Vickipedia

POLICE, military, has two significations—1st, the organized body employed within an army to preserve civil order, as distinct from military discipline; and 2d, a civil police with a military organization. The police of an army commonly consists of steady intelligent soldiers, who act under the orders of the provost-marshal, and arrest all persons out of bounds, civilians not authorized lo pass the lines, disorderly soldiers, &c.; they also attend to sanitary arrangements. As in all military matters, the police of an army possess summary powers, and a sentence of the provost-marshal is carried out immediately after it is pronounced.

Of civil police with military organization may be instanced, as specimens, the Gendarmerie (q. v.) of France, the Sbirri of Italy, and, in an eminent degree, the Irish constabulary.

AMBA’SSADOR is a title by which the highest order of diplomatic ministers is distinguished, and the person holding such a high commission may be defined to be an officer sent by one sovereign power to another to treat on affairs of state. In a less restricted sense, writers on public law employ the term to denote every kind of diplomatic minister or agent. The credentials, or letters of credence, of an A. are addressed directly by his own sovereign to the sovereign to whom he is sent, and with whom he has the privilege of personal communication. In the performance of all his diplomatic duties, an A. is understood to represent, not only the affairs, but the dignity and the power of his master; and by the law of nations, he has many important rights and privileges, the chief of which is exemption from the control of the municipal laws of the nation wherein he is to exercise his functions, an exemption that is not confined to the A. himself, but is extended to all his suite, including not only the persons employed by him in diplomatic services, but his wife, chaplain, and household generally. But there is a dispute among legal writers whether this exemption extends to all crimes, or whether it is limited to such offences as are mala prohibita, as coining, and not to those that are mala in se, as murder. The law of England appears to have formerly allowed the exemption in the restricted sense only; and in the year 1654, during the Protectorate of Cromwell, the Portuguese A. was tried, convicted, and executed, for an atrocious murder. But, now, according to the general practice of this country, as well as that of the rest of Europe, it is considered that the security of an A. in conducting the intercourse of nations, is of more importance than the punishment of a particular crime, and therefore few examples have happened in modern times where an A. has been punished for any offence. In regard to civil suits, it was at one time held and laid down by Sir Edward Coke that an A. to the English court was answerable for any contract which was good according to the law of nations. The full exemption of an A. from legal process in civil cases was first recognized by 7 Anne, c. 12, a statute whose history is thus related by Blackstone. ‘ In the reign of Queen Anne, an A. from Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, was actually arrested, and taken out of his coach in London, for a debt of £50, which he had there contracted. Instead of applying to be discharged upon his privilege, he gave bail to the action, and the next day complained to the queen. The persons who were concerned in the arrest were examined before the privy council (of which the Lord Chief-justice Holt was at the same time sworn a member), and seventeen were committed to prison, most of whom were prosecuted by information in the Court of Queen’s Bench, at the suit of the Attorney-general; and at their trial before the Lord Chief-justice, were convicted of the facts by the jury; reserving the question of law, how far those facts were criminal, to be afterwards argued before the judges; which question was never determined. In the meantime, the Czar resented this affront very highly, and demanded that the sheriff of Middlesex, and all others concerned in the arrest, should be punished with instant death. But the queen (to the amazement of that despotic court) directed her secretary to inform him, that she could inflict no punishment upon any the meanest, of Her subjects, unless warranted by the law of the land; and therefore was persuaded that he would not insist upon impossibilities.

To satisfy, however the clamors of the foreign ministers, who made it a common cause, as well as to appease the wrath of Peter, a bill was brought into parliament, and afterwards passed into a law (the 7th Anne c. 12), to prevent and punish such outrageous insolence for the future; and with a copy of this act elegantly engrossed and illuminated, accompanied by a letter from the queen, an A. extraordinary was commissioned to appear at Moscow, who declared, that though her majesty could not inflict such a punishment as was required, because of the defect in that particular of the former established constitutions of her kingdom, yet, with the unanimous consent of the parliament, she had caused a new act to be passed, to serve as a law for the future. This humiliating step, says Blackstone, ‘ was accepted as a full satisfaction by the Czar; and the offenders, at his request, were discharged from all further prosecution.’

But although an A. is not amenable to any tribunal of the country he resides in, he cannot misconduct himself with impunity. He must respect the laws and customs of the country in which he is officially resident; and if he violates or offends these laws and customs, he may be complained of to the court or government which he represents; or if the offence is of a very serious nature, his recall may be demanded, or the sovereign to whom he has given such offence may dismiss him peremptorily, and further require that he be brought to trial in his own country. It hardly need be added, that if an A. is guilty of an offence which threatens the safety of the state, he ceases to enjoy the privileges of the exemption in question.

There are some other and inferior privileges which are very generally allowed to ambassadors: they are, for instance, permitted the free exercise of their religion; they are, in general, exempted from direct taxation, they have special letter-bags, and they are usually allowed to import their goods without paying any customhouse duties—a privilege, however, which, being liable to abuse, has sometimes been limited.

Ambassadors are of two kinds—first, those who reside regularly at the court to which they are accredited; and, secondly, those who are sent on special occasions, when they receive the designation of ambassadors extraordinary. The employment of permanent ambassadors originated in modern times. Her Majesty’s diplomatic corps includes only five ambassadors in the more restricted sense of the word, who are accredited to the courts of Vienna, Paris, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, and Berlin respectively. Inferior diplomatic agents receive the title of charge d’affaires, minister plenipotentiary, or envoy (q. v.).

AMMUNI’TION. Sometimes this name is given to cannon and mortars, as well as to the projectiles and explosive substances employed with them; but more usually A. is considered to apply to the latter—such as shot, shell, gunpowder, cartridges, fuses, wads, grenades. Muskets, swords, bayonets, and other small-arms are sometimes, but improperly, included under this term. The Royal laboratory at Woolwich is the place where A. is chiefly prepared for the British army and navy. The cannon-balls maybe cast at some of the great iron-foundries in the north; the shells maybe cast or forged in the shell-factory at Woolwich; the muskets may be made at Birmingham, and the rifles at Enfield; the bullets at the shot-factories; the gunpowder at Waltham-Abbey—and so on; but the ‘making up’ of the A. is mostly conducted at the establishment above mentioned. Bags of serge, in enormous number, are cut out and made, and filled to form the cartridges for large ordinance. Bags or tubes of paper are made and filled to constitute blank cartridges for small-arms; while the ball-cartridges are enclosed in thin copper cylinders. The tubes and combustibles for war-rockets and fuses are also manufactured. The cartridges for small-arms (rifles, muskets, carbines, and pistols) are made in millions; since it is on those that the main offensive operations of an army depend. It has been calculated by the Woolwich authorities, that a British army of 60,000 men, comprising a fair average of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, ought to be provided with no less than 18,000,000 ball-cartridges for small-arms, for six months’ operations. These would require 1000 A. wagons, and 3600 horses, to convey them all at once. It is therefore deemed better that, under any such circumstances, there should be established entrepots for supplying the troops from time to time. The wagons constructed for this kind of service will carry 20,000 rounds of small-arm A. each; the cartridges are packed in boxes, and the wagons are drawn by four horses each- Several wagons are organized into an ‘equipment,’ under the charge of a detachment of artillery; and there are several such equipments for an army of the magnitude above mentioned—one for each division of infantry, a small portion for the cavalry, and the rest in reserve. It has been laid down that an army of 60,000 men ought to have 2,680,000 cartridges with them, besides those in reserve; and that the conveyance of such a quantity, with a few forges and stores, would require 150 A. wagons, 830 men, and 704 horses. The equipment would return to the entrepot for a new supply when needed. In the Peninsular War, and at Waterloo, the English used two-horse carts, carrying about 10,000 rounds of small-arm A. each; but a superior kind of wagon has been since introduced. In the field an infantry soldier usually carries about 60 rounds, put in compartments in his pouch. When the word A. is used in connection with artillery matters, the ‘ fixed’ A. comprises the loaded shells, cartridges, and carcasses; whereas the ‘unfixed’ are the unfilled case-shot, grape-shot, and shell. During peace, the Woolwich Laboratory serves out little less than a million lbs. of gunpowder annually, in A. for the army and navy, for purposes of exercising, saluting, &c.

The chief kinds of A. will be found briefly described under their proper headings.

AMOEBA is the name of the lowest class of Infusoria (q. v.). The animal is a jelly-like mass, without definite shape, nearly uniform in texture, but having a pulsating vesicle. The A. feeds by closing around its prey, enfolding it in its own substance, and then digesting it, any undigested portion being finally protruded. See PROTEUS.

AMO’L, a town of Persia, in the province of Mazanderan, on the Heraz, a river which flows into the Caspian Sea; 76 miles north-east from Teheran. The town is unwalled, but has good bazaars, and is a place of considerable prosperity and wealth. The river, which is powerful and rapid, is crossed by a bridge of twelve arches. Extensive ruins indicate the former importance of Amol. Its most notable building is the mausoleum of Seyed Quam-u-deen, king of Sari and Amol, who died in 1378. In the suburbs are a grand palace, which once belonged to Shah Abbas, and three towers, said to have been temples of the ancient Guebres, or fire-worshipers. The inhabitants of A. cultivate rice and cotton, or are employed in the iron forges and cannon-foundries of the district. The pop. in winter, when greatest, is estimated at 35,000 or 40,000; in summer, many of the inhabitants retire to summer residences in the mountains, which approach within about five or six miles of the town on the south.

ANA’TOMY (Gr., a cutting up or dissecting) is the science of the form and structure of organic bodies, and is practically acquired by separation of the parts of a body, so as to show their distinct formation, and their relations with each other. It is generally understood as applied to the human body, while the A. of animals is styled zootomy, and that of plants, phytotomy. The investigation and comparison of the structures of the different kinds of organic bodies is styled comparative A. Theoretical A. is divided into general and special.

general A. gives a description of the elementary tissues of which the systems and organs of the body are composed, as preliminary to an examination of them in their combined state in the various organs : it also investigates their laws of formation and combination, and the changes which they undergo in various stages of life. This branch of study may also be styled Structural or Analytical A., and has been first developed in recent times, especially by Bichat (1801) and Bordeu, who have been followed by J. Müller, Goodsir, Mayer, E, H. Weber, Schwann, Valentin, and many others. In our day, microscopic investigation has been successfully applied to the study of elementary textures. See histology.

special A. (styled Descriptive by the French writers) treats of the several parts and organs of the body in respect to their form, structure, and systematic connection or relation with each other. The arrangement of the several parts and organs in an order deduced from their similarity in structure or use, constitutes systematic A. According to this mode of study, which is essential as an introduction to physiology, A. has been divided, though not with scientific precison, into six branches of study. 1. Osteology, which treats of the bones, including the cartilages of the joints (chondrology).—2. Syndesmology, which describes the ligaments, or bands, that unite the bones of various joints. The bones, with their cartilages and ligaments, form a framework, which supports the external soft parts, and within which the vital organs are suspended and protected from injury; they are also arranged in a mechanical system as instruments of motion.—3. Myology explains the system of the muscles, which, by their contractile power, serve to impart motion to the bones and joints; while, like the bones, they contribute to form the cavities of the body, and to protect the internal organs. Their structure also serves to produce the external shape and symmetry.—4. Angeiology describes the vessels or ducts, with their complex network and ramifications, spreading over most parts of the body, and divided into two great systems : (a), the blood-vessels with the heart, a fleshy organ propelling the blood through the pulsating vessels or arteries, from which it returns to the heart, after circulation through the veins; (b), the lymphatics, by which a certain fluid (lymph) is brought into union with the blood in the organ styled lymphatic glands, and is afterwards passed into the veins.—5 Neurology, or the doctrine of the nerves, describes the nervous system, as divided into, first, the two central masses of the brain and the spinal column; second, the ramifications of nerves running from the brain and spinal column to almost all points of the surface; and lastly, the order of nerves having a peculiar structure, and styled the ganglionic system of nerves.—6. Splanchnology describes the viscera or organs formed by combination of the distinct systems of veins, nerves, lymphatics, &c., and mostly situated in the cavities of the body. These are divided into five groups, viz.: (a), the organs of sensation—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; (b), of voice and respiration—nostrils, mouth, larynx, trachea, and lungs, with the thyroid gland, the thymus gland, and the diaphragm; (c), digestive organs—the mouth, with its salivary glands, the throat, gullet, the stomach, the intestines, with the liver, spleen, and pancreas; (d), the urinary organs— kidneys, ureter, bladder, and urethra; (e), sexual organs of both sexes.

Special A. may be treated in another mode ; by an arrangement made in accordance with natural divisions, or by imaginary lines dividing the body into several regions—as the head, the trunk, and the extremities. Again, the trunk may be subdivided into neck, thorax, and abdomen ; and in each of the main regions, several subdivisions may be made. This system of arrangement may be styled topographical A., and is also known as surgical A., on account of its importance as the basis of operative surgery. It was the eldest of the Monroes of Edinburgh University who first gave this branch of the study its due prominence. The several parts and organs of the animal body will be found described under their proper heads.

History of A.—It is difficult to determine the date at which this science began to be cultivated, but it is probable that from the earliest times some persons took advantage of favorable circumstances to acquaint themselves with it. The Druids, who were at once the priests, judges, and physicians of the people, demanded from those who came for their advice human victims as sacrifices, and were themselves the executioners ; and it is not unlikely that they availed themselves of these opportunities of acquiring anatomical knowledge. It is probable, says Galen, the Æsculapius, who excelled in the treatment of wounds, dissected animals for the instruction of his pupils. His descendants, that Æsclepiades, cultivated A., or rather zootomy, and founded the three famous schools of Cos, Rhodes, and Cnidos. The rabbins tell us that, although among the Jews the touching of a dead body involved ceremonial uncleanness, they did not entirely neglect A., which they studied from the carefully preserved bones of their ancestors, and the necessary manipulations of embalming. They counted 248 bones, and 365 veins or ligaments, which division, according to the rabbins, has relation to the 248 precepts of the Mosaic Law that command, and the 365 that forbid.

Homer exhibits a certain amount of anatomical knowledge in his description of wounds in the Iliad. Pythagoras first reasoned physiologically from observations made by him when in Egypt, where he witnessed the sacrifices, and also the Egyptian methods of embalming. Alcmeon of Crotona, a disciple of Pythagoras, first dissected animals with the view of obtaining comparative knowledge of human A. Democritus, who frequented the sepulchres, probably with anatomical views, practised zootomy, and was engaged dissecting animals when visited by Hippocrates. Hippocrates II., descended in the eighteenth degree from Æsculapius, and born at Cos in 35 a.m., was the first author who treats A. as a science. He caused a skeleton of brass to be cast, which he consecrated to the Delphian Apollo, with the view of transmitting to posterity proofs of the progress he had made, and of stimulating others to the study of A. Aristotle, who lived 384 b.c., does not appear to have dissected men ; and he states that: the parts of man are unknown to them, or that they possess nothing certain on the subject beyond what they can draw from the probable resemblance of the corresponding parts of other animals. He first gave the name aorta to the great artery.

Diocles (380 b.c.) was the first who treated of the proper manner of conducting anatomical examinations for purposes of demonstration. But no real progress in A. was made, owing to the researches being confined to animals, till the time of Erasistratus, who was born at Ceos about 800 b.c., and who was the first to-dissect human bodies. He obtained from Seleucus Meaner and Antiochus Soter the bodies of criminals, and is said to have dissected some condemned to death while they were still alive. His writings are lost, but fragments are preserved in the writings of Galen. He made many discoveries, among others, of the lacteal vessels. Herophilus, who lived about the same time, was born at Carthage, but carried on his anatomical pursuits principally at Alexandria. He also is said to have dissected living subjects. Parthenius, who lived 200 years b.c., published a book, entitled On the Dissection of the Human Body. In the first c. of the Christian era, the dissection of human subjects was forbidden, under heavy penalties. Rufus the Ephesian, who lived 112 A.D., under the empire of Trajan, taught A. in a more exact manner than had been hitherto done, and devised a more exact anatomical nomenclature. He made use of animals in his demonstrations, and mentions that ‘of old they used for that purpose human bodies.’

Galen (131 a.d.) dissected apes, as being most like human subjects, though he occasionally obtained bodies of children exposed in the fields, or of persons found murdered, which, however, he was obliged to dissect in secret. There was at this time no regularly prepared skeleton, as there was a law at Rome forbidding the use of dead bodies. Galen’s writings show a knowledge of human A. Soranus had extensive knowledge of A., derived from human subjects. Moschion had some anatomical illustrations engraved. Oribasius compiled more than 70 volumes, the 24th and 25th being on A., principally from Galen.

Nemesius, Bishop of Nemesus, a town in Phoenicia, cultivated A. at the end of the 4th c., in which also Meletius lived, who wrote a complete treatise On the Nature and Structure of Man. Theophilus, a monk, published in the 7th c. a good abridgment of the A. of Galen.

A. made small progress among the Arabs, which is accounted for by their religion prohibiting contact with dead bodies. When the great Arabian physician, Rhazes, was about to be operated on for cataract, he discovered that the surgeon was ignorant of the structures of the eye, and refused to submit to the operation. Avicenna (980 a.d.), born in the province of Khorasan, was a good osteologist, and described some structures not alluded to by Galen.

A. was now neglected for a long period, till Frederick II., king of Sicily (1194—1250), made a law forbidding any one to practise surgery without having first acquired some knowledge of A. He founded a chair at the solicitation of Martianus, his chief physician, where the science was demonstrated for five years; students, from all parts crowded to it, and some time after, a similar school was established at Bologna—these two were largely attended, but no very material progress was made in A.

The university of Montpellier was founded by Pope Nicholas IV. in 1284, and the chair of A. was filled by Bernard Gordon, with great distinction for ten years. He published a huge work,, called Lilium Medicinal.

Mundinus, born at Milan, 1815, professed A. there, and is considered the real restorer of A. in Italy. He publicly demonstrated it, and published a work which was the text-book in the academy of Padua two hundred years after its publication. Then came Guy de Chauliac, who first correctly described the humerus. Mathæus of Grado published several anatomical works about 1480. Gabriel de Zerbus, in 1495, published a confused and imperfect, work on A. at Verona. The science continued to be studied by surgeons such as Vigo (1516), Achillinus, and Berenger (Carpi), (1518), who boasted of having dissected at Bologna more than a hundred subjects. Reports were raised that he dissected living Spaniards, and he fled or was exiled to Ferrara.

Andre Lacuna (1535), Charles Etienne, Gonthier (1536), Massa, Driander (1537), Sylvius (1539), Levasseur, and Gesner, were celebrated for A.; but especially Andrew Vesalius, born 1514, who published a great work on A. before he was 28 years of age. He had the misfortune to open the body of a young Spanish nobleman whose heart was found still beating, and was obliged to make an expiatory pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1564, the Venetian senate recalled him to succeed, at Padua, the famous Fallopius, who had just died; on his return, he was shipwrecked on the island of Zante, where he was starved to death.

William Horman of Salisbury wrote, in 1530, Anatomia Corporis Humani (A. of Human Body); then came Ingrassias, and others of less note.

Thomas Gemini of London, in 1545, engraved upon copper the anatomical figures of Vesalius, which had appeared in Germany upon wood. Gemini suppressed the name of Vesalius, though using his figures and descriptions. Thomas Vicary, in 1548, is said to be the first who wrote in English on A.; he published The Anglishman’s Treasure, or the True A. of Man’s Body. John Ligæus, in 1555, published an anatomical treatise in Latin hexameters. Franco (1556), Valverda, Columbus, and others, wrote works of great merit on A. In 1561, Gabriel Fallopius professed it with great distinction at Padua, and made many original discoveries.

In the 17th c., progress was rapid : Hervey, in 1619, discovered the circulation of the blood, and the microscope was employed to detect the structure of minute vessels. Aselli, in 1622, discovered and demonstrated the existence of the lymph-vessels; and his conclusions were supported by the investigations of Pecquet, Bartholin, and Olaus Rudbeck. The glandular organs were investigated by Wharton, while Malpighi, Swammerdam, and (in the following c.) the illustrious Ruysch, by the use of injections and the aid of the microscope, gave a new impulse to research in the minute structures. Eminent names in the history of A. are numerous in the 18th c. In Italy, which still retained its former pre-eminence, we find Pacchioni, Valsalva, Morgagni, Santorini, Mascagni, and Cotunni; in France, Winslow, D’Aubenton, Lieutaud, Vicq d’Azyr, and Bichat, the founder of General A; in Germany, the accomplished Haller and Meckel prepared the way for greater achievements in the 19th c.; in Great Britain, Cowper, Cheselden, Hunter, Cruikshank, Monro, and Charles Bell contributed to the progress of the science; while Holland was worthily represented by Boerhaave, Albinus, Camper, Sandifort, and Bonn. On the boundaries of the two centuries, we find the names of Sommering, Loder, Blumenbach, Hildebrand, Reil, Tiedemann, and Seller; nearly all connected with practical medicine, which was benefited by their studies in A.

The necessity of a union of theory and practice has led to that zealous study of pathological A. (the dissection and study of structures as modified by diseases) which has recently prevailed. The origin of this branch of A. maybe traced back to ancient times in Egypt, where post-mortem examinations were sometimes made to discover the seat of disease and cause of death. In the medical writings of the Greeks, some anatomico-pathological observations are found. During the general revival of science in the 16th c., many notices of pathological A. occur. In 1507, Benevieni of Florence wrote the first book on this branch of science; and Bonet, in 1679, published his compilation of numerous observations. Still, these were only fragmentary indications of a possible science, and the facts stated were often very erroneously interpreted. Morgagni (1767), who must be regarded as the true founder of Pathological A., was worthily followed by Lieutaud, Sandifort, Hunter, Baillie, and others. Meckel the Younger, in Germany, in his study of malformations &c., paid little or no attention to practical applications of the science. The recent change of direction given to the study of Pathological A., which is now properly regarded as a means towards practical improvements in medicine, must be ascribed to Bichat and the pupils of Broussais, among whom may be mentioned the names of Laennec, Cruveilhier, Louis, Andral, Lobstein, Lebert, Virchow, Bennett, &c. In London and other large towns there are societies devoted specially to the investigation of pathology.

compaRativE A. has always preceded anthropotomy, or dissection of the human subject, but was first treated systematically as a distinct science by Cuvier and his pupil Meckel the Younger. The system proposed by the latter was, unfortunately, never completed. Blumenbach, Tiedemann, Home, Blainville, Geoffrey St. Hilaire, Carus, Oken, Goethe, the German poet, Richard Owen, John Goodsir, and Huxley, must be named as eminent contributors to this branch of science; while, in late years, zootomy and comparative A. have been studied, with an especial reference to physiology, by Muller, Wagner, Siebold, Bowman, Todd, and Allan Thomson.

A. for artists is studied with reference to the effects produced by internal structure on the external form, and describes the organs, especially the muscles and tendons, not only in a state of rest, but also as modified by passion, action and posture. Consequently observation of the nude living form is required in this branch of study, which has been treated of by Errard and Genga (1691); and in modern times, by Lavater (1790), Camper (1792), Charles Bell (1806), Salvage (1812), Mascagni (1816), Koeck (1822), Gardy (1831) Fischer (1838), Salomon arid Aulich (1841), Berger (1842), Seller and Gunther (1850), &c.

practical A. includes Dissection (q. v.) and the making of Preparations. Preparation consists in dividing parts or organs, so that their respective forms and positions may be clearly shown, Organs or parts thus treated are styled Anatomical Preparations of bones, muscles, vessels, nerves, &c. For example, a bone-preparation is made by clearing away all muscular and other adhesions; the whole structure of the bones, thus prepared and bleached, when connected by wires in its natural order, forms an artificial skeleton.

For preparations of parts containing vessels with minute ramifications, injections are employed. Some colored fluid which has the property of gradually becoming solid, is gently injected into the arteries or other vessels by means of a syringe. Formerly, materials which required a certain degree of warmth to preserve their fluidity were used; but as these were attended with inconvenience, a great improvement was made by Shaw and Weber, who introduced the use of linseed-oil and turpentine, which, when mixed with certain metallic compounds in due proportions, form a fluid which, after a time, becomes solid in ordinary temperatures. Quicksilver and colored limewater are also used, for injection of the finer vessels. Preparations are either dried and varnished or preserved in spirit.

A series of such specimens, arranged in proper order, forms an Anatomical Museum. The valuable collections made by Ruysch, Eau, Loder, Walter, John and William Hunter, Meckel, Sommering, and Dupuytren, are all now public property. There is also a splendid collection in the university of Edinburgh, collected and prepared for the most part by John Goodsir. The College of: Surgeons of Edinburgh also possesses a very valuable museum of pathological preparations. As it is impossible to preserve thus all parts in their integrity for any great length of time, artificial copies in wood, ivory, and wax have been made with great exactitude, especially in Florence; and recently Anzou in Paris has employed papier-mache for the same purpose. But, apart from I dissections and preparations of the natural organs, the most general and available assistance in the study of A. is found in anatomical engravings and plates on wood and copper. This assistance was known in ancient times. Aristotle affixed to his works on A. some anatomical drawings, which have been lost. In the 16th c., the greatest artists—Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, and Dürer—gave their aid in designing anatomical figures; but few of their works, in this department of art, have been preserved. Lately, lithography has been employed. Among the numerous illustrations of A. which we now possess, the old works by Vasal (1543), Eustachius (1714), Bidloo (1685), Albin (1747), Haller (1743-1756), and Vicq d’Azyr (1786-1790), may be mentioned. The present century has supplied works of first-rate excellence by Caldani (Venice, 1801-1814), Mascagni (Pisa, 1823), Langenbeck (Gottingen, 1826), Bourgery and Jacob (Paris, 1832), and Arnold (Zurich, 1838). For general use, we may commend the plates of Loder (Weimar, 1803), Cloquet (Paris, 1826), Osterreicher (Munich, 1827-1830), Weber, (Düsseldorf, 1830), Bock (Leipsic, 1840), and D’Alton (Leipsic, 1848); in Surgical A., the works by Rosenmuller (Weimar, 1805), Pirogoff (Dorp. 1840), and Gunther (Hamburg, 1844), in Pathological A., Meckel (Leipsic, 1817-1826), Cruveilhier (Paris, 1828-1841), Froriep (Weimar, 1838), Albers (Bonn, 1832), Gluge (Jena, 1843—1850), and Vogel (Leipsic, 1843); in Comparative A., Carus (Leipsic, 1826) and Wagner (Leipsic, 1841). Among English works may be mentioned those by Lizars, Jones, and Richard Quain, in Special A.; by Morton and Maclise, in Surgical A.; and by Baillie and Bright in Pathological A.

ANATOMY (in Law). While the study and practice of A., or the art of dissecting the human body, were necessary to the pursuit of surgical knowledge, there were, until the year 1832, no sufficient legal means in Britain of procuring dead bodies for anatomical purposes; and the consequence was, the evasion, and sometimes even the open violation of the law by persons interested in supplying the surgical profession with subjects for dissection. The high prices, indeed, given for these subjects, may almost be said to have created a lucrative and tempting trade, which led to the most atrocious crimes; and murders, with no other object than the possession of the victim’s body for the surgeon’s knife, were frequently committed. The notorious case of Burke, tried and convicted before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, in 1828, is a horrible illustration of the state of the law at that time, and of the position in which it placed surgical practitioners. It was believed that Burke and his associate Hare had been the murderers of sixteen persons, whose bodies they sold to the anatomists. It was their practice to inveigle poor people, generally strangers, into their houses, make them drunk and then smother them. Burke, informed against by Hare, was condemned for thus disposing of an old woman, and suffered the last penalty of the law, bequeathing a new verb, to burke, to the English language. To remedy this state of things, an act of parliament was passed on the 1st of August 1832, 2d and 3d William IV. c. 75, the preamble of which, sufficiently disclosing its necessity, is as follows: ‘Whereas a knowledge of the causes and nature of sundry disuses which affect the body, and of the best methods of treating and curing such diseases, and of healing and repairing divers wounds and injuries to which the human frame is liable, cannot lie acquired without the aid of anatomical examination; and whereas the legal supply of human bodies for such anatomical examination is insufficient fully to provide the means of such knowledge: and whereas, in order further to supply human bodies for such purposes, divers great and grievous crimes have been committed, and, lately, murder, for the single object of selling for such purposes the bodies of the persons so murdered: and whereas, therefore, it is highly expedient to give protection, under certain regulations, to the study and practice of A., and to prevent, as far as may be, such great and grievous crimes and murder as afore-said ‘—It is therefore enacted, that the Secretary of State for the Home Department in Great Britain, and the Chief Secretary in Ireland, may grant a license to practice A. to any fellow or member of any college of physicians or surgeons, or to any graduate or licentiate in medicine, or to any person lawfully qualified to practise medicine in any part of the United Kingdom, or to any professor or teacher of A., medicine, or surgery, or to any student attending any school of A., on the application of such party for such purpose, countersigned by two justices of the peace acting for the county, city, borough, or place where such party resides, certifying that, to their knowledge or belief, such party so applying is about to carry on the practice of A.

The act provides for the appointment of inspectors of schools of A., and directs them to make a quarterly return to the Secretary of State, or the Chief Secretary, as the case may be, of subjects removed for anatomical examination to every place in the inspector’s district where A. is carried on, distinguishing the sex, and, as far as is known at the time, the name and age of each person whose body was so removed. The inspectors are further required to visit and inspect places within their respective districts where A. is practised; and for the performance of all these duties, the inspectors are each to have an annual salary not exceeding £100, with a further reasonable sum for their official expenses. By section 7, it is enacted that it shall be lawful for any executor or other party having lawful possession of the body of any deceased person, and not being an undertaker or other party intrusted with the body, for the purpose only of interment, to permit the body of such deceased person to undergo anatomical examination, unless, to the knowledge of such executor or other party, such person shall have expressed his desire, either in writing, at any time during his life, or verbally, in the presence of two or more witnesses, during the illness whereof he died, that his body, after death, might not undergo such examination; or unless the surviving husband or wife, or any known relative of the deceased person, shall require the body to be interred without such examination: while, by section 8, it is declared that the wishes of persons who had expressed a desire that their bodies should be subjected to anatomical examination shall be respected, unless the deceased person’s surviving husband or wife, or nearest known relative, or any one or more of such person’s nearest known relatives being of kin in the same degree, shall require the body to be interred without such examination. Bodies are not to be removed for examination until forty-eight hours after death, and without a certificate by the medical attendant, stating, according to the best of his knowledge or belief, the manner or cause of death. The act contains a number of provisions intended to secure its sufficient administration; but by section 15, it is provided that it shall not extend to or prohibit any post-mortem examination of any human body required or directed to be made by any competent legal authority; and it repeals an enactment in a previous statute, 9 George IV. c. 31, which directed the bodies of murderers after execution to be dissected.

This act of parliament is understood to have met the evil it was designed to obviate; and under it the supply of bodies of persons dying friendless, in poor houses, hospitals, and elsewhere, is stated to have proved sufficient for the wants of the profession.