Comparative Anatomy

Comparative Anatomy, as distinguished from special anatomy (see ANATOMY), is the science which examines and compares the structure of two or more different kinds of animal, so as to discover their points of resemblance and unlikeness; and as such it is a most important department of the science of Biology (q.v.; see also CUVIER). In this work the articles in the various groups of animals (see BIRD, MAMMALS, REPTILES, &c.) deal with the resembling and contrasted features of these groups. 'Comparative' is used in an analogous sense in connection with philology and physiology.