MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 39 



pursuits, we make the following quotations : " Some 

 time before I quitted my anatomical pursuits in the 

 year 1760, I had discovered the organ of hearing in 

 fishes, and had the parts exposed and preserved in 

 spirits. In some, the canals were filled with co- 

 loured injections, which shewed them to great ad- 

 vantage, and others were so prepared as to fit them 

 for dried preparations. Of what I then accomplish- 

 ed I now present a brief sketch, reserving a more 

 complete examination of the subject for a larger 

 work, on the structure of animals, which I one day 

 hope" (but never realized) " to have it in my 

 power to publish. I had these parts also injected in 

 other animals, both with wax and metals, which, 

 when separated from the bone, make elegant casts of 

 these canals. My researches in that, and in every 

 part of the animal economy, have been continued 

 ever since. I am still inclined to consider what is 

 jmcommon in the structure of this organ in fishes, as 

 only a link in the chain of varieties displayed in its 

 formation in different animals, descending from the 

 most perfect to the more imperfect in a regular pro- 

 gression. The preparations to illustrate these facts 

 have been ever since shewn in my collection to both 

 the curious in this country, and to foreigners. In 

 shewing what was new, or supposed to be new, the 

 ear of fishes was always considered by me as one 

 important article. 



" It varies in different genera of fishes, but in all, 

 it consists of three curved bones, which unite oae 



