Catalogue of the specimens illustrating the osteology and dentition of vertebrated animals, recent and extinct, contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Homo sapiens, Linn / by William Henry Flower.

  • Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Catalogue of the specimens illustrating the osteology and dentition of vertebrated animals, recent and extinct, contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Homo sapiens, Linn / by William Henry Flower. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    been incorporated into a framework not sufficiently compre- hensive or elastic to adapt itself to its reception. Under the circumstances, the best principle appeared to be not to attempt, with the present greatly enlarged collection, to give a minute description of every individual specimen, as had pi'eviously been done, but rather to aim at making a complete list of the contents of this department of the Museum, arranged upon a system which should combine modern scientific views of classification with convenience of reference and capability of ex- tension, and to pay great attention to accuracy of nomenclature, and especially to the preservation of every record relating to the history and authenticity of each specimen, laying stress on all particulars which are not to be seen in the specimen itself, rather than on those which can at any time readily be found there. To do this a very great amount of time has been consumed in searching through old documents, letters, and publications, though often with little visible result; and, notwithstanding- all the pains taken, some specimens will be found in the Catalogue, received into the collection in former times, the history of which is doubtful or unknown. That the value of the former full descriptions may be retained, references will be given in the new Catalogue to its predecessors in all instances of specimens mentioned in them. As the additions to the collection have been especially numerous among the specimens illustrating the anatomy of Man and the higher forms of Vertebrates, it has been con- sidered advisable to reverse the order of the last Catalogue, and commence at the higher instead of the lower end of