sella turcica

plural sellae turcicae · plural sellæ turcicæ

1. anatomyA saddle-shaped depression in the sphenoid bone of the skull in humans and other hominids.

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   In the so-called “janus formation” we encounter a grave disturbance of development. Here are two distinct bodies joined together by an enormous head with two faces. In these cases, without doubt, there was a union of the two axes (chordæ dorsales) at their anterior extremity, at the so-called sellæ turcicæ, so that there was no opportunity for the union of the corresponding halves of the head. There was, however, nothing to prevent the left half of the head of one embryo from uniting with the right half of the head of the other, to form a joint face. All double faces in janus formations are composed partly of one, partly of the other fœtus.

   1884, William Henry Mercur, transl., edited by James Tyson, The Elements of Pathology, Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co., № 1012 Walnut Street, translation of Die Elemente der Pathologie by Georg Eduard von Rindfleisch (in German), SPECIAL PART., III. Defective Development and Growth., 1. Defective arrangement of the blastoderm., page 239

   Synonyms: sella, sella equina, sella sphenoidalis