Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 14, 2026

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae
Published on: July 8, 2025
Clar as Mud? Origins of the head mirror: A historical note
Ollivier Laccourreye1, Alfred Werner1, Iain McGill2
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Université Paris Descartes Sorbonne Paris Cité, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
Abstract:
In Europe, the name "Clar" immediately evokes to any otorhinolaryngologist the classic head mirror that remains a symbol of our profession. Yet, the origin of Clar has never been investigated. In this clinical and historical review, based on an Internet and PubMed database search together with perusal of Fischer's Biographical Lexikon, the authors seek to elucidate this medical enigma. The data presented suggest that Clar was not a physician but rather a term picked by the company that designed the mirror by the end of the 19th century to underscore the bright and sharp view provided by this then innovative medical device. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: 930-932, 2016.
Related Concept Videos
The Looking Glass Self
Symmetry
Cranial Bones: Superior and Posterior View
The frontal bone is the single bone that forms the forehead. At its anterior midline, between the eyebrows, there is a slight depression called the glabella. The frontal bone also forms the supraorbital margin of the orbit. Near the middle of this margin is the supraorbital foramen, the opening that provides passage for a sensory nerve to the forehead. The frontal bone is thickened just above each supraorbital margin,...
Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy
In optical microscopy, the specimen to be viewed is placed on a glass slide and clipped on the stage...
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Muscles of the Anterior Neck

