'Anatomical Description of a New Organ in the Nose of Domesticated Animals' by Ludvig Jacobson (1813)

Abstract

Introduction The vomeronasal organ was discovered by L. Jacobson (Figure 1) and described in detail in a publication in 1813. This article was printed with Gothic script and in Danish, so was, and still is, accessible to only a limited public. Jacobson's contribution to natural science was astonishing, considering the large number of studies carried out on the anatomy of different animals up to his time. The fact that a richly innervated organ was hidden in the nasal septum of mammals and had escaped the attention of a great many anatomists was naturally a surprise to many and a source of envy to other contemporary anatomists. The thoroughness of his anatomical observations, and the many reflections that Jacobson made on the function of the organ, are pertinent even for the scientist of today. In addition, he made a series of observations on the anatomy of the vomeronasal organ that have escaped the attention of later authors. Subsequent investigators sometimes have not even realized that Jacobson had previously described various structures, such as the relationship between the organ and the accessory olfactory bulb.