Eustachio, Bartolomeo

Eustachio, Bartolomeo. De Auditus Organis. In Opuscula Anatomica, 148-64. Rome, 1564. 

Early modern experiments in anatomy confirmed and intensified interest in the ear as a permeable orifice. In 1564 the anatomist Bartolomeo Eustachio identified the passage now known as the eustachian tube. As an open passage, the eustachian tube represents the ear s ability to transmit matter in or out of the body. As Eustachio commented, Knowledge of this passage will be very useful to physicians for the correct use of medicaments, because now they will know that even thick material can be expelled or purged from the... 

Eustachian tube The tube that connects the middle ear to the back of the throat (pharynx) in vertebrates. It is normally closed, but during swallowing it opens to allow air into the middle ear, which equalizes the pressure on each side of the tympa-num (eardrum). It was named after the Italian anatomist Bartolomeo Eustachio ( 1520-74). 

---