ON THE ANATOMICAL TERM TUNICA DARTOS.

In the medical literature of antiquity the first time a more detailed description of the sexual organs appears is in the work of Aristotle. He does not know the term dartos, however, nor is it to be found in Herophilos, although considering that he introduced the term darsis, excoriation, there is a theoretical possibility that he might have used it. Dartos occurs in preserved Greek sources for the first time in the writings of Rufus of Ephesus, understood as an adjective to the substantive χιτών, meaning envelope, mantle or membrane, and then it is used in various grammatical forms. From the chronological point of view, however, the irst time we ind this term documented is in Roman literature, namely in Celsus. He took over the adjective as a term in its own right, and applied it to the grammatically feminine tunica, not as an adjective but as the name or designation of the integument. Other authors took a similar approach, understanding dartos as an adjectival noun, seldom explaining or inflecting it, and only rarely did they use the Latin name which might have been a terminological equivalent. Ultimately the adjective dartos finds its way into the first codification of anatomical nomenclature, the Basiliensia Nomina Anatomica of 1895, and it persists in that nomenclature to this day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]