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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On the functions of the membrana tympani, the ossicles and muscles of the tympanum, and of the eustachian tube in the human ear, with an account of the muscles of the eustachian tube and their action in different classes of animals' by Joseph Toynbee

Reference number: AP/33/27

Date: 1852

Description

Toynbee shares observations on the general arrangements of the ossicula auditus, the small bones of the middle ear. The malleus and incus being firmly connected together by ligaments are considered as a single bone, forming an elastic arch, the anterior extremity of which is firmly attached to the Glasserian fissure, the posterior to the anterior part of the mastoid cells. This arch is kept steady by the actions of the tensor tympani. The movement of this arch is that of rotation; and it is effected by the tensor tympani muscle. When this muscle contracts, the lower part of the arch, consisting of the handle of the malleus and the long process of the incus, is drawn inwards; by this action the membrana tympani is rendered tense, and the stapes being pressed towards the cavity of the labyrinth, the fluid in the latter is compressed.

Includes one page of anatomical drawings of the inner ear.

Subject: Anatomy

Received 15 June 1852. Read 17 June 1852. Withdrawn 28 October 1852.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 6 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On the functions of the membrana tympani, the ossicles and muscles of the tympanum, and of the eustachian tube in the human ear, with an account of the muscles of the eustachian tube and their action in different classes of animals'.

Reference number
AP/33/27
Earliest possible date
1852
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
38 pages
Format
Drawing
Manuscript

Creator name

Joseph Toynbee

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Citation

Joseph Toynbee, Unpublished paper, 'On the functions of the membrana tympani, the ossicles and muscles of the tympanum, and of the eustachian tube in the human ear, with an account of the muscles of the eustachian tube and their action in different classes of animals' by Joseph Toynbee, 1852, AP/33/27, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_33_27/unpublished-paper-on-the-functions-of-the-membrana-tympani-the-ossicles-and-muscles-of-the-tympanum-and-of-the-eustachian-tube-in-the-human-ear-with-an-account-of-the-muscles-of-the-eustachian-tube-and-their-action-in-different-classes-of-animals-by-joseph-toynbee, accessed on 18 May 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_33_27/unpublished-paper-on-the-functions-of-the-membrana-tympani-the-ossicles-and-muscles-of-the-tympanum-and-of-the-eustachian-tube-in-the-human-ear-with-an-account-of-the-muscles-of-the-eustachian-tube-and-their-action-in-different-classes-of-animals-by-joseph-toynbee

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    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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