Mikrokosmographia a description of the body of man. Together vvith the controuersies thereto belonging. Collected and translated out of all the best authors of anatomy, especially out of Gasper Bauhinus and Andreas Laurentius. By Helkiah Crooke Doctor of Physicke, physitian to His Maiestie, and his Highnesse professor in anatomy and chyrurgerie. Published by the Kings Maiesties especiall direction and warrant according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the author.

CHAP. XXVI. Of the Nose which is the instrmment of Smelling.

HAuing absolued the Historie of those many particles which belong vnto the sense of hearing we will now come to the third outward sense which is the Smelling. As therefore wee sayd in the Eare that there was an outward Eare and an inward Eare, so must we also diuide the Nose into an outward and inward. The outward Nose carryeth with it, sayth Laurentius, a kind of beauty, yea of maiestie; and the Egyptians in their Hyeroglyphicks signified a wise and * 1.1 prudent man by a nose: and Festus calleth such wise men Nasutos, as if they were able to sent or smell the politicke stratagems of other men. Besides man, onely those creatures * 1.2 haue this outward Nose that haue foure feete and bring forth liuing ones, as for birds and serpents (saith Aristotle in the 16. chapter of of his second booke de partibus Animalium) & * 1.3 and those foure footed beasts that lay egges, they haue onely 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, holes of the Nose, which are not so compassed or formed that you may call them Noses; vnlesse it bee because they breathe and smell by them. As for those Creatures which doe not breathe, they haue no Nose or holes at all, but other instruments of this sence, some smell by their gills, some by their fistula or pipe or trunke, some otherwayes, as some of those wee call Insecta.

This outward Nose is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by Aristotle in the 11. chapter of his first booke de hi∣storia * 1.4 Animalium, and in the 16. booke de partibus Animalium, as also by Galen in his booke de olfactus instrumento. The word seemeth to be deriued from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because through the Nose the excrement and superfluities of the head doe fall away. Others call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because of the mucous matter or phlegmaticke excrement which distilleth through it. If we should describe the Nose, we must say that it is a protuberating or strutting part of the * 1.5 face, making a way for the Ayre, for by it we receiue it in and auoyde it out againe: some say it is a defence forthe instruments of smelling, when as indeed they are not contained in the Nose, but remaine within the skull. Yet we will not deny but that it is an assistant to them, for if the Nose were away we should not smell without all question.

It is scituated betwixt the Eyes, for the part whereby wee breathe ought to bee in * 1.6 the middest and before. Nature therefore placed it in the middest betweene three other senses, the Sight, the Hearing and the Tast, and in a straight line that the respiration might not be interrupted but passe freely to and fro.

Moreouer it is placed saith Cicero in his second book de natura Deorum, aboue; because O∣dours flie vpward and therefore from aboue are more commodiously receiued. Add here∣to it that standeth vs in good steed to smell our meats & drinks being so neere the mouth, which instinct Nature hath giuen also to bruite beasts, as we may see especially in Apes who first smell to a thing before they will eate it. In a man the chiefe vse of the position of the Nose is for beauty and elegancie.

The Basis of the Nose aboue is broade and groweth into a blunt end downeward, or rather, saith Laurentius, it beginneth with a sharpe point from the inward Angles or cor∣ners of the eyes, and endeth at the beginning of the lips.

It is diuided into an vpper part which is immoueable and bony, and a lower, which * 1.7 is moueable and gristly. The vpper part of the Nose called Dorsum or the barke is called in Greeke 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the spine or ridge of the Nose. The lower part where it inlargeth it selfe, into the Nosthrils is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by Ruffus and Pollux: the foote of the Nose, and the vtmost roundnesse 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the globe of the Nose or the tip as wee commonly speake,

Within it is diuided into two cauities by a hedge or partition which they call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.8 ••ares the Nosthrils, because in them the odors or odoriferous spirits or the Ayre doe in∣••are or swimme continually; others call them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the mucous matter that issueth from them, others 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the holes of the Nose as Galen hath it in his booke de instru∣mento Olfactus.

The vse of the diuision is, that the action of the smelling might be more perfect, for * 1.9 in al the parts of sense (excepting the Touch) the sense is bypartite, because of the two sides of the body, the right and the left.

In like manner saith the Phylosopher in the tenth chapter of his second booke de parti∣bus Anim. the power of the Nosthrils is double or bipartite, but if they had bin disseuered or set aside as the eares they could not haue performed their office; because we smell euen in our breathing

as also doe all other creatures which haue nostrils. Againe, by reason of this diuision one nosethrill remaines open when the other is obstructed, that thorough it wee might haue the benifit of Inspiration and Expiration, and when both of them are obstruc∣ted the mouth may be opened to supply their office, as we see often in our Patients whose noses are stopped with a cold, they sleepe with their mouths open, drawing and yeelding their breath thereby least the man should be strangled.

It is further to bee noted that the holes of both the nostrilles (which is but one in one * 1.10 nostrill) about the middle of the Nose are deuided into two parts, as Galen obserued in his Book de Odoratus organo. The one part runneth aboue the palate into the vtmost part of the mouth and throate; whence it is that oftentimes we see that if a man laugh when he is a drinking the drinke will come out at his nosethrils: and those Irrhines which we cast into the nose sometimes for medicine, will fall into the mouth if the nose be close shut. The other part of the hole of the Nose ascendeth to the spongy bone. Finally, the outward parts of the Nose which compasse the holes are called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 alaepinnae, The wings of the Nose.

The Nose consisteth of a Cuticle, a Skinne, Muscles, Bones, Gristles, and the inward Coate.

The Skinne wherewith it is couered is thin, without any fatte that the quantity of the * 1.11 Nose might not exceed, which would haue beene a great deformity; but vnder the parti∣tion in the middle of the Nosethrilles there is a rising or prominent fleshy particle neare the top of the lippe, called by Ruffus and Pollux 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Columna the Pillar, which in some men hangeth something outward; it is thicke and fungous so that it resembleth the Cartilage or Gristle, (from which notwithstanding we must learn to distinguish it) and in the compasse thereof stand many haires called properly Vibrissi, because when we twitch them out it ma∣keth vs shake our heads and sneeze, which is called capitis vibratio. The vse of these haires * 1.12 is, that those small Animals that flye about in the ayre should not be drawne into the nose in our Inspiration, but hang in those hairy springes.

But because in deeper and sudden Inspirations and Expirations the motion of the nostrilles serueth to no smal purpose, therefore Nature made thē mouable, & because they * 1.13 were to be moued according to our will and good pleasure, there are certaine muscles in∣serted into them, some seruing for dilatation, others for constriction; the first open the nosethrils, the other shut them. Those that dilate the nosethrilles are foure; two small ones arising from the cheeke-bones, two others arise from the seame of the fore-head. There are also other foure which constringe the Nose, two arising from the rootes of the wings, the other two are hidden in the cauity of the nose, vnder the coate which compasseth it a∣bout; but of these we shall heare more particularly in the booke of Muscles.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The outward vse.
• * 1.2

  Nasuti.
• * 1.3

  Aristotle.
• * 1.4

  The names.
• * 1.5

  The reason of the figure.
• * 1.6

  And scituatiō.
• * 1.7

  The diuision of the nose.
• * 1.8

  And the names of the parts.
• * 1.9

  The vse of the diuision.
• * 1.10

  The diuision of each hole.
• * 1.11

  The skin.
• * 1.12

  The haires.
• * 1.13

  The muscles