DUVERNEY, [Guichard Joseph].

A Leide [Leiden]: Chez Joh. Arn. Langerak, 1731

12mo, pp. (xxiv), 196, (7) Langerak’s catalogue, and 16 folding engraved plates. Title-page in red and black. Contemporary mottled calf (upper joint and head of spine neatly repaired), spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, marbled endpapers, a nice copy Two small library stamps in the lower margin of text leaves; bookplate of Richard J. Bennett.

Second edition. The first scientific account of the structure, function and diseases of the ear. “Duverney was the first to depict the arteries, veins, and nerve branches of the auricle, the first to demonstrate that the bony part of the external auditory meatus originates from the annulus tympanicum, and the first to describe and illustrate the communication between the tympanic cavity and the cells of the mastoid process. He corrected a long-standing error by stating that the Eustachian tube was not an organ of breathing or hearing…” (Norman). Duverney pointed out that sound is conducted by the bones of the skull, and first suggested the theory of hearing later developed by, and accredited to, Helmholtz. See G&M 1545 and 3351 (first edition of 1683). For a full account of this book’s content and importance, see Stevenson & Guthrie, pp. 38–39, and Politzer, History of Otology pp. 117–124: “…a milestone in the science of otology…”

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