Vicq d'Azyr (Fig. 40), more than any other man, holds the chief rank as a comparative anatomist before the advent of Cuvier into the same field. He was born in 1748, the son of a physician, and went to Paris at the age of seventeen to study medicine, remaining in the metropolis to the time of his death in 1794. He was celebrated as a physician, became permanent secretary of the newly founded Academy of Medicine, consulting physician to the queen, and occupied other positions of trust and responsibility. He married the niece of Daubenton, and, largely through his influence, was advanced to social place and recognition. On the death of Buffon, in 1788, he took the seat of that distinguished naturalist as a member of the French Academy.
Fig. 40.—Vicq d'Azyr, 1748-1794.
He made extensive studies upon the organization particularly of birds and quadrupeds, making comparisons between their structure, and bringing out new points that were superior to anything yet published. His comparisons of the limbs of man and animals, showing a correspondence between the flexor and extensor muscles of the legs and arms, were made with great exactness, and they served to mark the beginning of a new kind of precise comparison. These were not merely fanciful comparisons, but exact ones—part for part; and his general considerations based upon these comparisons were of a brilliant character.
As Huxley has said, "he may be considered as the founder of the modern science of anatomy." His work on the structure of the brain was the most exact which had appeared up to that time, and in his studies on the brain he entered into broad comparisons as he had done in the study of the other parts of the animal organization.
He died at the age of forty-six, without being able to complete a large work on human anatomy, illustrated with colored figures. This work had been announced and entered upon, but only that part relating to the brain had appeared at the time of his death. Besides drawings of the exterior of the brain, he made sections; but he was not able to determine with any particular degree of accuracy the course of fiber tracks in the brain. This was left for other workers. He added many new facts to those of his predecessors, and by introducing exact comparisons in anatomy he opened the field for Cuvier.
Cuvier.—When Cuvier, near the close of the eighteenth century, committed himself definitely to the progress of natural science, he found vast accumulations of separate monographs to build upon, but he undertook to dissect representatives of all the groups of animals, and to found his comparative anatomy on personal observations. The work of Vicq d'Azyr marked the highest level of attainment, and afforded a good model of what comparisons should be; but Cuvier had even larger ideas in reference to the scope of comparative anatomy than had his great predecessor.
The particular feature of Cuvier's service was that in his investigations he covered the whole field of animal organization from the lowest to the highest, and uniting his results with what had already been accomplished, he established comparative anatomy on broad lines as an independent branch of natural science. Almost at the outset he conceived the idea of making a comprehensive study of the structure of the animal kingdom. It was fortunate that he began his investigations with thorough work upon the invertebrated animals; for from this view-point there was gradually unfolded to his great mind the plan of organization of the entire series of animals. Not only is a knowledge of the structure of the simplest animals an essential in understanding that of the more modified ones, but the more delicate work required in dissecting them gives invaluable training for anatomizing those of more complex construction. The value attached to this part of his training by Cuvier is illustrated by the advice that he gave to a young medical student who brought to his attention a supposed discovery in anatomy. "Are you an entomologist?" inquired Cuvier. "No," said the young man. "Then," replied Cuvier, "go first and anatomize an insect, and return to me; and if you still believe that your observations are discoveries I will then believe you."