92 APPENDIX. 



" The stylo is simple, plain, intelligible— the descrip- 

 *^tions brief and accurate — the arrangement lucid, 

 <^ and the whole work altogether worthy of his talents. 

 <^ However numerous the writings of anatomists, I 

 ^^ have no hesitation in declaring this by far the most 

 ^< easily understood, and by far the best fitted for the 

 ^' purposes intended." 



Anatomy has been so much studied both by the 

 ancients and moderns, and so many excellent works 

 have been published on the subject, that any disco- 

 very, at this time of day, was scarcely to be expected. 

 Yet, it is supposed to be without doubt, that Wistar 

 was the first who observed and described the posterior 

 portion of the ethmoid bone in its most perfect state, 

 viz. with the triangular boues attached to it. Of this 

 he has given an accurate description in the volume of 

 our Transactions now in the press. On the subject 

 of that discovery he received, a few days before his 

 death, a letter from Professor Soemmering, of the 

 kingdom of Bavaria, one of the most celebrated ana- 

 tomists in Europe, of which the following is an ex- 

 tract : <* The neat specimen of the sphenoid and eth- 

 " moid bones, are an invaluable addition to my ana- 

 ^' tomical collection, having never seen them myself, 

 "in such a perfect state. 1 shall now be very atten- 

 " tive to examine these processes of the ethmoid bone 



