COMPARATIVE ANATOMY

comparative anatomy, a term employed to designate the study of the structure of man as compared with that of lower animals, and sometimes the study of lower animals in contra-distinction to human anatomy; the term is now falling into desuetude, and lingers practically only in the titles of books or in the designation of university chairs. the change in terminology is chiefly the result of modern conceptions of zoology. from the point of view of structure, man is one of the animals; all investigations into anatomical structure must be comparative, and in this work the subject is so treated throughout. see anatomy and zoology.