Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A text-book of anatomy / edited by Frederic Henry Gerrish. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.
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![an organ is; physiology shows what an organ does. Anatomy may be, and usually is, studied upon the dead creature; physiology can be studied only upon the living—it requires organization in action. Of all animals, the human was the first whose anatomy was studied with great care. Naturally, men were more interested to know what they could about their own bodies than about those of other creatures ; and when they did inves- tigate tlie structure of the members of lower orders, it was to be expected that they would institute comparisons between the organs of the latter and those in themselves which seemed to correspond. Thus it came about that they called the science of the structure of all other animals comparative anatomy, to distin- guish it from the science of their own organizations, which is human anatomy. If they had begun their study of animal structure at the other end of the scale, taking first animals of the simplest organization and working up gradually through a series, each member of which was more elaborately constituted than its immediate predecessor, until they reached man, the term comparative anatomy would not be used in the sense in which it is usually employed. But, although we I'ecognize the defects of their method, we must confess that in the same circum- stances we would doubtless have done precisely as they did. Now-a-days, how- ever, the student is counselled to begin with simple and easily understood struc- tures, in order to prepare himself for the readier comprehension of the more complex, and finally of the most intricate. The study of the anatomy of the lower animals is an admirable—indeed, the best—preparation for that of human anatomy. One who is familiar with the structure of one animal in the great group in which man belongs, as the cat, for example, will find human anatomy immensely simplified. But com])arative anatomy, as a separate branch, has no right to a place in the course of study in a medical school, and only occasionally and incidentally will it be referred to in this book. Human anatomy is subdivided, according to the means employed in its study, into two great parts : givss or macroscopic anatomy, in which no aids to vision are emjjloyed, and minute or microscojjic anatomy, in which the assistance of optical instruments is used. According to the method pursued in its study gross anatomy is .subdivided into systematic and relational. Systematic anatomy, called also descriptive anat- omy, regards the body as made up of systems or sets of organs. For example, considering the human being from this point of view, we find that it has a nervous system (brain, spinal cord, nerves, etc.), a circulatory system (heart, blood-vessels, etc.), a digestive system (stomach, intestines, etc.), an osseous system (bones, etc.), a muscular system (muscles, etc.), a respiratory system (lungs, windpipe, etc.), an excretory system (kidneys, bladder, etc.), a reproduc- tive system (ovaries, testicles, etc.). Knowledge of the various organs comprised in each of these systems is essential to the practitioner of medicine and sitrgery. But if he knows each of these systems only in a separate and unassociated way, he is far from being equipped anatomically as he ought to be. He still needs to learn how each part of every system is related to each part of every other system, and particularly what are the relations of each object to all of the other objects in its neighborhood or region. In other words, he must know his anatomy not only from the systematic point of view, but from the relafiovaJ. Other names given to this method of study are regional anatomy, because by it the body is divided into regions for investigation ; topof/raphical (from the Greek word meaning place), a term used by civil engineers to designate a survey in which the position of every part of the territory involved is deter- mined relatively to every other part; surgical, because operations cannot safely be performed without knowledge thus acquired; medical, because it is necessary to accurate diagnosis of disease of internal organs. Systematic anatomy is made possible by dissection, by which is meant the careful and delicate cutting apart of tlie various structures, so that they can be observed and studied. It is practised upon the dead body. Much of relational](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21506620_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
