In his preface Drake credited the surgeon, anatomist and artist, William Cowper, for valuable aid in both the text and illustrations this work. Drake also included a chapter, "Of the Nose" written by Cowper which described the operation Cowper pioneered to empty the surgical treatment of diseases of the maxillary sinus. “In order to empty Highmore’s antrum of deposits and to be able to carry out the necessary irrigations, he extracted in most cases the first permanent molar, and then penetrated through its aveolus into the sinus with a pointed instrument” (Guerini).