Improvements in anatomy have been less splendid. Indeed, whatever the minutest accuracy could ascertain, in the investigation of the structure of the human body, was apparently found in the works of Winslow, Haller, Morgagni, Monro, and Hunter. Nature is, however, inexhaustible: and the ample harvest of former anatomists left valuable gleanings for Camper, Walther, Scarpa, Sandifort. Comparetti, Soemering, and Loder. Comparative anatomy has been, in the later periods, cultivated, with equal success, by Spalanzani, Cuvier, and Blumenbach.

If the improvements which have been made in the explanation of the various functions of the human body are examined, the branch of medicine entitled Physiology, we shall not have much reason to congratulate ourselves on extraordinary success. The minuter operations of nature are carried on in the first "elements"' of our system: the sacred shrine of the goddess is inaccessible. The agents are also the living organs, and we can scarcely ascertain in what life ultimately consists; the operations of the body are affected by the mind, and we know neither the nature of the latter, nor the medium of the connection. The principal improvements, therefore, in this branch will consist in simplifying our views, in generalizing our facts, and, by strict induction, clearing the subject from erroneous theories. In a few instances, some advances have been made; but, while life itself is mysterious, the laws by which its operations are regulated will remain in equal obscurity.

Pathology will partake of the imperfections of physiology; but it fortunately happens that although the theory may fail, the means of relief are within our reach. In this branch of medicine also our objects are more simple and discriminated. It has been the fashion to ridicule nosology; but, since the publication of Dr. Cullen's system, greater progress has been made in accurately distinguishing diseases than in the five hundred preceding years. The various kinds of asthma, cutaneous diseases, fevers, particularly those of the puerperal state, with many other complaints, confounded even in the best authors, are now clearly distinguished. It is singular, that concussions of the brain have been very imperfectly discriminated from the effects of fracture, of depression, and of extravasation, in works of established reputation.

The practice of medicine has received equal improvement in the simplicity of its views, and the distinctness with which the circumstances of diseases are discriminated. It no longer consists of a farrago of medicines, accumulated merely because each has been recommended, nor of general formulae, without an object; but the views of the practitioner are directed by the changes often suggested by indications, and these are produced by the simplest means. Our medicines also, as their properties are more distinctly known, are selected with juster skill, with more pointed precision, and we trust that something has been added in this work to the distinction of their more peculiarly appropriated virtues. New medicines glitter for a time, like meteors; and the power of every new remedy is, during the prevalence of the fashion, undoubted. The scepticism of advanced life distrusts the fallacious glare, calmly inquires, and cautiously tries, before it decides. Conscious of the various sources of error, the resolution is at last adopted with doubt and hesitation. Yet no one is wholly free from the temptation of novelty: each is apt to trust with confidence to his own plans; and, in the hands of a discoverer, we always find a medicine infallible.

Surgery is still more improved by the general discrimination and boldness of modern practitioners, and by the happy daring of distinguished characters in this department. If it has been our lot sometimes to detract from the civic wreath, by sullying the gloss of novelty, we mean not to lessen their fame. In them it may have been the first suggestions of bold decision, tempered by judgment, by experience, and a confidence in their own powers; nor should the occurrence of the same ideas in a forgotten author lessen the credit which such improvements claim. While surgery is thus more distinct in its views, and more decisive in its conduct, it has equally succeeded in shortening the sufferings of the patient, by hastening the cure. The operations of surgery are now performed with equal intrepidity and skill.

In the pursuit, however, of novelty, it must not be forgotten that our ancestors were neither blind zealots nor deliberate homicides. They must not be blamed because they were unable to anticipate the discoveries of future eras; and their merit must rather be appreciated by the situations in which they were placed, or the means in their power. They observed diseases individually, but spoke of them collectively: they did not always distinguish accidental from pathognomonic symptoms: and, from the farrago of medicines which they employed, it was difficult often to determine whence the advantages arose. Yet their attention and fidelity deserve our regard: their judgment often claims our respect, and their sagacity our praise: nor will the practitioner recur to even their loosest narratives without interest and advantage. In the conduct of this work we have often repaired to the original authors, and been sometimes amply repaid. Boasted discoveries have been detected in their germ, and infallible remedies in the forgotten pharmacopoeias of the middle ages.

A dictionary, though it apparently consist of scattered limbs, often incongruous, should, however, be rendered as much as possible a whole: one spirit should pervade it, and system should collect its diverging rays into a focus. Systems, indeed, are often employed to distort facts for their support, or to conceal those which should oppose them: and the numerous idle theories which, like passing spectres, have glared and vanished, at once, rendered the word suspicious. To be aware of each abuse is the best means of avoiding it; but by the term system we rather mean the reduction of facts to general principles, which may connect and unite them, should the principle itself be erroneous. Thus, if in every instance we find spasm and convulsions connected with debilitating causes, it is no injury to science to consider them as arising from debility: and they evidently consist in irregular action. Debility, thus connected with irregular action, is a bond of union of the most extensive influence, and brings into one view observations widely scattered. Should the principle be erroneous, it will be at once discovered, when brought to the test of observation and experience; and if these oppose it we shall be soon led to sounder views. It cannot be injurious but from suggesting inert practice, useless innovations, or dangerous refinements. Such generalizations, in the hands of Bacon, Newton, and Herschell, have been highly beneficial to science; nor can these weapons be wholly ineffectual, if wielded by inferior powers. In the present circumstances, no facts have been distorted to support a theory: where the principle can only be carried to a certain extent; where, in some of its bearings, the security fails: and where facts are apparently discordant, the reader is at once apprised.