Skip to content

Please be aware that some material may contain words, descriptions or illustrations which will not reflect current scientific understanding and may be considered in today's context inaccurate, unethical, offensive or distressing.

Paper, 'An observation of an infant, where the braine was depressed into the hollow of the vertebrae of the neck' by Dr Edward Tyson

Reference number: CLP/13/7

Date: 1697

Description

Tyson describes an infant who died just after birth, having been born with a skull depressed above the eyebrows down into the spine. The autopsy revealed that the brain had also been pressed down into the neck.

Subject: Anatomy

Published in Philosophical Transactions as 'An observation of an infant, where the brain was depressed into the hollow of the vertebræ of the neck'.

Read to the Royal Society on 12 May 1697.

Reference number
CLP/13/7
Earliest possible date
1697
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
2 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

Edward Tyson

View page for Edward Tyson

Use this record

Citation

Edward Tyson, Paper, 'An observation of an infant, where the braine was depressed into the hollow of the vertebrae of the neck' by Dr Edward Tyson, 1697, CLP/13/7, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/clp_13_7/paper-an-observation-of-an-infant-where-the-braine-was-depressed-into-the-hollow-of-the-vertebrae-of-the-neck-by-dr-edward-tyson, accessed on 04 December 2025

Link to this record

Embed this record

<iframe src="https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/embed/items/clp_13_7/paper-an-observation-of-an-infant-where-the-braine-was-depressed-into-the-hollow-of-the-vertebrae-of-the-neck-by-dr-edward-tyson" title="Paper, 'An observation of an infant, where the braine was depressed into the hollow of the vertebrae of the neck' by Dr Edward Tyson" allow="fullscreen" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe>

Hierarchy

This item is part of:

Related Fellows

Explore the collection

  • Classified Papers

    The 'Classified Papers' of the Royal Society are papers from British and international natural philosophers and scholars categorised according to subject areas.

    Dates: 1592 - 1741

    View collection