The New International Encyclopædia/Coiter, Volcher

COI′TER, Volcher (1534-90). A Dutch anatomist, born at Groningen. He studied in France and in Italy, where he heard the lectures of Fallopius at Pisa, was city physician of Nuremberg, and later was attached as surgeon to the army of Johann Kasimir, Count Palatine of the Rhine. He is considered one of the founders of the science of pathological anatomy. Numerous anatomical discoveries are credited to him, including that of the superior muscles of the nose. His studies in osteology and myology are partially set forth in the volumes Tabulæ Externarum et Internarum Humani Corporis Partium (1573) and Lectiones Gabrielis Fallopii (1575), which are also interesting as revealing one of the earliest attempts at an examination of the internal structure of birds. Indeed, his table, De Differentiis Avium, included in the latter, is among the first ornithological classifications.