Antoine Ferrein, a French surgeon and anatomist, was born on this date in 1693. In his writings, Ferrein described several parts of the kidney's outer layer, close to the biliary canaliculi (small openings through which bile passes), which came to be known as Ferrein’s pyramids. However, Ferrein is better remembered for first using the term "vocal cords," which likened the laryngeal ligaments that help make the human voice to the cords on a violin. His 1741 experiments showed that vocal folds are necessary to produce the voice. He also evaluated the relationship between the size of the glottis (the vocal structure of the larynx) and the loudness of a person's voice.

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