MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 
89 
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 tlie parts exposed and preserved in 
spirits. In some, the canals were filled with co- 
loured injections, which shewed them to great ad- 
t'antage, 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 
"'ork, on the structure of animals, which I one day 
fiope” ^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, 
tvhen 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 
orer since. I am still inclined to consider what is 
Oocommon 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 
Oiost perfect to the more imperfect in a regular pro- 
&*'es8ion. The preparations to illustrate these facts 
fiave been ever since shewn in my collection to both 
‘fie curious in this country, and to foreigners. In 
afiewing what was new, or supposed to be new, the 
®ai of fishes was always considered by me as one 
^®portant article. 
_ “ It varies in different genera of fishes, but in all, 
consists of three curved bones, which unite one 
