MKMOIUS Ol-' TIIH NATIONAL ACADEMY OK SCIKXCE.S. 207 



NV.iHor, Unman Osteology, Berlin, 1798, says: 



•• It is rail' that tlu' eutiro lioiic Ih ossifiod. It ocimiih only in vory aUvanrod nRo." 



Tlie roiiclusittn which one draws tVom th(!se statciuents is tiiat the ^'reat cornna of the liyoid 

 biine leiuaiu free even in olil a^^e in the majority of examples upon wliieii tliese observations have 

 been made, and all these authorities seem to aj;ree that it is only at a very advanced period of life 

 that any of the hyoidean elements coiissify. Taking for f,'ranted that the observations of German 

 anatomists have been made upon German materials for the most part, one can safely say, if these 

 statements be correct, that this is tlie normal condition of the German hyoid. 



French anatomists make a difl'ereut statement. Sappey, iu his Traiti cPatiatomit: dtscriptirc, 

 18G7-72, says: 



"At 40 or 50 years, ofttimes before that period, the groat cornna are joined to tlio body. The little liorns are 

 alao sometimes joined to the body, but only in old ago." 



Boyer, Traitv (Vanatomie, 1803-'9, says: 

 "With age the groat cornna aro joined to the body. Tlio Kiiiall coinua also unite, but this happens much later." 



Crnvcilhier, Anatomic descriptive, 1844, says: 



" All the pieces are at first separated by considerable portions of cartilage, afterwards by a very thin layer, which 

 sometimes remains during life." 



Portal, Conrs d'anatomie tnedicale, 1803, says: 

 " The borders of the body and the middle of the greater horns ossify first, but they remain epiphyses for a long 

 time, or separated from the body of the bone by a portion not ossified, and which hardens with age. The small 

 cornna remain still longer without ossifying; but in old age not only are all the pieces of the hyoid united, but the 

 stylohyoid ligament is ossified." 



Beauuis and Bouchard, Nouveaux £l6ments d'anatomie descriptive, 1873, say: 

 "The great cornna are sometimes united to the body by a true movable articulation. The small cornna are habitu- 

 ally movable upon the rest of the bone." 



One would be leil to infer from these statements that the normal condition of the French hyoid, 

 allowing that the observations of the French anatomists have been made npon French subjects, is 

 the complete consolidation of all the tive elements and, if Sappey's statement can be trusted, at a 

 comparatively early period of life, so far at least as the great cornua are concerned. 



It is a difficult matter to reconcile these statements of the French and German anatomists 

 otherwise than upon the ground of dilierence iu t^he structure of the hyoid itself in these two peo- 

 ples. It would be interesting to determine the truth or falsity of this suppo.sition. 



English anatomists agree more nearly with the French iu their statements of the hyoidean 

 pieces. Flower, in his Osteology of the Mammalia, 1870, says of the human hyoid: 



•'The thyrohyals or great cornna of the hyoid bone are elongated, nearly straight, and somewhat compressed. 

 They usually become anchylosed before miildlo life with the outer extremity of the basihyal." 



Holdeii, Human Osteology, 1885, says: 

 " Until the middle period of life the great cornua are united to the body by cartUage, but this ossifies in the prog- 

 ress of age." 



n. Hyde Salter, in Todd's Cyclopwdia of Anatomy and Physiology, article, "Tongues," says: 



" Ossification begins in the greater cornua; it then takes place in the body, where it begins soon after birtli, and 

 finally in the lesser cornua, where it does not commence until snme time after. It proceeds but slowly, and gener- 

 ally leaves a thin lamina of cartilage unossiflod, so that complete anchylosis into one bono is comparatively rare." 



Erasmus Wilson, Human Anatomy, 1859, says: 



" In early ago and in the adult the cornua are connected with the body by cartilaginous surfaces and ligamentous 

 fibres, but in old age they become united by bono." 



In Gray's Anatomj it is stated : 



"In youth the cornua are connected to the body by cartilaginous surfaces and held together by ligaments; in 

 middle life the body and greater cornua usually become joined, and in old age all the segments are united together, 

 forming a single bone." 



Morton, Human Anatomy, 1849, says: 

 "The cornua are connected to the body by a distinct movable articulation, which generally, however, becomes 

 anchylosed later in life." 



