^A:;.;.,4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MJa * . . FOUNDED 1836 WASHINGTON, D. C. GPO 16—67244-1 DISSERTATIOX ON THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ANATOMY COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY, AS APPLIED TO THE • SCIENCE OF MEDICINE. ^—rr----- / t&£----U^A r> By JULIUS RUCCO, M. D. ^^- - Late Professor of Anatomy and Comparative Physiology in the Medical College of Naples: Member of many Medical and Literary Societies in Europe, and the United States of America: Author of several Medical Works, &c. &c. Nos naturam sequamur, et ab omni quod abhorrel ab ipsa, oculorum auriumque comprobatione fugiamus. Ciceho. TRANSLATED FOR THE AUTHOR BY THOMAS WILSON. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY J. F. UURTEL. 124, SOUTII SECOND STREET. 1818. LANTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, towiit- C w>^ BE IT REMhMBERET), That on the fourth day of May-. < L S C in the forty second year of the Independence of the United t^r^J States of America, A. D. 1818 JULIUS RUCCO, M. D. of the said District, hath deposited in this office the Title of a Book the right whereof he claims as Author in the words followmg, to wit: " A '^SSERTATlO.Von the several principles of AMITOMY and COM- PARATIVE PHYSTQLOGY, as applied to the Science of Medicine By J(TLIUS HUCCO, M. 7) la'e Prnfessor of Anatomy and Comparative Physi- ology in the M'dlcal College of .VapJes : Member ofmanyMeihca' and Literary Societies in Europe, and the United States of America : Author of several Me- dical works l$c &c ". Nos naturam sequamur, et ab omni quod abhorret ab ipsa, oculorum auri- umque comprobationc fugiamns. Cicero Translated for the Author by THOMAS JVIJ.SOJST In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, "An Act for the Kncouragemeiit of Learning, by securing the Copies of Mans, Charts, and Books, to the \uthors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned."—And also to the Act, entitled " \n Act supplementary to an Act, entitled," An Act for the Encouragement of Learn- ing, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Rooks, to the Authors and Proprietors of s"ch f'opits during the Tmes therein mentioned " and ex- tending the '.Jeuefits thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other Prints." Ii. CALDli FT L Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania " V \e Theory Z C *" ^ >ernity of X idvanced as >< \ the general AllATIVE J^ 3 medical art, Hie the mo~ \ y important 3 5 Uic the mo- ''^-^ i J* e««s which : ^ \*i v >/ the secret iate ; since '* ^ ir/s «?u/ af- , . "x e useless to ^J * '- knoxvledge : organiza- iscover the v^ —^ - ir gradual "t - v s. ^* ' v\ ton to Me G ART, 1 »i o/" your v^.^..s~^ tv,w t^n,i/i HiMniijiiiiy <» mepuuis oj rnuosophy. On the other hand, I do not flatter myself to be competent to the arduous undertaking of improving, to any great degree, Compa- rative Anatomy ; as, candor explicit'if requires the uvoxval, that Cuvin\ Scarpa, J'tcq. d'Jzyr. PoH, Camper, and maw others, xvhosc names merit immortality, have nearly brought it to per- fection. 1 * J eastern H '.^ ^1.' of the said ' y \ ^ right where ,« " A 'i?SSE vl ^ PARATl A ^ JULIUS lS oloq-y in th< Societies i dical wori Nos natural umque cc In Conform Act for the Charts, ana the Times therein mentioned "—And also to the Act, entitled," " An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled," An Act for the Encouragement of Learn- ing, by securing the Copies of Mips, Charts, and Rooks to the Authors and Prop ietors of such f'opits during the Times therein mentioned," and ex- tending the 'ieuefits thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other Prints." n. cai.pu fil Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania Br IWCCO To Br. JV. CHAPMAX. Professor of the Theory and Practice of •Medicine in the University of Tcnnsylvania, &c. &e. I'VfCLMLD SIR, To the object of offering to a gentleman far advanced as you are in the Science of Man, tins Essay containing the general ideas of my work upon ANATOMY and COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY applied to the several branches of the medical art, 1 hare, moreover, added the idea, of stating to the Public the mo* tires which induced me to compose a work intrinsically important and equally difficult. In the first place, I have thought, that, since the means which Unman Anatomy presents for obtaining a knowledge of the secret organisation of man have been, and still are, inadequate; since this knowledge has baffled, to the present day, the efforts and at- tempts of the most distinguished anatomists, it would be useless to pursue the same path of enquiry, since xve may have uccess to the means which A"aturc presents us with, in duaymg the organiza- tion of animals; when xve are suffered, at least, to discover the first outlines of their organs; to follow, step by step, their gradual composition, and to arrive, at last, by this mode, at the knoxvledge of their improvement, xvhich is completely in affiliation to the object xvhich occupies our attention. How much, therefore, the correct knowledge of the organic tissue of man may i.flue nee the-advancement of the healing art, I submit to your mature judgment, and to the consideration of your colleagues xcho xualk with dignity in the paths of Philosophy. On the other hand, I do not flatter myself to be competent to the arduous undertaking of improving, to any great degree, Compa- rative Anatomy ; as, candor explicitly requires the avowal, that Cuvicr. Scarpa, Vicq. d\Hi;r. PoU, Camper, and many others, whose names merit immortality, have nearly brought it to per- fection. iv To enlarge the Sphere of Comparative Physiology, the outline* of hi*h "'•" to be found only in the ingenious and erv.Jte work of Professor Jacopi, (xvhose premature death deprived the Science which he assiduously cultivated of a valuable member J. and to apply, at once. Anatomy and Comparative Physiology to the improvement of the Medical Art has been my principal aim. F dlox'-ing the Laws and Order of Nature.....critically examin- ing ai' the late discoverits in Medicine, and joining the resuls of my inquiries, I have used every exertion to render the xvork'nse- fnl and acceptable; and, in short. 1 flatter myself tnat the j)roposed objects have been nearly accomplished. Whether J have succeeded in my undertaking, the learned Phy- sicians of thi United States must decide. Their impartial criti- cism 1 shall respect. I have, in this publication*, consulted my ovn %eai and attachment to snence, and confidently expect tnat the object to which I aspire will be eventually attained. Accept, Sir, the tender of my esteem, consideration and friendship % J. K. * the man.-script of this work is ready It will be cornpiised m three vol■•■•<■$ bvQ of five hundred pages each The first treats upon 'he vital or-'j,.s. .ind of the functions to which they are designed: the second, of the a>> ury oig.is and fnnc>'.ons and the last, of the organs and functions des tined to the propagation of the human race. COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. This useful Science is the offspring of neces- sity. Alcliameon, Democritus, \ristotle. and ether celebrated philosophers of antiquity living in an age when even to approach a human body after death was most rigidly prohibited, were led, by necessity, to the dissection of animals Hence arose Comparative Anatomy, which, with the as- sistance of the discoveries of Spallanzani, was sub- sequently established on a solid basis by Mertrud, Doubenton, Scarpa, Poli, Camper, Vicq d'Azyr, Reaumur, Buffon, Lacepede, Olivier, Bosc", Geof- froy, Lamarck, and to which the genius and la- bors of Professor Cuvier have given a new splen- dor at the present day. Comparative Anatomy is calculated, in an eminent degree, to lead us to a more intimate knowledge of the organization of man. It has already shed a strong light upon this interesting. though intricate subject; and there enn be net doubt, that human physiology and pathology will progress towards perfection, in proportion as our knowledge of the organization of the human bo- dy is more perfeetlv understood*. * It is by the aid of this science that Scarpa, Moscati, Tommasini, .Vascag- ni, Targioni, Rubini, Rasori, Palloni, Jacopi, Nannoni, Desault, Bichat, Pinel, Darwin, Gall, Richerand and many others have contributed so much to the improvement of medical science and brought it to that elevated standing which it holds at the present day To be convinced of this, we need but take a short view of the classical works which these eminent physicians and philosophers have given to the world. 6 The study of Comparative Anatomy points out to us, in a striking manner, the variation?, ^ni- dations, analogies, and differences of the organs of certain inferior animals. These circumstances appear to us the more glaring, when we com- pare the organs of animals with those of the same kind in man. This, indeed, is the legitimate ob- ject of Comparative Anatomy. This Science presents us with the various mo- difications to which the organs of different animals are subject; and thus, by furnishing us with in- structive facts and analogies, we maybe enabled to arrive at truth, and finally perfect our acquaint- ance with the organization of man, which is the ultimate aim of our researches. It will,' therefore, be interesting to sketch, in a rapid manner, the wonderful phenomena of orga- nized nature: viz. the organization of the polypi, radiarii, worms, insects, arachnoides, crustaees, moluscse. fish, reptihs, birds and mi»romif(jrge, in which nature has brought, as it were to a centre, the most curious phenomena and the most in- structive facts, to which we may recur when we desire to examine and to be made acquainted with the organization of man. In pursuing, step by step, the gradual composi- tion and development of the organs of diffe rent ani- mals, commencing from the most simple, the po- lypus, and proceeding up to man, we may remark, 7 in the first place, the most simple sketch of ani- mated nature; tl en, the first delineations of the nervous and muscular fibres ; and, lastly, the pri- mitive state of their organs, and the order which nature observes in their gradual composition. It is by investigation, pursued in this way, that we are enabled to study the primordial texture and development of the organs of man, which, as we shall see, have a close relation to those of other animals. lu the Infnsoires, or microscopic animals, we perceive the most simple form of animated na- ture ; or rather, the unity of animal organization : inasmuch as these are wholly gelatinous and trans- parent, though they are with propriety ranked in the class of animals. These animals do not pos- sess any special organ, not even that of diges- tion. They imbibe or absorb the food designed for their nourishment by the pores which are found on the surface of their bodies. It would, indeed, be absurd to believe, as professor Lamarck has very jusrly observed, that microscopic ani- mals could possess all the organs which are known to exist in the more perfect animals, and which in the former seem to be, as it were, amalgama- ted in the general mass of their bodies. In fact, the organs of more perfect animals would be wholly useless to the infusoires, even though they could be compatible with the sim- plicity of their organization. 8 In the Polypi we next perceive the first trace ■of the stomach, or rather what answers that pur- pose, a blind intestinal canal, the entry of which performs the functions of the mouth and anus. The Radiarii are, in the third place, those ani- mals which present us with the first vestiges of nervous and motive fibres, the inceptive state of the ovaries and the outlines of the organs de- signed for respiration. In Worms we perceive, in miniature, the lon- gitudinal marrow, and the articulations. I speak of the semi-circular rings, which, in a manner? supply the want of proper articulations, since they perform, in some measure, the functions of these. It is also of importance to observe, that, in this class of animal nature, the nervous and muscu- lar fibres have acquired a considerable degree of consistence. The stomach itself, in worms, has made some progress towards perfection ; since, in these, it has two apertures, the one for the re- ception of ,food, and the other for the discharge of the faeces. Proceeding, in our enquiries, t- animals more and more compound, we find, for instance, in in- sects, which form the next link after worms, in the chain of organization, the articulations a little more marked, and the rudiments of jaws and eyes. In the Crustaces, we find the outlines of the heart, and the brain perhaps for the exercise of intellectual functions. y Nature, after having tlius formed the organs of animals without vertebrae, constantly proceeding from the more simple to the more compound, has passed on to.circumscribe and render them more voluminous, solid and consistent, such as we ob- serve in animals with vertebrae, with which fish, reptiles, birds and mammiferae are all furnished. Here it is important to observe, that in study- ing, after this method, the first germ of animal organization; in remarking the primitive state of the nervous and muscular fibres, and, in pursuing step by step the progress which the organs of dif- ferent animals, make, from the polypus to the mammiferae, to which we should refer man, not- withstanding his pride and lofty dignity, is to ex- amine the texture of the organs of man ; because the organs of animals approximate those of man by their chemical, anatomical and physiological relations. They approximate them by chemical relations, because the elementary or component particles of the organs of animals do not vary from those which enter into the composition of tine human organs. The respective proportions of these elementary parts, in the similar organs of differ- ent animals, are considerations of a secondary na- ture, and have no influence on the order of thins* which tend to the panie object. B 10 They approximate them by anatomical rela- tions, because the nervous, the motive and cellu- lar fibres, which constitute the three physical elements of the first order of the organs of ani- mals and of man, possess nearly the same cha- racter, and their form and diftercnt consistence is merely a slight modification, to which we should rather ascribe the natural conformation of ani- mals. Finally, they approximate them in their phy- siological relations, since the nerves, muscles, and all the similar organs in animals and in man, perform similar functions. This proves, still more, the uniformity of the chemical and ana- tomical relations spoken of. But it would be useless to deny the great in- fluence which comparative anatomy has had on the improvement of human anatomy, when in- dependently of what we have said, we are per- mitted to enquire into the essential parts of the organs of man, by the means of the dissection of zoophytes, worms, insects, crustaces, and molus- cae, in which we find their organs conveniently divested of all those accessory parts which en- velop, and complicate those of man. It would be in vain to pretend to discover this in the organs of man, hid as they are in the multiplicity of their envelops, and because anatomical instruments are I i a.s yet too imperfect to bring them fully to our view. Hence, we are enabled, although generally, to determine which are the essential organs of ani- mal life; wlsfcli are the organs designed for its sup- port and preservation; and which are the accessory organs, that contribute, successively, to render animals of a superior order more complex. I his knowledge is, indeed, of immense importance; and the experienced physician should know, how indispensible is the precept in medical practice, to distinguish as much as possible organic di- seases, not only by their symptoms, form and nature, but also by the importance or interest which the affected organs possess in the animal economy. For, whatever attacks the organs, which are essential to life, is both dangerous and mortal, which is not the case when the organs of a secondary and third order are deranged. From these observations, we perceive still more clearly, the reason why it is necessary to pay more attention to diseases that attack the vital organs, such as the nerves and muscles, the ex- ercise of which is the strongest evidence of life ; and also to those which affect the stomach, the organ charged with the support of life itself. With the exception of the organic diseases of the lungs, the diseases of this organ (although they !2 belong to the third order of organs, as the s>e- quel will >hew) must be very attentively studied and treated with much judgment and prudence. To be convinced of this, we need only recollect, that this viscus is formed of a cellular structure; that they are continually exposed io the access of the different gasses, and to the sudden changes of atmospheric temperature; that, moreover, they are designed for the exercise of respiration, the object of which is the renovation of the vital qua- lities of the blood, and from which, the living bo- dy, after the concurrence of a series of chemical circumstances, derives its strength, vitality, mus- cular irritability and preservation. The lungs from these circumstances, become as important in the plan of life as the nervous system and (he stomach, which results from the laws which na- ture has established in the animal economy. Comparative Anatomy, to which we return from our medical digressions, cannot, it is true, furnish us with the knowledge of the gelatinous substance which appears to us to be the unity of animal organization, after the manner of cheo is- try, whose object is the analyzation of inorganic bodies, and lifeless animal substances. It has not, I confess, the same advantages ; because all the animal organs, in a state of life, are linked to- gether by unalterable relations. rlo resist those 13 laws, to separate and decompose them is to de- prive animals of life....to be wanting in respect to nature, and to confound them blindly with the mineral mass. But, deductions made from the influence of chemistry upon -dead animal matter, and from the knowledge of earths, salts, phosphorus, car- bon, hydrogen, azote, oxygen, sulphur and iron, which, combining in different proportions, pro- duce gelatin, albumen and fibrine, and these again, uniting variously, form the solids and fluids of the animal body, are, notwithstanding, highly interesting. From considerations of this kind, also, we are forcibly led to study and develop the physical elements of organic matter, for, when we are made acquainted wi*h their chemical ele- ments, we have not entered far into the know- ledge of man. As for the rest, I acknowledge the great utilit\ 7 O O ml of chemistry, to which medicine and surgery and the fine arts owe many of their useful discove- ries. The science of animal chemistry is, never- theless, as yet in its infancy, however great the improvements made in our days. Nor is the anatomy of man itself capable of furnishing us with the means which comparative anatomy affords for the improvement of our know- ledge relative to the organization of man. For. 14 who does not know, at the present