Unpublished paper, 'Minute structure of the organ of taste in vertebrate animals' by Augustus [Volney] Waller

Description

Waller states that, in 1839, his attention was first directed to the organ of taste on discovering the peculiar advantages for microscopic examination which are offered by the tongue of the living frog. When prepared in the manner he describes, it is much more transparent than the web of the foot; and its papillae, mucous membrane, blood vessels, nerves and muscular fibres may all be examined during life. He subsequently found that, contrary to the opinion of anatomists, it contains two species of papillae distinct in their structure, corresponding to the conical and fungiform papillae of man.

Annotations in pencil and ink throughout. Followed by two anatomical drawings of the structure of the tongue.

Subject: Physiology

Received 16 March 1848. Communicated by Richard Owen.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 5 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'Minute structure of the organ of taste in vertebrate animals. Part I'.

Reference number

AP/30/20

Earliest possible date

1848

Physical description

Ink and graphite pencil on paper

Page extent

9 pages

Format

Drawing
Manuscript