Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/492

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460 ANATOMY and appearance, but also of their internal and minute details. For this purpose he composed a pasty mixture of a sort of papier mache which may be moulded to any form while liquid, and hardened in the form thus given. Models of the organs were made in all their different layers and proportions, with the ves- sels and the nerves in each, as they are found in nature ; the liquid substance was then poured upon the models and allowed to har- den. A complete manikin of the human body and all the internal organs was thus formed, which could be taken to pieces and put to- gether again at will and with the greatest ease ; each part being colored in imitation of nature, and labelled with a number or the real name, by which it could be recognized at any time, either in or out of its natural position in the manikin. In 1830 this art, called clastic anatomy (Gr. K^aar6^ broken), was brought to great perfection ; and a comparatively fault- less model of the human body, 5 feet 6 inches in height, could be manufactured and sold for $600. This was still, however, too expensive for many persons, and complete manikins of a smaller size (3 feet 6 inches, in lieu of 5 feet 6 inches) were manufactured, and sold for $200 each. Each manikin contains 129 distinct pieces, forming different layers and organs or parts of organs. ANATOMY (Gr. avarofi^ dissection), the sci- ence which treats of the structure of organized bodies as learned from dissection. During the primitive ages of the world anatomy was little cultivated as a science, and hence the art of surgery was undeveloped. In later ages reli- gious scruples forbade the opening of the human body to inspect the viscera ; and students of anatomy were limited to the dissection of ani- mals, to gain a knowledge of internal organs and their functions. The first branch of this science which was studied from nature was therefore animal anatomy, now called " com- parative anatomy," from the fact of different types of the animal kingdom differing in their internal structure as much as in their external form. Aristotle was the first to give accurate descriptions of the internal organs of different species of animals, and for many centuries after him little was done to advance the science by actual dissection and observation. Hippocrates had some accurate views of osteology, but his descriptions of the brain and the heart, and their respective functions, show that he knew little of anatomy. The first important development of human anatomy, of which we have any authentic record, took place at Alex- andria in Egypt during the reign of the Ptole- mies. Erasistratus of Ceos and Herophilus of Chalcedon are mentioned by Galen as eminent anatomists of the Alexandrian school; and Herophilus is said to have obtained permission to open and inspect the bodies of living crimi- nals, to gain a knowledge of internal organs and their modes of action. The writings of Celsus show that he cultivated anatomy, but the next great steps in advance were made by Claudius Galenus, the celebrated physician of Pergamus. Galen was born at Pergamus, A. D. 130. He collected the works of his predecessors and pursued the study of anatomy, as far as he was able, by dissecting animals. He first showed that arteries in the living animal contain blood, and not air alone, as had been supposed by Erasistratus; but it did not occur to him to notice the circulatory movement of the blood in the vessels. This was reserved for Harvey, many centuries later ; before which time the blood was supposed to move, in the veins as well as in the arteries, from within outward. During the middle ages the natural sciences, neglected by the Christians, were mainly culti- vated by the Arabs ; but, as the Mohammedan religion forbade the dissection of human bodies, their physicians were obliged to rely on the knowledge transmitted to them by the school of Alexandria, and chiefly on the works of Galen. Their writings add little or nothing to the sci- ence of anatomy, unless it be the names of cer- tain organs translated from the Greek into the Arabic, and afterward to some extent adopted by Italian and Spanish writers on anatomy. The spirit of religious liberty and commercial enter- prise revived the cultivation of the arts and sciences in Italy during the 14th century ; and Mondino da Luzzi, professor of anatomy at the university of Bologna, first publicly dissected two human bodies in the presence of medical students in 1306 and 1315, and shortly afterward published a description of the organs from di- rect observation and dissection. This, with the works of Galen, served as a text book for the schools till the 16th century, when the study of human anatomy from actual dissection be- came general in the medical schools of Italy. From this time forward human anatomy has been constantly studied from actual dissection and observation, in those countries of Europe where religious considerations offered least re- sistance to this mode of proceeding. First Italy, then Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Ger- many, France, England, and America, have furnished names of eminence in the cultivation and advancement of the science of anatomy ; but popular prejudices have hindered the free dissection of human bodies in medical schools, until a very recent date, in many states of Eu- rope, and also in this country. Anatomy is now one of the most important branches of natural science, and its various departments have become so extensive as to require separate divisions and distinct methods of analysis. We have thus comparative anatomy, including every type of animal organization, not except- ing man, as one of the types of the animal kingdom ; and human anatomy as a distinct branch of study, in connection with physiology, pathology, surgery, and therapeutics. These again are subdivided into distinct branches, under the names of regional or surgical anat- omy, descriptive or special anatomy, histolo- gical or general anatomy, and microscopical or