minds of anatomists, and from which important results are expected in the future.
In the organs of special sense the new ideas of the constitution of the nervous system have elucidated many difficult problems. The anatomy of the ear has been studied by Rüdinger, Helmholtz (q.v.) of Berlin, Retzius of Copenhagen, and Ayers of Cincinnati. The organ of Corti was discovered by the Marchese di Corti in 1851. Schwalbe of Strassburg first saw the taste-buds of the tongue in 1867, Meissner and Wagner the tactile corpuscles in 1852. The teeth have been a special object of research with the American anatomists Ryder, Osborn, and Cope, especially with reference to the mechanics of their development.
The researches of American anatomists have borne fruit in other fields. W. E. Horner of Philadelphia discovered the tensor tarsi or deep layer of the orbicularis palpebrarum, and William Clay Wallace of New York was the first to show the real nature of the ciliary muscle (1835). It is to Henry J. Bigelow, of Harvard University, that we owe the first accurate description of the ilio-femoral ligament of the hip-joint and its application to the reduction of dislocations. His work on the hip, published in 1869, completely revolutionized surgical practice in this matter. It should not be forgotten, however, that Reid, of Rochester, N. Y., had previously, in 1851, shown many of the facts afterward more completely stated by Bigelow. In the realm of comparative anatomy, and especially of paleontology, Joseph Leidy, O. C. Marsh, Harrison Allen, and Edward D. Cope have done much to extend the fame of American science.
Bibliography. Among the recent works on human descriptive anatomy may be mentioned: Quain, Gray, and Morris, in English; Testut and Poirier, in French; Gegenbaur and Rauber, in German. Bardeleben is editing a large work in German, in eight volumes, by various authors. On topographical anatomy, McClellan and Treves, in English; Tillaux, in French, and Hyrtl, Gerlach, and Merkel, in German, are good works. There is no satisfactory treatise on the history of anatomy. A fairly complete résumé is found in Volume I. of The Reference Handbook of Medical Sciences (second edition. New York, 1900).
ANATOMY, Comparative. The science that treats of the structure of organisms with the aim of discovering their evolutionary history and of determining what parts are fundamental and primary and what have undergone modifications due to functional changes. This, at least, has been the aim of comparative anatomy since the doctrine of evolution has guided anatomical research. In the early half of the nineteenth century the aim of comparative anatomy was to assist taxonomy, or the natural classification of organisms, by giving a basis for separating the more essential parts (to be used as the basis of the larger groups) from the less essential parts (the basis of the smaller groups). In the latter half of the nineteenth century the aims of comparative anatomy were fostered by the newer science of comparative embryology, which added a new source of evidence for tracing evolutionary history. Together these sciences constitute comparative morphology. In this work the facts which might have been brought together into a general article under this title are distributed under more special headings. Thus, for the history and general scope of comparative anatomy, see Anatomy; for the comparative anatomy of the several parts of the body, see respectively Skeleton; Alimentary System; Muscular System; Nervous System; Circulatory System; Respiratory System; Reproductive System; Excretory System, and similar titles in connection with human anatomy and physiology, and in zoölogy and embryology. Consult: Cuvier, Leçons d'anatomie comparée (first edition, 5 volumes, Paris, 1800-05; second edition, 8 volumes, 1836-44); Meckel, System der vergleichenden Anatomie (Halle, 1821-29); Owen, Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrate Animals (fourth edition, London, 1871); Huxley, Anatomy of Invertebrates (London, 1877); id., Anatomy of Vertebrate Animals (London, 1871); Gegenbaur, Elements of Comparative Anatomy (translation, London, 1878); Wiedersheim, Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates (translation, London, 1898); id., Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Anatomie (Jena, 1866); Lang, A., Textbook of Comparative Anatomy (of Invertebrates) (translation, London, 1891-96).
ANATOMY OF ABUS'ES, The. A work by the Puritan Philip Stubbes, published in 1583, condemning many of the customary amusements of the time. A reply to it, by Nashe, was entitled Anatomie of Absurditie (1589).
ANATOMY OF MEL'ANCHOLY, The. A celebrated and curious work by Robert Burton (1577-1640), first published in 1621 and many times thereafter. It treats, as its full title explains, of "all the Kindes, Causes, Symptomes, Prognostickes, and Severall Cures" of melancholy. It appeared under the pseudonym of Democritus Junior, a name which indicates its author's attitude. There is an extended preface, not the less interesting for being autobiographical. The body of the book is in three methodically arranged parts, dealing successively with (1) the causes and symptoms of melancholy; (2) its cure; (3) amorous and religious melancholy. Throughout there is a wealth of historical and literary lore and a quaint and penetrating humor, which have made the book a favorite with many of the finest minds. Dr. Johnson and Charles Lamb especially have recorded their admiration of it. The five editions succeeding the first one included changes of text by Burton himself. Since his time it has been variously abridged.
ANATOMY OF PLANTS. That part of botany which treats of the structure of plants. Gross anatomy relates only to those parts, external or interna], which can be observed with the unaided eye. Minute or microscopical anatomy, treating of the tissues, the cells of which they are com-
posed, and their relation to one another, is technically called histology (q.v.). For purposes of description, the plant body is divided into parts, called "members" or "organs," according as one wishes to emphasize the idea that they constitute portions of the body, or that they do something, Members or organs are of various ranks with respect to the body or to each other. Thus, one may speak of the root and the shoot as members of the plant; axis and leaves are members of the shoot, and so on, each part being resolvable into subordinate parts. Analysis ceases only with the component cells, each of which has definite organs, such as nucleus, chloroplasts, etc. See Cell (in plants).
