ANATOMY

(From av«, through, and Ti[x.viu, 1 cut.) This term literally means di ection, but is generally understood to signify a knowledge of the internal structure of the human body, in the acquisition of which di ection is e entially nece ary. The anatomy of other animals is usually designated Comparative Anatomy; and that of plants. Vegetable Anatomy; which see. Although some anatomical knowledge must have been accidentally acquired by the earliest inhabitants of the III. His profe ional avocations now became so numerous and urgent, that he was obliged to take a partner in his lectures,.and for that purpose selected his pupil, William Hewson, who afterwards joined Mr. Cruickshank, two gentlemen whose names occupy no unimportant place in the history of practical and structural anatomy. In 1754 Dr. Hunter began his great and splendid work on the " Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus," which was not completed till 1775. This gave him a high rank among European anatomists, and foreign and domestic honours were abundantly conferred upon him in consequence; but It is to the establishment of his Museum, and School, that we are principally to look for the new impulse which was given to the study of anatomy in London, and for the celebrity which this metropolis has since Ynaintained. The account of the origin and progre of this Museum, therefore, deserves to be briefly recorded here. When Dr. Hunter had acquired a competent fortune, the result entirely of his high profe ional merit and unwearied diligence, he found wealth still pouring in upon him, and became desirous of applying this surplus to some great national purpose of public utility; and what more important or useful than "A Metropolitan School of Anatomy? " He accordingly, in the year 1765, during the administration of Mr. Grenville, presented a memorial to that minister, in which he requested the grant of an unemployed piece of ground near the King's Mews, at Charing Cro , for the site of his intended building; upon which he undertook to expend 7000/. and to endow a profe orship of anatomy in perpetuity. After waiting for some time without a reply, he renewed his request, or rather repeated his proposal; and his second application, which was even in more liberal terms than the former, shared the same supercilious treatment. Although disgusted, as he well might be, at this unaccountable neglect, he determined that the town in which he had acquired his wealth and reputation should not be without some useful and honourable memorial of his labours: he accordingly purchased a piece of ground in Great Windmill Street, near the Hay market, where he erected a spacious dwelling-house, behind which was a magnificent fire-proof room, fitted up as a museum and library, and communicating with a good anatomical theatre, and an extensive series of apartments for di ection and for the preparation of anatomical specimens. This building was completed in 1770. Dr. Hunter expended upon this Museum a sum exceeding 20,000/.: it included, besides its unrivalled anatomical treasures, a splendid and valuable collection of books, coins, medals, and antiquities; of minerals, shells,and other articles of natural history. By his will, the use of this Museum, undRr the direction of trustees, devolved upon his nephew, Dr. Matthew Baillie j and in case of his death, to Mr. Cruickshank, for the term of thirty years; at the end of which period the entire collection was bequeathed to the University of Glasgow, together ith a sum of 8000A for its preservation. Dr. Hunter died on the 20th of March, 1783; so that his will, in regard to his Museum, has long since been carried into effect, and it is now in Glasgow. To say nothing of the books, antiquities, and objects of natural history, it contained, when sent to its final destination, the finest series of anatomical specimens in Europe. Thus, through the apatliy of the administration of that day, was this unrivalled collection lost to this metropolis. Dr. Hunter's munificent intentions must, however, never be forgotten: he furnishes a noble and rare example of a man who, as soon as he had rendered himself independent by his own exertion, in a laborious and diflScult profe ion, applied the whole of his large income to a great public object; and, though thwarted in his original desire, that it should remain in the metropolis in which the fortune expended upon it had been ama ed, as a monument of his gratitude, and an example to his succe ors, he was, neverthele , sufficiently liberal and patriotic to devote it to the use of the public, by bequeathing it to the university which had granted him his degree. Dr. Hunter not only gave a new impulse to anatomical science, the eflFects of which have been transmitted to the present time, but his zeal in behalf of his favourite pursuit tended to make many converts. Among these, the celebrated John Hunter stands foremost. Hearing of his brother's reputation, he offered his services as an a istant in his inquiries, and his proposal was kindly accepted. Accordingly, in September, 1748, he left Lan arks hire, being then twenty years of age. His disposition to excel in anatomical -pursuits soon became evident. In the course of the succeeding year he had rendered himself sufficiently master of the subject to instruct his brother's pupils in the di ecting-room; and in 1755 was admitted to a partnership in the lectures. His ardour and enthu47 siasm as an anatomist were most extraordinary, and he became as eminent in surgery as his brother was m physic; yet his more lucrative profe ional avocations were never allowed to supersede his scientific zeal; and the result was, the formation of a Museum of Comparative Anatomy, which is at once a memorial of a scientific mind and a skilful hand. Mr. Hunter died suddenly on the 16th of October, 1793, at the age of 65. He directed by his will that his Museum, upon which he had expended nearly the whole of Jiis large profe ional income, should be offered to the purchase of government; and, fortunately for the credit of our country, the proposal met with a very different reception to that which we have above recorded in reference to his brother. It was purchased for the sum of 15,000/., and made over, under certain conditions, which have been not only faithfully, but liberally, fulfilled, to the Royal College of Surgeons, in London. It is one of the most splendid collections in the world, and in many respects unrivalled; it is open, under proper, regulations, to public inspection, in the magnificent building erected by the College for its reception, on the south side of Lincoln's Inn Fields. Another convert to anatomical pursuits, educated in the school of William Hunter, was his nephew, the late Matthew Baillie. His virtues and his talents placed him high in public estimation; his anatomical knowledge was the foundation of his profe ional eminence; and the excellence of his lectures, both as regards matter and manner, tended to exalt the reputation of hi? uncle's school, and to establish the importance of anatomy as the basis of medical, no le than of surgical practice. W'e have dwelt upon the Hunter i an School, from the conviction that it gave a character to anatomical pursuits, which has materially and beneficially influenced their subsequent progre , not only in London, but throughout" the kingdom. Their importance and their nece ity as the basis of the sciences of medicine and surgery are now publicly felt and acknowledged; the aversion to the di ection of the human body is on the wane; and the degrading and disgraceful practice of allowing the schools of anatomy to be supplied with subjects for di ection, by the revolting proce of exhumation, has been superseded. Human anatomy is usually subdivided into descriptive, and morbid, or, more correctly, pathological. Descriptive Anatomy embraces a description of the different organs of the "body, together with their relative situations and connections; it examines the textures of which they are formed, enumerates the nerves and ve els by which they are supplied, and gives all general and particular details concerning their organisation. Having done this, it proceeds to the analogies that subsist among the materials of which different organs are composed; and is thus led to specify the proximate constituent parts of the living body. Morbid or Pathological Anatomy comprehends all that relates to the effects of disease upon healthy structures; and carefully traces and describes the changes of texture and of composition which they thus suffer, in reference to the entire organ, as well as to its individual parts. We shall now proceed to give a short description of the parts of which the human body is constructed, referring for the account of individual organs to the separate terms under which they are enumerated. Anatomical teachers generally first direct the student's attention to that branch of the subject which is termed Osteology; in other words, to the bones or skeleton, constituting the hardest and most durable part of the whole structure, and that which gives it its stability and general form. At the period of birth, the bones, for obvious reasons, could not exist with the degree of induration and firmne which they po e in the adult; we accordingly find that, at that period, they are mostly soft and flexible, resembling cartilage, with certain specks of o eous matter, which gradually extend and increase, as the proce of o ification advances during the growth of the young animal. In contemplating this bony skeleton when it has thus become perfect, we are struck with the admirable adaptation and mutual connection of the various parts of which it consists; the separate bones being extremely numerous, (including the teeth, amounting to about 250,) and attached to each other by unequal surfaces, the cavities and eminences of which mutually correspond. These connections, termed articulations, are extremely various; some admitting of every variety of motion, others of limited motion, and others, as it were, continuously united. In the former case the evils of friction are perfectly provided against by the peculiarity o' the articulating surfaces, which are covered with an extremely smooth and elastic substance, called cartilage; and lubricated, or as it were oiled, by a slippery fluid termed synovia, which here performs precisely the same office as that of the various anti-attritions which are used in machinery. But as the bones must be more or le restricted in their range of motion, there are peculiar means by which that end is attained: some bemg prevented from changing their relative situations by certain [s. 58]