Cotugno is sometimes accredited with the discovery of the “liquor Cotunnii”, the labyrinthine fluid, first noted by Pyl in 1742. He did, however, make important contributions to the knowledge on the structure and function of the ear, including the discovery of the aural aqueducts. The naso-palatine nerve and the columns in the osseous spiral lamina are named after him.

Cotugno published a classic description of sciatica, which is useful even today. He recognized two types – arthritic and nervous; the latter has been called “Cotugno’s disease”, and his book is confined to that type. It includes the first clear description of the association of edema with proteinuria.

Valsalva in 1692 briefly mentioned the cerebrospinal fluid, but “Cotugno was the first to describe the fluid surrounding the spinal cord and to suggest tht it was in continuity with the ventricular and cerebral subarachnoid fluids. However, his concept of the cerebral and spinal fluid, which is the beginning of its modern physiology, remained in obscurity until rediscovery by Magendie some 60 years later” (Clarke & O’Malley). For more information regarding this book and a translation of the section dealing with the cerebrospinal fluid, see the article by H. R. Viets in Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., 1935, 3, 701-38. English translation, London, 1775.