302 Dr Crmgic's Observations on the 



so little, and tfiat on every occasion he finds it requisite to make 

 apologies for dissenting from the oracle of antiquity. 



Besides the general accuracy which he has introduced into ana- 

 tomical description, he verified the observation of Etienne on the 

 valves of the hepatic veins, described the vena azygos, and disco- 

 vered the canal which passes in the foetus between the umbilical 

 vein and vena cava^ since named the ductus venosus. He de- 

 scribed the omentum, and its connexion with the stomach, spleen, 

 and colon ; gave the first correct views of the structure of the 

 pylorus ; remarked the small size of the Caecal appendix in 

 man ; gave a good account of the mediastinum and pleura ; and 

 the most complete description of the anatomy of the brain yet 

 advanced. He appears, however, not to have understood the 

 inferior recesses ; and his account of the nerves is confused by 

 regarding the optic as the first pair, the fifth or trigeminal as 

 the third, and confounding the seventh or lateral facial, and the 

 eighth or auditory, imder one head as the fifth. 



Though the efforts of Vesalius were in the highest degree fa- 

 vourable to the cultivation of human anatomy, they tended to 

 throw discredit and contempt for some time on animal anatomy, 

 which was henceforward either abandoned or pursued only in a 

 languid and ineffectual manner. The example of Vesalius was 

 indeed followed by numerous emulous competitors for distinction, 

 some in Italy, others in France. In 154B, Cannani of Ferrara 

 published his valuable engravings, and contributed to rectify the 

 notions of anatomists on the muscles. Osteology at the same 

 time found an assiduous cultivator in John Philip Ingrassias, 

 a Sicilian physician, who, in a learned commentary on the os- 

 teology of Galen in 1546, corrected numerous mistakes, and 

 gave several accurate descriptions from the natural objects. Of 

 these his accounts of the sphenoid and ethmoid bones are excel- 

 lent examples ; and if Eustachiusand Fallopius at the same time 

 described the third tympanal bone termed stapes, the latter can- 

 didly allows to Ingrassias the merit of discovery. He knew also 

 the mastoid cells, the two fenestr<ie, the chorda tympani, the se- 

 micircular canals, and the cochlea. For this minute acquaint- 

 ance with the organ of hearing, and especially for the discovery 

 of the stapes, Ingrassias acknowledges be was indebted to his 

 dissection of the heads of oxen and other large animals. After 



