98 DR. E. KLEIN. 
Contrizutions to the Minuts Anatomy of the Nasa Mucous 
Mempranr. By EH. Kuern, M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on 
Histology and Embryology, in the Medical School of St. 
Bartholomew’s Hospital. (With Plate VIL.) 
In the present paper I propose to describe the structure of 
the organ of Jacobson, and of the mucous membrane lining the 
anterior portion of the nasal cavity in the adult guinea-pig, and 
in future papers, soon to follow, to extend these observations to 
the same organs in the rabbit, mouse, dog, ape, and man. 
I.—The Organ of Jacobson. 
The organ of Jacobson of mammals, as is well known, is 
situated bilaterally in the lower or osseous part of the septum 
narium, or more correctly speaking, in the crista nasalis of the 
superior maxillary bones. Its general morphology and develop- 
ment has been studied by Gratiolet,? Born,? and Fleischer.* 
Its minute structure is, however, little known. A rudiment of 
the organ of Jacobson exists also in man, as Dursy, and espe- 
cially Kolliker,® very clearly proves. Kolker found it in the 
foetus, in the child, and also in the adult; and in this last 
instance he identified it as the duct described by T. Fr. Meckel 
and by Sommering in the lower part of the nasal septum. But 
about its histology Kolliker does not give any detailed account, 
owing to the want of suitable material. 
I have investigated the structure of the organ of Jacobson of 
the adult guinea-pig, in specimens suitably prepared for micro- 
scopic examination, and [ am thus enabled to give a detailed 
account of the parts composing it. 
The preparations were obtained by placing the nasal organ, together 
with the upper maxillaries, after having previously removed the osseous 
covering in 1 p. c. solution of osmic acid for 24 hours; after this, in abso- 
lute alcohol for 24—48 hours; a very minute quantity of hydrochlorie 
acid is then added, and thus the bone softened. But I have obtained very 
good specimens by placing the fresh organ first in absolute alcohol, then 
in osmic acid, and then into the macerating fluid; or, the fresh organ is 
placed in Miiller’s fluid for two or three weeks, and then in a mixture 
of chromic acid 3 p. c., and hydrochloric acid a few drops (about 3; volume 
being always used). 
1 This part of the present paper is published in the ‘St. Bartholomew’s 
Hospital Reports’ for 1880. 
2 Recherches sur l’organe de Jacobson,’ Paris, 1845. 
; ‘Sitzung. d. naturw. Section, August, 1877, Schlesisch Ges. f. Vaterl. 
Cultur, } {: 
4 «Sitzungsb. d. Phys. Med. Sociétat,’ Erlangen, 1877. 
> *Gratulationschrift an Fr. v. Rinecker,’ Leipzig, 1877. 
