Page:Supplement to the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica - with preliminary dissertations on the history of the sciences - illustrated by engravings (IA gri 33125011196181).pdf/508

 paradoxes,—or even to support conversation, may often lead men to maintain opinions in colloquial intercourse which they perhaps never seriously held, or at least would be ready to disclaim on mature consideration. It also unfortunately happens, that in many of the Ana, those who collected the conversations which they presented to the world, interpolated their own opinions; which, of course, greatly diminishes their authority as characteristical records. It has also been objected to this species of composition, that every subject is treated superficially; but it should be recollected that the Ana do not profess to contain profound dissertations; and in fact no one consults them with the view of beg deeply informed on any topic. A better founded objection is, that many subjects are treated, not merely superficially, but inaccurately. Such compositions are liable to a double risk of error; first, of the person who delivers opinions in the heat of discourse, or relates anecdotes from vague recollection; and, secondly, of the person who records them, who must be liable to mistake, what he has only heard in the course of conversation. From these causes, and from their wide and general circulation, many of the most current literary errors may be traced to the Ana. When read, however, with discrimination, they may prove highly useful, in illustrating various points of literary history; as they certainly contain a great deal which is not to be found in the formal compositions of the learned.

Wolfius has given a history of the, in a preliminary discourse to his edition of the Casauboniana, published in 1710. In the Répertoire de Bibliographies spéciales, curieuses et instructives, by Peignot, there is a Notice Bibliographique of these Collections; but many of the books there enumerated consist of mere extracts from the writings of popular authors, and do not, therefore, belong to that class of literary works described in the preceding article. (.) ANALYSIS,. See.  ANALYSIS,. See.  ANALYSIS,. See.  ANALYSIS,. See. 

provinces of Anatomy and Physiology may now, we believe, be looked upon as distinctly and permanently defined. Anatomy is understood to treat solely of the Structure of Living Bodies, and Physiology solely of their Functions.

We shall observe this arrangement strictly in the following article. It is one which, in our opinion, has already been productive of material advantages to the science of Vital Economy. The descriptive detail of the structure of Living Bodies is no longer distracted and obscured by superficial and unconnected views of their functions; nor their functions carelessly discussed, in the form of occasional and uninstructive commentaries on the descriptions of their structure. Each is made the subject of separate and particular investigation; and not only has Anatomy been thus rendered more accurate and precise, but a more regular and philosophical form has been given to Physiology, and its progressive improvement rendered more sure.

Living Bodies being arranged into two grand classes, Animals and Vegetables, the science of Anatomy, of course, comprehends two great divisions corresponding to these; viz. and.

In the two following articles, we propose not only to trace the progress of improvement in each of those departments within these few years, but to correct several errors, and to supply many deficiencies, in the dissertations which relate to them in the body of the work. ANIMAL ANATOMY.

I. HUMAN ANATOMY.

1. In our supplementary remarks on this first and most important department of Animal Anatomy, we shall endeavour, by the arrangement we intend to follow, to exhibit the outline of a plan better adapted, we conceive, for an elementary view of the structure of the Human Body, than that which has usually been observed in the schools of medicine, or in anatomical works.

But it will be necessary to premise a few observations on the acceptation of certain terms, which will occur very frequently in the descriptions that are to follow.

2. By the period of impregnation or conception, is uniformly meant the moment at which a child, or infant-being, begins to be formed within the womb of the mother.

While the child is yet retained within the womb, it is denominated a fœtus or embryo; the term embryo, however, being chiefly applied to it in its earlier stages.

The end of the ninth month after conception, which is the natural period of birth, is often denominated the full time.

The inhabitants of Great Britain, and perhaps of Europe in general, are usually full-grown, or adult, at the age of twenty-five or thirty years. This is the 