[On the Difference Between Human and Dog Noses]
Although the cartilages of the nose may be duly distinguished by touch before dissection, the nose in the fourth table of muscles identifies them with the letters K [cartilagines nasi laterales] and L [c. alaris major, crus laterale].
That the Maker of things constructed the end and extremity of the nose from cartilages [c. hyalina] in the same way we recently stated the cartilage of the ear is made, is pretty well proven by the end of the nose in quadrupeds, which is less wide than the cartilaginous end of the human nose. The cartilage in humans projects more beyond the remaining surface of the face than does the quadruped nose. From the lower end (from f to e in fig. 1, ch. 9) of the nasal bones [os nasale], where they are rougher and wider than on the upper surface [nasion] (Z to Y in the same fig.), two cartilages [cc. nasi laterales] originate which extend anteriorly downward; joined together, they become gradually softer, and as they revert in the end of the nose into a kind of cartilaginous ligament they make up its entire anterior region, which extends from the lower end of the nasal bones to the end and apex of the nose. From the bony septum [os ethmoidale, lamina perpendicularis] (O in the same figure) dividing the foramina of the nostrils, which we stated above is part of the eighth bone [os ethmoidale] (A, B, A in fig. 8, ch. 6) of the head, another cartilage [c. septi nasi, proc. posterior] originates, also soft, and having the nature of a ligament, which proceeds forward from the whole anterior surface of the septum and attaches to the inner region of the first two cartilages along their longitude. ¹ This one divides the nasal foramina in the part of the nose which is extended as it were from the facial plane, ² in the same way as the septum separates the foramina themselves (o, o in fig. 2, ch. 12) of the bones in the place where they extend above the region of the palate from the nose to the pharynx. Two others [cartilago alaris major, crus mediale] join these three cartilages of the nose, one on each side; still more than the other cartilages, these have something of the nature of ligaments, and each arranged in a circle forms one foramen of the nose. These cartilages are attached to each other on their inner sides, and they cover the ends of the other nasal cartilages. They are the only ones capable of voluntary movement, by which they are pulled up and down and inward and outward, having special muscles [m. levator labii superioris alaeque nasi] (F in the 3rd table of muscles, K in the 4th) ³ for this purpose. The wider and softer parts of these cartilages are situated in the sides of the nose ⁴ and are called the alae ⁵ of the nose because they occlude and restore the nostrils somewhat like wings, thus performing a major service to man in respiration. ⁶ But since these cartilages of the nose may be recognized by nothing more than touch, I need not pursue their nature at greater length. If only because of the Gallic disease ⁷ (which often damages them), I should consider their structure a matter for careful study by physicians.