Introduction and Background

oF THE ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BODY, INTENDED PRinctParty ror THE USE oF STUDENTS, BY ANDREI, EYRE, E * ur sEconD amenrcan Ebtzs Aker T6 Jo this Edition is prefixed A Compendious History of Anatomy, Np Tax . Ast and Method Of making Paerakations to exbibit the StrucTuRE of the Human Bovy, itluftrated with a Reprefentation of the Quicksilver Tray and its Appendages, Which are rat in the London Editice. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED AND SOLD BY JAMES HUMPHREYS, Change-nvalh, Ae the Corner of Second and Wit!nut ff ects. ' - 1807. CaredhereoePault COMPENDIOUS HISTORY « re - “Cages AO NAT OM t. pul oo = tie 4 7 whofe principal attention was direéted to the fymptoms and cure of difeates, was, neverthele(s, wel’ aware of the importance of anatomical knowledge to perfeétion in Wie healing art: hence we find, that his works abound with anatomical faéts and ob- fervations, interfperfed with the prevailing dodtvines of the day. When it is confideres, how many obacles were thrown in the way of this fcience, from climate, prejudice, and fuperttition, the perfeverance and acquirements of this great man, the ornae Tent of the medical profefti-n, cannot be fufficiently admired. He deferibes fome parts peculiar to the haman body which could only be afcertained by aétual diffeétion. The body he made to conlift of folids, fluids, and (pirits ; of containing and contained parts, ‘The elementary husnours he divided into four kinds 5 blood, phlegm, choler or bile, and melancholy or occult bi ‘This was agreeable to the philofophy of the age in whieh he li- ved 5 as likewife the notions of all bodies being compofed of earth, air, fire, and water. He never diftinguithed betwren nerves, ar= teries, veins, or tendons ; butealls the heart and its pericardium, a powerful mufele ; he knew the aorta, vena ava, pulmonary arteries and veins, and entertained obfeure notions of the ules of the valves ; but confidered the auricles as a fan, He mentione the diftributions of the arteries and veins by trunks and ramifi- cations from the heart; and afferts, that all the arteries originare from the heart. ‘The liver was thought to be the root of the veins, the fountain of the blood ; and he fuppoled it to feparate bile. He thought the arteries carried the fpirits ; but was en tirely ignorant of the circulation of the blood, and of the ule of F 15 and his (@uting' the (oul in the left ventricle oF ‘a memorable example of human vanity, and of that inclination in man, boldly to account for what is inexs, he imagined, received part of fing, it is concluded, he iy litt, | for he only mgptions the tympanum. As ‘t&the™*byain} which” Pe eaietigg Sand)s(an idea which has fince bygn etroneously noted tt Belong to Malpighi), the nerves and their ufes, vi- fiohan®the’fenfes, he was totally ignorant as to the caufes yet the makes the brain the feat of wifdom. The glands he imper- “fe@tly underftood. The Pythagorean do€trines of conceptio: sneration, and pregnancy, are, in general, abfurd and fuperfti aslikewife his notions of the Pythagorean numbers, wl tw have been the prevailing philofophical follies of the day. ‘On moles, falfe conceptions, and the nourithment of the fetus, a rational judgment is formed ; he comprehended the communi- ation from the mother to the fortus by means of the umbilical cord ; though, in another place, he fuppofes that it abforbs nutri- ment by the mouth, and from the furrounding fluid in the ovum. Alter Hippocrates, anatomy continued to be improved ; but, "as opportunities were extremely limited, from the prejudices of mankind, its progrefs was but flow, and chicfly confined to the two fehools of Athens and Alexandria, In the former, the names _ of Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, Ariftotle, and Theopbrattus, are ill preferved along with many of their works; and although we obferve that their general attention was direéted to philofophy, " yet natural hiftory and anatomy were far from being overlooked ; their opportunities, however, of examining bodies were con- fined ; and after their time, the ftudy of natural knowledge at Athens funk forever, But while it decayed in Greece and Afia, it rofe with increafed encrgy, under the protettion of the Ptolo- mies, at Alexandria, In this {chool, which was fo long pre-em went, Existstratus and Heropxirus were highly diftin- gvithed for anatomical knowledge. By the liberal patronage of hhe Ptolothies, they enjoyed ample opportunities of aiffectin human bodies; and the confequent improvements which anato- my received were very great. They not only corretted many former errors, but wrote with great judgment upon neurology. They obferved a variety of ftruéture’ in nerves fupnlying differ - ent parts, and hence diftinguithed them into thife which were neceffary to fenfe, and thofe which were fubfervient to motion. Between the times of Herophilus and Erififtratus to Galen, a period of five hundred years, Ascieriapas, Rurvs Ernx- sivs, and the fenfible and elegant writer Cexsus, flowithed. ‘The two latter have given the appellations and fituations of ail the parts of the human body, in compendio, in which many éif- om aumento veries appear to have been made from the time of ie, Neither one nor the other dwelt much on the ufes of Rufus writes Greek in the concife Attic ttyle, and Celfus is mott claffical writer that ever appeared in the art of medicin: Cravoivs Garewus, or Gare, was phyfician to four emperors, and was, without exception, the molt ‘diftinguithed pradtitioner of the age in which he lived. He has arranged all. the prior anatomical (cience that Herophilus and Erifiitratus had obtained trom the aétual diffeétion of human fubjeéts, and incorporated it into his voluminous treatifes on all the branches of medicine, The medical principles of this great man, formed on the Peripatetic philotphy of Arittotle, are not to the prrfear purpofe; except that they reigned triumphantly in the fehools and wniverfies, dfdsining and erufhing all innovates or pe provers, for a period of nearly fifteen hundred years, The brated Galen, however, was a man of uncommon erudition, and he brought int» one poine of view, with much labour, learning, and indultry, all the medieal and philofophical feience of his pre deceflors. ‘The anatomical part was indubitably extraéted front the great Herophilus and Erifidratus, and, confequently; in ge~ neral contains whit thofe firfi diffectors of human bodies bad obferved or written. In the works of this eminent phyfician, anatomy appears very confoicuous and methodical. He gives the firuation and ufes of all the parts of the human body, whether animal, vital, or natural. What difeoveries he made, cannot be afeértcined ; bur Galen was the firtt author who feems to have. digefted, in regulur order, the human funétions, the brain and its membranes, the (enfes, the contents of the thorax and abdo~ men, ofteology, a complete myology and neurology, in which are the origin and infertion of the muleles, their ation, &c. and the tribution of the whole nervous fyftem. The laéteal veflels, likewite, were well known though the extent of their effetts, tneir palling through the choracie duét and (ubclavian vein, to the blood, were not comprehended. ‘The exbatent aiteries and inbalents were mentioned, boch by Hippocrates and Galen 5 but the principles of aétion were unknown, The circulation of the blood, the real ufes of the liver, glands, heast, diaphragm, pin- creas, kidney, ureters, bladder, univer(a} cellular itruéture, the power of the n-rvaus fyltem over the arteries and veins, the lyin- phatic abforbent fyitem, were t> hin unknown. From the time of Galen to the fificenth century, anatomy was rather on the decline, anatomilts being confidered learned or ig norant in proportion to their knowledge of his works. ‘The de- fteudtion of Alexandria introduced learning among the Arabians 5 bur they made but little progrefs in the knowledge of the human body. ABDoLLALIPH, however, towards the clofe of ths twelfth Az le~ | century, expofed many of Galen’s errors in ofteology, by fhe- ) quenting burlal-grounds. ‘Among the early cultivators of the {eience of anatomy in the Sixteenth century, the oneat Vesattus flourithed ; who mey with propriety be ftyled the RrsTORER oF ANATOMY; being the firft who dared expofe the errors of Galen, in medicine and anatomy, by referring to the human body. ‘This wonderful man, whofe perfeverance and genius cannot be fufficiently admired, was born at Bruffels, in 1514. After having gone through the ulual ftudies of the age, he went to Montpellier, to ftudy me- icine. ‘The principal profeffors in the univerfity of Paris re- quefted him to come there, where he attended their lectures, Vefalius’s zeal for medicine, particularly anatomy, induced him to pave every danger to which he was expofed, by clandeftinely rocuring bodies for diffection. He did not, however, confine his attention to the human fubjeét only, but opened a great number of animals. In the purfuit of his favourite feicncc, his venera- tion for Galen diminithed in proportion as he deteéled his inac- curacies 5 till atlength he threw off all controul of this great ftandard of ancient medicine and anatomy, and became the ad~ ‘vocate for a€tual diffeétion of the human body, tp which he con~ ftantly referred in all his difputations. ‘The war, which commenced at that time in France, obliging Vefulius te leave Paris, he returned to his own county, Louvain. ‘The knowledge he had acquired in anatomy induced him to pru- fels it publicly in that city 5 but, in order to extend hisanatomi~ cal refearches, in 1535) he followed the army of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, againft France. His reputation increated. He was chofcn Profellnr of Anatomy in the univerfity of Padua, by the reoublic of Venice, and there gave leétures on medicine, particularly anatomy, for feven years. In 1529, Vetalius publithed his anatomical plates, which at- traéted the admiration of the learned. In this, and in his other works, all the eriors of Galen are expofed. A multitude of ene- mics fprung up againgt this bold innovator of old cftablithed au~ thority. All Europe rcfound:d with invedtives againtt hi Fuftachius at Rome, Driander at Marpurg, and Sylvius at Paris, became his public enemies, particularly the latter, who employed every fpecies of calumny to leffen him in the citeem of his pa~ || trons: inttead of Velalius, h called him Vefanus, or a madman; and accufed him of ignorance, arrogance, and impiety. Fallo- pius was the only one among his opponents who prelerved any modcration, Having becn a pupil of Vefalius, he never forgot how much he was indebted to his preceptor; and, although he was far more able than Sylvius to criticife, trom having power ful objeions to bring forward againft the work, he proceeded in the moft delicate and refyeétful manner, influenced by the ~ re gueatelteReem and gratitude forthe affiftance he had received from | his venerable matter. Vefulius, on the other hand, a€ted towards his pupil in the mott gentle and honourable manner. As foon as the remarks of Fallopius on his work, had reached Spain, Ve- falius prepared to anfwer them, and replied to him as a father would to his fon Fallopius, who has rendered his name dear to potterity by his extenfive knowledge in anatomy, poflefied fenti- ments very different from Sylvius; he was not alhamed of ac- Kenowledging his obligations to Vefalius, for the greater part of his information on anatomy : he admits that Vefalius has not thown (ufficient refpeét to Galen, but confeffes that his objec tions are generally correét. Notwithftanding all oppofition, the reputation of Vefalius daily increafed, and he eftablithed anatomy on folid and permanent principles, when the Emperor Charles the Fifth, by whom he had been already honoured, nominated him his firtt phyfician, and kept him conftantly at court. He now. gained the confidence of the nobility, and frequently gave une= uivocal marks of his profound knowledge in the practice of phy- fic, But an unexpeéted event foon reduced this great man to diftrefs. Upon the death of a Spanith gentleman, whom he had attended during life, Vefalius requelted permiilion of the rela= tives of the deceafed to open the body. ‘The moment he expofed the cavity of the thorax, he faw t.¢ heart palpitating, ‘This un fortunate affair came to the ears of the gentleman's relations, — who profecuted Vefalius not only as a murderer, but seeufed him’ of impiety before the Inquifition, whieh fevere tribunal was about to punith him for the erime, when Philip the Second, of Spain, fagzelted the means of removing him from the decifion of his _ judges, and caufed him to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land ; in confequence of which Vefalius refolvea to make the tour of Paleftine. He paffed over to Cyprus with James Malatelte, a Venetian general, and thence to Jerufalem. ‘Soon after the death’ of the celebrated Fallogius, which happened in the year 1564, the fenate of Venice recalled Vefalius to fill the chair ; but on his voyage to Padua, he was thipwrecked on the ifland of Zante, where this great man, reduced to the utmoft extremity, perithd with hunger, on the 15th of October 1564, at the age of fitty years. Itis faid, that a goldfmith, who landed on that pact of the ifland foon after the accident, caufed him to be interred, and that the following epitaph is engraven on his tomb in the church of the Virgin Mary, in that ifland ¢ Tumulus Anore™ Vesacir BavxeiLiunsis, Qui obit idibus O@obris, Anno Me 0. LXV. Fiatis wero fue Le Cum Hicrofelymis rediiffee. —_—— _ wid Velalius had fearcely attained his twenty-fifth year when be ublithed his work, De Struétura Corporis Humani——on the jrugture of the Human Body. ‘This extraordinary production jould appear incredible in fo young a man, were it not attcited “by the belt authority.“ Vefalius in my epinion,” fays Mons. Portal, ‘is one of the greatett men that ever exiled. Let aftro- & nomers boatt of Copernicus; natural philofophers, of Galileo, * Torricelli, &c. mathematicians, of Pafchal ; and the geogra- phers, of Chriftopher Columbus ; I fhall always rank Vefa~ sTius above them all.” The houfe of Vefalius was lately the convent of Capuchins, at Bruffels. ‘Thefe pious men confidered it an honour to date their letters Bx Adibus Vefalianis. Ut ap- pears, that in the year 1546, Vefalius was :t Bafle, to vorreét the prefs for a new edition of his works. He occupied his leifure hours, whilit he refided there, in preparing a human fkeleton, which he prefented to the body of phyfi ians in that city. Iewas seceived with the greateft pleafure ; and, as 2 proof of their gra- fitude, the following infcription was put under it, which remains to this day: Andras Veal. Bruxelle + Careli V. Aug. Archiatrns Tease f. Anatomicorum Adminifir. Comm. In bac Urbe Regia Publiceararus Virile quod cernis Sceleton, Artis et Induftriee fuae Specinien, Anno Chrifiiano M.D. xEvI. Exbibuit erexicques ' om the time of Vefalius, the value of human diffe@tion was ated, though oppofed by the prejudices of the vulgar. ing of the feventeentb century is remarkable for the difeovery of the crncuLaTIoN OF THE nLOOD, BY THE IN~ Moxtst Hanvey, in which he was much affted by the pre~ vious difcoveries of Farricivs on the valves in the veins, and by Sexverus, Corumaus, and Casatrinus, who nearly fitty years before demonftrated the circulation of the blood through the lungs. ‘This has been the mott important difeovery ever male in anatomy, and upon it depends the whoie of our pre- fent phyfirlogy. Soon afterwards, Aszuius, an Italian, dite coveied the laétesls, which PrcauzT, in 1651, traced ¢o the thoracic duét, and thence to the left {ubelavian vein. In 1663, 1 Revsece and BarTHori dilcovered the lymphatics : it docs te Ree, pl t appear that th communication’ beeween them therefore, are intith eh Lpraife. he Later has a oe ‘ipgrentetpined ry ed leas of the 5 ay Es fc athpihy fyitem, whict = afterwards more | ily explained by Grisson, Ti at cogs ba ve ealy pertain cum nal OF ay ear ea aie if Europe has produced anato~ , eat stot ii. The names of Arwinu ae Dither snock, Hicumore, Curserpen, Lew. EwnorcKAMALrrom1, Mayow, Ruyses, Wrrtts, ani m but a fmall number of thofe who have en- w lighten ience of, anatomy in the feventeenth century. the particularly diftinguithed : Ha. LER, § ZINS, pee ) SOEMMER— tng, the Monros, th ters, Gr ‘ Baxey, aang Fortun: penfable branc] mat hav€ every where difting! a ard daily adi the flock of ufefol infomaigah ae 4 i THE RUYSCHIAN ART, AND METHOD Of making Pareanartrons to exbibit the Spupervas of THE HUMAN BODY. THE INJECTING TRAY AND ITS APPENDAGES, For the purpofe of facilitating the procefs of Quickfilver In- jetions, and preventing the lofs of Quickfilver, which is conitantly occafioned by the old methetle JouD27, ew ee / EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. A. The Tray; This should be made of mahogany, about quarters of an inch im thicknefs, and the feveral parts thould be joined together with ferews; every joint thould be made per fedlly water-tight, and the infide painted black; a: this is much mote favourable for feeing the fine. parts of white membranes. Jaying upon it, and the quickfilver flowing through the minute ramifications of their veflels. ‘The machine being made in this form, is intended to be occafionally filled with water, for the purpole of injeéting broad and flat parts, which require to be fo managed as to prevent their drying, and to which the common, jar, reprefented in the plate is not adapted, as placentzr, large portions of mefentery and intetine, female breatts; &c. B. An iton pipe with an ivory plug, for the purpofe of draw- ing off the water and quickfilver remaining in the tray after the inje€tion is finithed ; it is made of iron, that it may not be af- feéted by the quickéilver. ©.C. The right and left fides of the Tray, éut down to form a rett for the arms, whilt the hands are employed upon a pre~ paration at the bottom of it. The front D, is alfo made confi- derably lower than the fides, for the more convenient manage- ment of the preparation. ‘The bottom of the tray, thould be about twenty inches fquare; the front about three inches high, and the fides four and a half’: the clear dimenfions on the infide, are here meant, . A ledge in onc corner, for the convenience of fixing the bottle containing the quickfilver ; it has a hole fufficiently large to receive the bottle which islet through, and ftands on the bot- tom of the tray to preferve it from any accident, which itis very liable to from its weight. F.F. Two uprights; the foot of each fixes in two fquare ftaples, within the right and left files of the tray, and ought to be about twenty-four inches high. The crofs piece, the ends of which fide up or down in the mortife of the uprights, and are fixed to any height, by means of pins paffing through them and the ends of the crofs piece to keep them teadily fixed to each other. In the lower edge of this crofs piece is fixed feveral fmall hooks, from which may be fuffended one or more injeGting tubes. e H. Is a glafs jar containing water, in which is immerfed a hand, with the quickfilver inje@ting pipe fixed in the artery, ae in the procefs of filling the veilels,