de inventis Anatomicis hujus feculi. Wolffenbut. 1720. 8°.]

The oldeft writings extant on Anatomy are thofe of Hippo- crates, who, tho' he only treats of the fubject occafionally and in part, has given fuch a multitude of obfervations re- lating to the ftructure of the body, that Riolanus has com- piled out of his fcattered pieces an intire fyftem of ofteology; and Burggravius a whole fyftem of all the branches of Ana- tomy. Vid. Burggr, Lex. in voc. Anatome. p. 672. How well he was acquainted with the Anatomy of the bones, appears from thofe excellent pieces on fractures and articula- tions, which could not have been compofed without a per* feci: knowledge of ofteology. To leave an eternal mo- nument of his labours in this kind, he confecrated a brazen ikeleton of admirable contrivance to Apollo of Delphi. Se- veral paffages occur in his writings, which feem to indicate as if he was not unacquainted with the circulation of the blood, and the fecretion of the animal fluids. Dr. Douglafs rehearfes the chief of them, as well as of thofe relating to the other points of Anatomy.

Ariftotle is cenfured by fome, as having never diflected him- felf, but related all things on the faith of other writers. Douglafs fhews that this cenfure is ill grounded, tho' he owns human directions were very rare at that time, and that Ariftotle borrowed many of his anatomical matters from Hip- pocrates. Vid. Dough Bibl. Anat. p. 9. feq. Galen, by general confent of writers, is the prince of ana- tomifts. By his early application, his unwearied affiduity, great fagacity, and penetration of mind, as well as dexte- rity of hand, he not only carried the art infinitely beyond what had been done by thofe before him, but even to that perfection wherein we find it at this day, abating only fome few difcoveries made by modern anatomifts. In reality, many of the difcoveries with which late writers plume themfelves, are due to him. Dr. Douglafs enumerates feveral of the difcoveries made by Galen in the ftrufture and ufe of the parts of the human body.

Some have objeaed to Galen, that he formed his defcrip- tions not on the human body, but on the bodies of brutes, particularly monkics, and that he never differed a man ; but this pbjeaion may be refuted from his own teftimony. In many places he exprefsly compares and notes the difference between the ftrudture of men and brutes. His chief enemies among the moderns, are, Vefalius and Fallopius ; his advo- cates Puteus and others. Put. Apologia in Anatome pro Ga- leno, contra And. Vefalium. Venet. 1562. 8°. Anatomy fufVered with the other fciences by the Invafions of the Goths and Vandals, and at length funk into total bar- barian"; from which it was reftored in the fourteenth cen- tury by Mundinus °, a Milanefe, who compofed rudiments of that art in the year 1315, which, notwithftanding the bar- barous ftyle wherein they are written, remain ftill in cfteem, and are the only fyftem now taught in fome of the princi- pal fchools in Italy. The ftatutes of the univerfity of Pa- dua exprefsly enjoin the profeffors to follow the text of Mun- dinus in their lectures and expositions. — [ n V. Friend. Hift. of Phyf. P. 2. p. 397. ° Anatome omnium humani corporis interiorum membrorum. Papize, 1478.] Some with Fallopius rather afcribe the honour of the reftora- tion of Anatomy to Jac, Berengarius, called alfo Carpus or Carpenfis, who lived 200 years after Mundinus. He fet out with commenting on that author, but afterwards wrote a much better book on the fubjecl, of his own ; in order to which he differed above one hundred bodies. Some have even charged him with the crime of Herophilus. 'Tia al- ledged that he bore an implacable hatred to the Spaniards j and that, having got fome of them into his cuftody, he in- Suppl. Vot. I.

tended to have proceeded to diflection, but his defigti being difcovered, he was banifhed. Others deny the charge, and give other reafons for his exile. Vid. Dougl, Bibliogr. A- nat. p. 58.

The honour of reforming Anatomy, and bringing it to its prefent perfection, is commonly afcribed to Vefalius, whofe inclination to this fcience was fo great, that, when a boy, he could not forbear diflecting moles, dormice, cats, and the like. As he grew up, his paflion increafed ; when bodies were wanting for fkeletons, he would fteal them even off the gibbets ; for which he was expelled Louvain, as he himfclf in- forms us. Bodies which he dug out of their graves, he would keep feveral weeks in his very bed-chamber. He publifhcd his famous work on the ftru&ure of the human body at twenty-eight years of age. He was chief phyficiaii to the emperor Ch. V. and Philip. II. of Spain ; but grow- ing weary of a court-life, he undertook a pilgrimage to Je- rufalem, and died in his return. The motive of this expedi- tion is attributed to his opening the body of a young Spaniard of quality, fuppofing him dead, whereas, when he came to the heart, he found it ftill beating. Others give a different account of his misfortunes.

It is certain Vefalius explained, illuftrated, and connected in- numerable paffages in the anatomical books of Galen, be- fides many new things firft difcovered by himfclf ; yet he has met with his cenfors. He has been charged with mining altogether with borrowed light : Cajus affirms, that he even corrupted Galen's text in an edition, the revifal of which had been committed to him by Aldus, that he might have the greater field for correction in his own work. Others tax him with miftaking, or at leaft impofing wrong and ima- ginary fentiments and conftructions on that author : Columbus with giving defcriptions of brutes for men, particularly the larynx, tongue, and eye of an ox ; and giving mufcles to the epiglottis, which belong only to brutes : Euftathius with de- ferring the kidney of a dog for a human kidney : Arantius with giving the pudendum of a. brute inftead of that of a Woman, for want of a fubject of this laft kind. Riolanus taxes his ftyle with being too figurative, and thus darkening the defcription of things in themfelves naturally obfeure enough, Dougl. Bibl. Anat. p. 80. feq*

The writers on Anatomy may be divided into fuch as either treat on the fubject profefledly or occafionally. Under the latter come phyficians, natural hiftorians, thofe who treat of human nature and of brutes. Among the profefled writers on Anatomy, fome treat of the whole fubject, others only of a part.

Under the latter come thofe who have treated of the Ana- tomy of the bones, of which we have an excellent treatife by Mr! Monro ; or of the mufcles, as Cowper ; of the head* asDryanderj of the ufes of the parts, as Galen, Hoffman andRudius ; of the names of the parts, asRufusEphefius and Camerarius; of the art of difledting, as Galen, Cappivacciu^, Hippolitus, Bofcus, and Lacuna ; Horftius on the art of pre- ferring carcaffes.

Among thofe who treat of the whole fubject of Anatomy, Winflow is moft defervedly efteemed. This author has been tranflated into Englifh by Dr. George Douglafs. We have alfo an excellent compendium of Anatomy by Heifter. The merit of Albinus's tables and of his writings is well known ; as is that of Mr. Chefelden ; fo that, after reading Heifter, Winflow, Monro and Chefelden, confulting the tables of Ve- falius and Albinus, a ftudent may, we believe, confider other books more as curious than necefiary.

Manget and Le Clerc, two phyficians of Geneva, have gi- ven us a bibliotheca anatomica, containing all the new dif- coveries that have been made in this art, but with many miftakes, the detecting of which has been undertaken by Morgagni, who has published feveral volumes with that view, under the title of Adverfaria Anatomica.

Anatomy is alfo ufed, in an improper fenfe, for the analyfis of mixt bodies. See Analysis.

In this fenfe the chemifts fometimes call their art fpagyricat Anatomy, Anatomic fpagyrka. Cajlel. Lex. Med. In which fenfe we fometimes fay the Anatomy of vitriol, the Anatomy of fulphur, the Anatomy of Rheniih wine, &c.

Anatomy is alfo ufed in a lefs proper fenfe, to denote the art of refolving compound bodies into Ample ones. In this fenfe any kind of compound body may be confidered as the object of Anato?ny ; that is, any body wherein there are divers parts joined together ; even the taking afimder an artificial, political, or moral being, may, in this fenfe, come under Anatomy.

Anatomy is alfo ufed figuratively, for an exact fearch or ex- amination of the parts of a difcourfe, bufmefs, or the like. In which fenfe we fay the Anatomy of a book, a doctrine, or the like. IVood. Ath. Oxon. T. 2. p. 101.

Anatomy of plants may be confidered as a branch of com- parative Anatomy, otherwife called Dendronaiomy. The parts of plants which come under anatomical confi- deration are, the root, wood, bark, pith, fruit, leaves, flowers, &c.

The Anatomy of vegetables is chiefly owing to the induftry

of Malpighi p and Dr. Grew q , tho* confiderably promoted

2 P alfo-