MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 207 



\V, liter, Human Osteology, Berlin, 1798, says: 



It i.s rare that the entire bone is ossified. It occurs only in very advanced ago.&quot; 



The conclusion which one draws from these statements is that the great cornua of the hyoid 

 bone remain tree even in old age in the majority of examples upon which these observations have 

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

 that any of the hyoidean elements coiissify. Taking for granted 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 the normal condition of the German hyoid. 



French anatomists make a different statement. Sappey, in his Traite d anatomie descriptirc, 

 18G7- 7:i, says: 



&quot;At 40 or 50 years, ofttimes before that period, the great cornua are joined to the body. The little horns are 

 also sometimes joined to the body, but only in old age.&quot; 



Boyer, Traite d&quot; 1 anatomic, 1803- 9, says: 



With ago the great cornua are joined to the body. The small cornua also unite, but this happens much later.&quot; 

 Cruveilhier, Anatomic descriptive, 1844, says: 



&quot; All the pieces are at lirst separated by considerable portions of cartilage, afterwards by a very thin layer, which 

 sometimes remains during life.&quot; 



Portal, Cours (Vanatomie medicate, 1803, says: 



&quot; 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 iiot ossified, and which hardens with age. The small 

 coruua 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.&quot; 



Beaunis and Bouchard, Nouveaux Elements (Vanatomie descriptive, 1873, say: 



&quot; The great cornua are sometimes united to the body by a true movable articulation . The small cornua are habitu 

 ally movable upon the rest of the bone.&quot; 



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

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

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

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



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

 otherwise than upon the ground of difference in the structure of the hyoid itself in these two peo 

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



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

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



&quot;The thyrohyals or great coruua of the hyoid bone are elongated, nearly straight, and somewhat compressed. 

 They usually become anchylosed before middle life with the outer extremity of the basihyal.&quot; 



Iloldeu, Human Oxteology, 1885, says: 



&quot;Until the middle period of life the great cornua are united to the body by cartilage, but this ossifies in the prog 

 ress of age.&quot; 



H. Hyde Salter, in Todays Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, article, &quot;Tongues,&quot; says: 



&quot; Ossification begins in the greater cornua; it then takes place in the body, where it begins soon after birth, and 

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

 ally leaves a thin lamina of cartilage unossified, so that complete anchylosis into one bone is comparatively rare.&quot; 



Krasmus Wilson, Human Anatomy, 1859, says: 



&quot; In early age and in the adult the cornua are connected with the body by cartilaginous surfaces and Iigamciitous 

 fibres, but in old ago they become united by bone,&quot; 



In Gray s Anatomy it is stated : 



&quot;In youth the eornua are connected to the body by cartilaginous surfaces and held together by ligaments; in 

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

 funning a single bone.&quot; 



Morton, Unman Anatomy, 1849, says: 



&quot;Tin- eornua are connected to the body by a distinct movable articulation, which generally, however, becomes 

 auchylosed later in life.&quot; 



