8/6/07

Incus, the Latin word for anvil; the middle of the three auditory ossicles. Vesalius (1514-1564), though probably not the first to note the bone's anvil-like shape, did give it its name.


An anvil typical of the Roman era, here on a tree stump; the anvil of Vesalius's time, more than a thousand years hence, was basically unchanged in appearance. A woodcut copy of an Roman engraving, modified from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd Edition by Anthony Rich. 1874


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The incus (5 X 7 mm) and a dime (18 mm in diameter). The incus drawing is modified from www.anatomyatlases.org

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