XXXVII. 



Ube Uongue anb Speech 



A YEAR ago, when strolling through that most notable 

 of picture galleries at The Hague, I took a welcome 

 siesta in front of that striking picture of Rembrandt's 

 "The Lesson in Anatomy." Doubtless the picture has 

 a gruesome look to the non-scientific mind ; but as a 

 representation of a dissertation on the bodily structure, 

 such as was given in the olden days, it has, of course, 

 no rival. Standing out prominently amid the lights 

 and shades of that valuable canvas, one figure arrests 

 the attention of the spectator. It is the professor or 

 demonstrator who is expounding the structure of the 

 dead body to his audience. 



For a while, I puzzled myself where I had met with 

 the name of the learned Dr. Nicolas Tulp, of Amster- 

 dam, whom Rembrandt has thus immortalised in his 

 picture. A retrospective mental glance served, however, 

 to fix the source of my impression. I had been diving 

 into the literature of that most curious topic, the tongue 

 in relation to speech, and had met with a reference to 

 a notable work whereof the worthy Tulp was the author. 

 He was born in 1593, and died in 1674, and, by all 

 accounts, was a man learned in medicine and surgery, 

 and esteemed as a good citizen and patriot as well. 

 Four times was he elected Burgomaster of his well- 



