5670. NATURAL HISTORY, Anatomy and.—
The systems of Cuvier and Blumenbach,
and especially that of Blumenbach, are
liable to the objection of going too much into
the province of anatomy. It may be said, indeed,
that anatomy is a part of natural his
tory. In the broad sense of the word, it certainly,
is. In that sense, however, it would
comprehend all the natural sciences, every
created thing being a subject of natural history
in extenso. * * *. As soon as the
structure of any natural production is destroyed
by art, it ceases to be a subject of natural history,
and enters into the domain ascribed to
chemistry, to pharmacy, to anatomy, &c.
Linnæus's method was liable to this objection so
far as it required the aid of anatomical dissection,
as of the heart, for instance, to ascertain
the place of any animal, or of a chemical
process for that of a mineral substance. It
would certainly be better to adopt as much as
possible such exterior and visible characteristics
as every traveler is competent to observe,
to ascertain and to relate.—
To Dr. John Manners. Washington ed. vi, 321.
(M.
1814)
See Anatomy.
