The substance of a lecture : designed as an introduction to the study of anatomy considered as the science of organization ; and delivered at the re-opening of the school, founded by ... Joshua Brookes, Esq. in Blenheim Street Oct. 1st, 1833 / [Thomas King].

  • King, Thomas, 1802-1839.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The substance of a lecture : designed as an introduction to the study of anatomy considered as the science of organization ; and delivered at the re-opening of the school, founded by ... Joshua Brookes, Esq. in Blenheim Street Oct. 1st, 1833 / [Thomas King]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    The Professor of Anatomy is compelled to limit his lectures, as much as possible, to the body of Man, considered, as I have stated, with re- gard to its General, Special and Topographical Anatomy; on account of the vastness of the subject, and the little time allowed for its pursuit. Still, as on the one hand, neither Physiology nor Morbid Anatomy is yet taught by distinct Professors; and, on the other, it is of the greatest importance these three immediately conjoined branches should be studied together; it will be our duty to include, in the view we take of the human body, its Physiology and the history of its morbid altera- tions : excluding all other branches of the Science of Organization when they are not directly useful to our purpose, but appealing to them when- ever they are; and endeavouring to convey such a general notion of them as may induce and prepare you to extend your attention to them, on other occasions, when you have leisure. In this lecture we have to take a view of Organization generally. As I hinted just now, Man, in his physical structure, is a part of the Organized World; and, to know well a part, we must have some under- standing of the whole. To learn Man's, it is well to have an idea of all Organization; in order to ascertain (for such there are) general (acts and laws applicable to his in particular, and which we can use advantageously in its investigation. If we discover these, which may be termed the principles of the Science, considered as a whole, we shall have the best possible foundation for our study, and the best means of extending it to the very utmost the time will allow. I think it must strike you, that to be well acquainted with any one of the class of Or- ganized beings, it is of the greatest importance to have as good a con- ception as possible of them all. Minute details our time will limit to Man : but, we can scarcely hope to obtain these without knowing the general leading features of the whole Organized World ; because, con- sidered with regard to structure and composition, there is, I repeat, no absolute line of demarcation between one Organism* and another; they seem all to be formed upon the same general principles, and almost throughout of the same identical materials. Indeed, it has been maintained that Man is composed of divers inferior Organisms, or at least, that he passes through them in utero: but this is not strictly !>.• ; for, the analogy (other than that of general Organization) be- tween the human fetus at different stages of developement and certain * The whole body, or assemblage of Organs.