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1661.) In a letter to his former teacher, Th. Bartholinus, on April 

 22nd, 1661, he tolls 08 :— 



" A year ago I was received in a friendly way by Blasius. At my request he allowed 

 me to dissect, with my own hand, whatever I cared to buy. T was so fortunate that, 

 on the first sheep's head which I l>ought and dissected alone in my own room, on April 

 7th, to discover a canal or duct that, so far as I know, no anatomist has described. As I 

 reflected the skin, and was proceeding to dissect the brain, it occurred to me to dissect 

 first of all the blood vessels that surround the mouth. In doing so, the point of my 

 scalpel passed into a wide cavity, and I heard, on pushing on the steel, that it struck 

 the teeth. Astonished at this discovery, I called to Blasius to ask his opinion. He took 

 down Wharton's book to find the solution." 



He also found the duct in the dog. At that time no one knew 

 how saliva was formed. Some thought it came from the brain, 

 others from the lymph, and some, again, from the papillae of the 

 tongue. In 1664, he published and dedicated to Friedrich III. his 

 work on muscle and gland, Observ. Anat. de Muse, et Glandid. Specimen. 

 (Hafn. 1664.) Haller, a century later, called this work an " aureus 

 libellus," or "golden opuscule." The heart was recognised as 

 muscular in its nature. Malpighi and Borelli knew that the heart was 

 muscular, and the latter had calculated the force of its contraction. 

 But Borelli's work was not published until 1680. Stensen speaks of 

 the fibres of the heart, and compares the arrangement of some of 

 them to the figure 8. He also busied himself with embryology. In 

 this connection there is the excellent work of Fabricius. 



Disappointed, perhaps, at not obtaining the Chair of Anatomy in 

 Copenhagen — Matthias Jacobsen was appointed — heleft Denmark, and 

 once more wandered forth, this time to Paris, where he arrived about 

 1664. In Lutetia he made the acquaintance and lived in the house of the 

 French Mecamas, Thevenot (1692). His acquaintance with Thevenot 

 proved of great advantage to him, for it gave him an entry to scientific 

 circles. In Paris he gave a lecture — Discovers sur VAnatomie da 

 Cerveau — on the nervous system. J. B. Winslow, his countryman, 

 Professor of Physic, Anatomy, and Surgery in Paris, has incorporated 

 it in his Anatomy (1749). 



The following are some extracts of this remarkable lecture from 

 the English translation of Winslow's Works, by G. Douglas, M.D. : — 



"The late M. Steno's Discourse on the Anatomy of the Brain was the sole original 

 source, and general rule of my conduct in all that I have done in anatomy ; and I have 

 inserted in it the description of the head, believing that I should oblige my readers by 

 reprinting a piece which was become very scarce, and which contains a great many 

 excellent advices how to shun errors and discover truth, not only in relation to the 

 structure and uses of the parts, but also in relation to the way of dissecting and of 

 making anatomical figures. 



" A Dissertation on the Anatomy of the Brain, by M. Steno, read in the assembly 

 held at M. Thevenot' s House in the year 1668. Instead of promising that I shall satisfy 

 your curiosity in what relates to the Anatomy of the Brain, I begin by publicly 

 and frankly owning that I know nothing of the matter. I wish I were the only person 



