Note 32 — THE INTRODUCTION TO ANATOMY OF DAVID EDWARDES ENGLISHMAN

The ancient idea that there were seven pairs of nerves did not disappear from anatomical teaching until Thomas Willis in 1664 increased the number to nine and Samuel Thomas Soemmerring in 1778 established the modern order of numbering the nerves into twelve pairs. In the account which follows Edwardes does not follow the ancient description of the cranial nerves. According to Galen, and indeed Vesalius, the olfactory nerves were not regarded as separate entities; moreover the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves were part of a single nerve. Edwardes does not describe the trigeminal or facial nerves nor the trochlear or abducent. The trochlear nerve had been described by Alessandro Achillini in 1520. The abducent nerve was to be described later by Eustachius.