ABSTRACT
The title Transcendental Anatomy is used to distinguish that division of biological science which treats, not of the structures of individual organisms considered separately, but of the general principles of structure common to vast and varied groups of organisms, — the unity of plan discernible throughout multitudinous species, genera, and orders, which differ widely in appearance. Closely related to the general truth that the evolution of all organisms is carried on by combined differentiations and integrations, is another general truth, which physiologists appear not to have recognized. It is not, of course, asserted that the more special physiological truths can be deductively reached. It will be seen that the method of restoration contended for, is based on the alleged physiological necessity of the connexion between the several peculiarities. The conception of “the physiological division of labour”, which political economy has already supplied to physiology, is one of no small value.
