The human body : an account of its structure and activities and the conditions of its healthy working.

  • Martin, H. Newell (Henry Newell), 1848-1896.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The human body : an account of its structure and activities and the conditions of its healthy working. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    a zoological point of view, man's Body marks liim ont as belonging to the group of Mammalia (see Zoology), wliicli includes all animals mwhicli the female suckles the young; and among mammals the anatomical resemblances are closer and the differences less between man and certain apes than between man and the other mammals; so that zoologists still, with Linnaeus, include man with the mon- keys and apes in one subdivision of the Mammalia, known as the Primates. That civilized man is mentally far superior to any other animal is no valid objection to such a classifi- cation, for zoological groups are defined by anatomical and not by physiological characters ; and mental traits, since we know that their manifestation depends upon the structural integrity of certain organs, are essentially phenomena of function and therefore not available for purposes of zo- ological arrangement. Man however walks erect v.'ith the head upward, while the great majority of Mammals go on all fours with the head forward and the back upward, and various apes adopt intermediate positions, so in considering corre- sponding parts in such cases confusion is apt to arise unless a precise meaning be given to such terms as an- terior and ''posterior. To avoid this difficulty anato- mists give these words definite arbitrary significations in all cases and these we shall use in future. The head end is always antei'ior whatever the natural position of the animal, and the opposite end posteriorj the belly side is spoken of as ventral, and the opposite side as dorsal; rigid and left of course present no difficulty. Moreover, that end of a limb nearer the trunk is spoken of as proximal Avith reference to the other or distal end. The words upper and loiver may be conveniently used for the relative position of parts in the natural standing position of the animal. The Vertebrate Plan of Structure. Neglecting such merely apparent differences as arise from the differences of normal posture above pointed out, we find that man's own zoological class, the Mammals, differs very widely in its broad structural plan from the groups including sea anem-