Hooper, Robert [Editor]: The Anatomist's Vade-Mecum: Containing The Anatomy, Physiology, Morbid Appearances, &c. Of The Human Body ; The Art of making Anatomical Preparations, &c. To which are added Anatomical, Physiological, Medical, And Surgical Examinations For Students (London, 1811)

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drink. Of the organ of hearing, it is concluded, he
knew little, for he only mentions the tympanum.
As to the brain, which he thought a gland, (an idea
which has since been erroneously supposed to be-
long to Malpighi,^) the nerves and their uses, vision
and the senses, he was totally ignorant as to the
causes ; yet he makes the brain the seat of wisdom.
The glands he imperfectly understood. The Pytha-
gorean doctrines of conception, generation, and
pregnancy, are, in general, absurd and super-
stitious ; as likewise his notions of the Pythagorean
numbers, which seem to have been the prevailing phi-
losophical foliies of the day. On moles, false con-
ceptions, and the nourishment of thefuetus, a rational
judgment is formed; he comprehended the commu-
nication from the mother to the fa^tus by means of
the umbilical cord ; though, in another place, he
supposes that it absorbs nutriment by the mouthy
and from the surrounding fluid in the ovum.

After Hippocrates, anatomy continued to be im-
proved ; but, as opportunities were extremely li-
mited, from the prejudices of mankind, its progress
was but slow, and chiefly confined to the two schools
of Athens and Alexandria. In the former, the
name of Socrates, Plato, Xenopiion, Aris-
totle, and Theophrastus, are still preserved
along with many of the!/' works : and, although we,

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