A lecture introductory to the course of anatomy and physiology, delivered in the Medical School, Aldersgate Street, London, upon the opening of the session, 1832 / by Robert Bentley Todd.

  • Todd, Robert Bentley, 1809-1860.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture introductory to the course of anatomy and physiology, delivered in the Medical School, Aldersgate Street, London, upon the opening of the session, 1832 / by Robert Bentley Todd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ized creation ensures the preservation of plants and animals in the many accidents to which they are liable; it, together with the power of nutrition, forms a decided evidence of the superiority of the machines constructed by the Creator over the most perfect productions of human art, to which it is impossible to impart the power of remedying the defects aris- ing from the disturbance, injury, or usage, of the parts enter- ing into their composition. Such, then, are the common properties of organized beings. We come now to advert to those discrepancies upon which their division into Animals and Vegetables is founded. To the superficial observer, it would seem a matter of no diffi- culty to define an animal: accustomed to think of them as they appear in the more complex classes, those which most fre- quently are presented to our observation, he sees in the voluntary motions, the number and complexity of functions, and the instinct which guides the creature in his actions, characters sufficient to prevent the possibility of confusion; but if we direct his attention to one of the most simple indi- viduals in the series of animals, he is compelled to admit that a closer scrutiny is requisite to determine to what kingdom to allot the individual. The case which I have supposed is not an imagined one; the history of the progress of Zoology in- forms us of the difficulty experienced by the earlier naturalists in deciding upon the animality of several, of the most simple animals. It is well known that the celebrated botanist, Tournefort, formed nine genera of his 17th family of plants from polypes, known to himself and others his contemporaries; and Trembley devoted much time and performed many experi- ments to decide whether the Water Hydra was an animal or a vegetable. More accurate and careful examinations soon led naturalists to discover the fraud thus committed on the animal kingdom; and the corals and sponges, so universally con- sidered as marine plants, were proved to be the productions of myriads of animals exhibiting in their structure the most simple grade of animal existence; and when Trembley saw the little Hydra, without bone or muscle, protrude its tentacula.