[f. SOMATO- + -LOGY, or ad. mod.L. somatologia (O. Casmann, 1596). Cf. F. somatologie (1762).]
1. A treatise or science dealing with the properties of bodies.
1736. Bailey (fol.), Pref. Somatology, a Discourse of Matter or Substance in the General, the Natures and inseparable Properties of Bodies.
181321. Bentham, Ontology, Wks. 1843, VIII. 195/1. Somatology, the only branch of physics that comes under the cognisance of sense.
2. A treatise or science dealing with the human body in some respect.
1851. Dunglison, Dict. Med. Sci., Somatology. A treatise on the human body. Anatomy.
1868. Porter, Human Intellect (1870), § 3. 7. Somatology signifies the science of the body only, and is subdivided into anatomy and physiology.
1898. D. G. Brinton, in Haddon, Study of Man, 491. Somatology.Physical and Experimental Anthropology.