up their more shrill and clamorous cries. It is on account of this property that they are esteemed by many persons as the most vigilant of all sentinels, when placed in particular situations.

Anas Erythropus, or barnacle. The barnacle weighs about five pounds, and measures more than two feet in length, and nearly four and a half in breadth. The bill, from the tip to the corners of the mouth, is scarcely an inch and a half long, black and crossed with a pale reddish streak on each side: a narrow black line passes from the bill to the eyes, the irides of which are brown: the head is small, and as far as the crown, together with the cheeks and throat, white: the rest of the head and neck, to the breast and shoulders, is black. The upper part of the plumage is prettily marbled or barred with blue-grey, black, and white: the feathers of the back are black, edged with white, and those of the wing-coverts and scapulars blue-grey, bordered with black near their margins, and edged with white: the quills black, edged a little way from the tips with blue-grey: the under parts and tail coverts white: the thighs are marked with dusky lines or spots, and are black near the knees: the tail is black, and five inches and a half long: the legs and feet dusky, very thick and short, and have a stumpy appearance. In severe winters, these birds are not uncommon in this kingdom, particularly in the northern and western parts, where, however, they remain only a short time, but depart early in the spring to their northern wilds, to breed and spend the summer.

Anas molissima, or eider duck. This wild, but valuable species, is of a size between the goose and the domestic duck, and appears to be one of the graduated links of the chain which connects the two kinds. The full-grown old males generally measure about two feet two inches in length, and two feet eighteen in breadth, and weigh from six to above seven pounds. The female is nearly of the same shape, though less than the male, weighing only between five and six pounds; but her plumage is quite different, the ground colour being of a reddish brown, prettily crossed with waved black lines; and in some specimens the neck, breast, and belly are tinged with ash: the wings are crossed with two bars of white: quills dark: the neck is marked with longitudinal dusky streaks, and the belly is deep brown, spotted obscurely with black. The eider duck lays from three to

five large, smooth, pale olive-coloured eggs; these she deposits and conceals in a nest, or bed, made of a great quantity of the soft, warm, elastic down, plucked from her own breast, and sometimes from that of her mate. The ground-work or foundation of the nest is formed of bent-grass, sea-weeds, or such like coarse materials, and it is placed in as sheltered a spot as the bleak and solitary place can afford. In Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, Lapland, and some parts of the coasts of Norway, the eiders flock together, in particular breeding places, in such numbers, and their nests are so close together, that a person in walking along can hardly avoid treading upon them. The natives of these cold climates eagerly watch the time when the first hatchings of the eggs are laid: of these they rob the nest, and also of the more important article, the down with which it is lined, which they carefully gather and carry off. These birds will afterwards strip themselves of their remaining down, and lay a second hatching, of which also they are sometimes robbed : but, it is said, that when this cruel treatment is too often repeated, they leave the place, and return to it no more. The quantity of this valuable commodity, which is thus annually collected in various parts is uncertain. Buffon mentions one particular year, in which the Icelandic company sold as much as amounted to upwards of eight hundred and fifty pounds sterling. This, however, must be only a small portion of the produce, which is all sold by the hardy natives, to stuff the couches of the pampered citizens of more polished nations. The great body of these birds constantly resides in the remote northern, frozen climates, the rigours of which their thick clothing well enables them to bear. They are said to keep together in flocks in the open parts of the sea, fishing and diving very deep in quest of shell-fish and other food, with which the bottom is covered; and when they have satisfied themselves, they retire to the shore, whither they at all times repair for shelter, on the approach of a storm. Other less numerous flocks of the eiders branch out, colonize, and breed further southward in both Europe and America: they are found on the promontories and numerous isles of the coast of Norway, and on those of the northern, and the Hebrides or western isles of Scotland, and also on the Fern isles, on the Northumberland coast, which latter is the only place where they are known to breed in England, and may be said to be their

the origin and progress of anatomical science, we shall give a general description of the component parts of the human body, and their functions; and proceed in the last place to the more particular enumeration and description of the various organs.

HISTORY OF ANATOMY.

The want of records leaves us in the dark, with regard to the origin of this art; yet it is reasonable to conclude, that, like most other arts, it had no precise beginning. The nature of the thing would not admit of its lying for a time altogether concealed, and of being suddenly brought to light, either by chance, or genius, or industry.

All the studies and arts which are necessary in human life, are so interesting and obvious, that man in every situation has always by instinct and common sense turned his thoughts to them, and made some progress in the cultivation of them. To talk seriously of the invention of agriculture, architecture, astronomy, navigation, mechanics, physic, surgery, or anatomy, by some particular man, or in one particular country, or at a time subsequent to some prior æra, would be to discover great ignorance of human nature. We might just as well suppose, that till a certain period of time, man was without instinctive appetites, and without observation and reflection, and that in a happy hour he found out the art of supporting life by taking food. All such arts, in a less or more cultivated state, were from the begin ning, and ever will be found in all parts of the inhabited world.

The first men who lived, must soon have acquired some notions of the structure of their own bodies, particularly of the external parts, and of some even of the internal, such as bones, joints, and sinews; which are exposed to the examination of the senses in the living body.

This rude knowledge was indeed gradually improved by the accidents to which the body is exposed, by the necessities of life, and by the various customs, ceremonies, and superstitions of different nations. Thus, the observance of bodies killed by violence, attention to wounded men, and to many diseases, the various ways of putting crimi nals to death, the funeral ceremonies, and a variety of such things, must have shewn men, every day, more and more of themselves; especially as curiosity and self-love would urge them powerfully to observation and reflection.

The brute creation having such an affi

nity to man, in outward form, motions, senses, and ways of life; the generation of the species, and the effect of death upon the body, being observed to be so nearly the same in both, the conclusion was not only obvious, but unavoidable, that their bodies were formed nearly upon the same model. The opportunities of examining the bodies of brutes were so easily procured; indeed so necessarily occurred in the common business of life, that the huntsman in making use of his prey, the priest in sacrificing, the augur in divination, and above all, the butcher, or those who might out of curiosity attend his operations, would have been daily adding to the little stock of anatomical knowledge. Accordingly we find, in fact, that the South-sea islanders, who have been left to their own observation and reasoning, without the assistance of letters, have yet a considerable share of rude or wild anatomical and physiological knowledge. When Omai was in Dr. Hunter's museum, although he could not explain himself intelligibly, it appeared plainly that he knew the principal parts of the body, and something likewise of their uses, and manifested a great curiosity, or desire of having the functions of the internal parts of the body explained to him; particularly the relative functions of the two sexes, which, with him, seemed to be the most interesting object of the human mind. The poems of Homer likewise shew us that many facts were popularly known in his time; he probably possessed the general information on the subject. The following passages display a knowledge of some of the internal parts of the body:

"Antilochus, as Thoon turn'd him round, Transpierc'd his back with a dishonest wound.

The hollow vein, that to the neck cx-
tends,

Along the chine, his eager jav'lin_rends.”
Iliad, b. 13.

The stone, which Diomed threw at Æneas, is said to have broken the acetabulum, and to have torn both the ligaments which connect the thigh in its situation. These particulars are not mentioned in Mr. Pope's translation, we therefore cite the original:

Τω βαλεν Αινείαο κατ' ισχίον, ενθα TE

From the sources which have been just enumerated was derived the anatomical knowledge of early times. This knowledge was general or popular. Anatomy, properly so called, viz. the knowledge of the structure of the body, obtained by dissections expressly instituted for that purpose, is of much more recent origin.

Civilization and improvements of every kind would naturally begin in fertile countries and healthful climates, where there would be leisure for reflection, and an appetite for amusement. It seems now to be clearly made out, that writing, and many other useful and ornamental inventions and arts were cultivated in the eastern parts of Asia, long before the earliest times that are treated of by the Greek or other European writers; and that the arts and learning of those eastern people were, in subsequent times, gradually communicated to adjacent countries, especially by the medium of traffic. The customs, superstitions, and climates of eastern countries appear however to have been as unfavourable to practical anatomy, as they were inviting to the study of astronomy, geometry, poetry, and all the softer arts of peace. In those warm climates, animal bodies run so quickly into nauseous putrefaction, that the early inhabitants must have avoided such offensive employments as anatomical inquiries, like their posterity at this day. And, in fact, it does not appear, by the writings of the Grecians, Jews, or Phoenicians, that anatomy was particularly cultivated by any of those nations.

The progress of anatomy in the early ages of the world was more particularly prevented by a very generally prevalent opinion, that the touch of a dead body communicated a moral pollution. When we consider the extent and inveteracy of this prejudice, we shall cease to wonder at the im'perfect state of anatomical knowledge in the periods now under review. The practice of embalming the bodies of the dead did not at all reconcile the Egyptians to dissections. The person who made the incision, through which the viscera were removed, immediately ran away, followed by the imprecations and even violence of the by-standers, who considered him to have violated the body of a friend. The ceremonial law of the Jews was very rigorous in this respect. To touch several animals, which they accounted unclean, subjected the person to the necessity of purifications, &c. To touch a dead body made a person VOL. I.

unclean for seven days. "Whosoever, (says the Jewish lawgiver) toucheth the body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel."

In tracing it backwards in its infancy, we cannot go farther into antiquity than the times of the Grecian philosophers. As an art in the state of some cultivation, it may be said to have been brought forth and bred up among them, as a branch of natural knowledge. We discover in the writings of Plato, that he had paid attention to the organisation and functions of the human body.

Hippocrates, who lived about four hundred years before Christ, and was reckoned the eighteenth in descent from Æsculapius, was the first who separated the professions of philosophy and physic, and devoted himself exclusively to the latter pursuit. He is generally supposed to be the first who wrote upon anatomy. After the restoration of Greek learning, in the fifteenth century, it was so fashionable, for two hundred years together, to extol the knowledge of the aucients in anatomy, as in other things, that anatomists seem to have made it a point of emulation, who should be most lavish in their praise; some from a diffidence in themselves; others through the love of detracting from the merit of contemporaries; many from having laboriously studied ancient learning, and having become enthusiasts in Greek literature; but more, perhaps, because it was the fashionable turn of the times, and was held up as the mark of good education and fine taste. If, however, we read the works of Hippocrates with impartiality, and apply his accounts of the parts, to what we now know of the human body, we must allow his descriptions to be imperfect, incorrect, sometimes extravagant, and often unintelligible, that of the bones only excepted.

From Hippocrates to Galen, who flourished towards the end of the second century, in the decline of the Roman empire, that is, in the space of six hundred years, anatomy was greatly improved; the philo. sophers still considering it as a most curious and interesting branch of natural knowledge, and the physicians, as a principal foundation of their art. Both of them, in that interval of time, contributed daily to the common stock, by more accurate and extended observations, and by the lights of improving philosophy.

M

Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, and preceptor of Alexander the Great, is no less eutitled to immortality for his immense labours in natural history and comparative anatomy, than as the founder of the Peripatetic philosophy, which for two thousand years held undisputed sway over the whole learned world. He had formed the most enlarged design which perhaps was ever conceived by any man; no less than that of a general and detailed history of all nature, a plan by far too vast for the short life of an individual. The love of science, which distinguished Alexander no less than his ambition and thirst for glory, led him to encourage and assist the plans of Aristotle in a manner worthy of so great a prince, of so exalted a genius, and of such magnificent designs. The sum of money which he was thereby enabled to devote to his works on natural history would be almost incredible, did we not consider the traits of greatness which mark every action of Alexander, and were not the circumstance stated by writers of unexceptionable authority. Athenæus, Pliny, and Elian concur in representing it at between one and two hundred thousand pounds.

Shortly after the foundation of Alexandria, a celebrated school was established there, to which the Greeks and other foreigners resorted for instruction, and where physic and every branch of natural knowledge were taught in the greatest perfection. Herophilus and Erasistratus, two anatomists of this school, are particularly celebrated in the history of anatomy. They seem to be the first who dissected the human body. At least in the time of Aristotle, who preceded these anatomists by a very short interval, brutes only had been anato mised. It might have been expected that the practice of embalming would afford favourable opportunities of anatomical investigation, but the rude manner in which the body was prepared, and the dread of pollution, prevented all instructive examination. The progress of the science required that anatomists should have subjects, on which careful and deliberate dissection might be prosecuted without fear of interruption. This benefit was obtained through the taste which the princes of that time displayed for the arts and sciences. The Ptolemies inherited, with their share of the empire of Alexander, the love of science, which shone so conspicuously in that monarch. Ptolemy Philadelphus invited to his capital the greatest men of the age; and,

by collecting books from all parts, at an immense expense, laid the foundation of the magnificent Alexandrian library. This king and his predecessor seem to have overcome the religious scruples which forbade the touch of the dead body, and gave up to the physicians the bodies of those who had forfeited their lives to the law. Nay, if the testimony of several authors may be believed, Herophiles and Erasistratus dissected several unfortunate criminals alive. There is, however, something in this practice so repugnant to every feeling of humanity, that we ought probably to consider it only as an exaggerated report of the novel practice of dissecting the human subject. The writings of these anatomists have not descended to us: our knowledge of their progress in anatomy is derived only from a few extracts and notices which occur in the works of Galen; but these prove them to have made great advances in the knowledge of the structure of the human body.

The Romans, in prosecuting their schemes of universal conquest and dominion, soon became acquainted with the Greeks, and the intercourse of the two nations was constantly increasing. Thus the arts, the philosophy, and the manners of the Greeks were introduced into Italy. Military glory and patriotism, which had formerly been the ruling passions of the Roman people, now gave way in some degree to the soft arts of peace. The leading men of the Roman republic sought the company and conversation of the learned Greeks; thus literature and philosophy were transported from the Greeks to the Romans, and gave rise to the taste and elegance of the Augustan age. In this way did conquered Greece triumph over the unpolished roughness of her conquerors.

Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio.

Although Rome produced orators, poets, philosophers, and historians, which may be brought into competition with those of the Greeks, to the eternal disgrace of their empire it must be allowed, that their history is hardly embellished with the name of a single Roman who was great in science or art, in painting or sculpture, in physic, or in any branch of natural knowledge. We cannot therefore introduce one Roman into the history of anatomy. Pliny and Celsus were mere compilers from the Greeks. We may account for this apparent neglect of anatomy among the Romans, as well indeed as for its