A Comparative View of the Human and Animal Frame

A Comparative View of the Human and Animal Frame by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was published in 1860. This work fits into the second category of materials on the History of Science and Technology Web site, that is, unique or valuable titles in science and technology held by the UW-Madison Libraries. Hawkins’ intent was “to give a comparative view of the variation in form of the bony skeleton or framework of those animals most frequently required by the artist, designer, or ornamentist.” The animals represented are some of the most familiar and important, such as the lion, the horse, the bear, the gorilla, and others. The textual explanations of variation in animal form did not yet reflect the influence of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory, but the detailed illustrations added much to the understanding of mammalian anatomy.