of the ventricle, whilst its inner surface forms the side wall of the third ventricle. At its outer and posterior part are two slight elevations, in close relation to the optic tract, and named respectively corpus geniculatum internum and externum.
The posterior knob-like extremity of the thalamus is called the pulvinar; this, as well as the two corpora geniculata and the superior corpus quadrigeminum, is connected with the optic tract.
The third ventricle (see fig. 6) is a cavity situated in the mesial plane between the two optic thalami. Its roof is formed by the velum interpositum and body of the fornix; its floor by the posterior perforated space, corpora albicantia, tuber cinereum, infundibulum, and optic commissure; its anterior boundary by the anterior pillars of the fornix, anterior commissure and lamina cinerea; its posterior boundary by the corpora quadrigemina and posterior commissure. The cavity of this ventricle is of small size in the living head, for the inner surfaces of the two thalami are connected together by intermediate grey matter, named the middle or soft commissure. Immediately in front of the corpora quadrigemina, the white fibres of the posterior commissure pass across between the two optic thalami. If the anterior pillars of the fornix be separated from each other, the white fibres of the anterior commissure may be seen lying in front of them.
|
From Cunningham, Text-book of Anatomy. |
| Fig. 14.—Horizontal Section through the Right Cerebral Hemisphere at the Level of the Widest Part of the Lenticular Nucleus. |
The pineal body is a reddish cone-shaped body situated upon the anterior pair of the corpora quadrigemina (see figs. 3 and 6). From its broad anterior end two white bands, the peduncles of the pineal body, pass forward, one on the inner side of each optic thalamus. Each peduncle joins, along with the taenia semicircularis, the anterior pillar of the fornix of its own side. In its structure this body consists of tubular gland tissue containing gritty calcareous particles, constituting the brain sand. Its morphology will be referred to later.
A general idea of the internal structure of the brain is best obtained by studying a horizontal section made just below the level of the Sylvian point and just above the great transverse fissure (see fig. 14). Such a section will cut the corpus callosum anteriorly at the genu and posteriorly at the splenium, but the body is above the plane of section. Behind the genu the fifth ventricle is cut, and behind that the two pillars of the fornix which here form the anterior boundary of the third ventricle. At the posterior end of this is the pineal body, which the section has just escaped. To the outer side of the fornix is seen the foramen of Munro, leading into the front of the body and anterior horn of the lateral ventricle. It will be seen that the lateral boundary of this horn is the cut caudate nucleus of the corpus striatum, while the lateral boundary of the third ventricle is the cut optic thalamus, both of which bodies have been already described, but external to these is a third triangular grey mass, with its apex directed inward, which cannot be seen except in a section. This is the lenticular nucleus of the corpus striatum, the inner or apical half of which is of a light colour and is called the globus pallidus, while the basal half is reader and is known as the putamen. External to the putamen is a long narrow strip of grey matter called the claustrum, which is sometimes regarded as a third nucleus of the corpus striatum. These masses of grey matter, taken together, are the basal nuclei of the brain. Internal to the lenticular nucleus, and between it and the caudate nucleus in front and the thalamus behind, is the internal capsule, through which run most of the fibres connecting the cerebral cortex with the crus cerebri. The capsule adapts itself to the contour of the lenticular nucleus and has an anterior limb, a bend or genu, and a posterior limb. Just behind the genu of the internal capsule is a very important region, for here the great motor tract from the Rolandic region of the cortex passes on its way to the crusta and spinal cord. Besides this there are fibres passing from the cortex to the deep origins of the facial and hypo-glossal nerves. Behind the motor tracts are the sensory, including the fillet, the superior cerebellar peduncle and the inferior quadrigeminal tract, while quite at the back of the capsule are found the auditory and optic radiations linking up the higher (cortical) and lower auditory and visual centres. Between the putamen and the claustrum is the external capsule, which is smaller and of less importance than the internal, while on the lateral side of the claustrum is the white and then the grey matter of the central lobe. As the fibres of the internal capsule run up toward the cortex they decussate with the transverse fibres of the corpus callosum and spread out to form the corona radiata. It has only been possible to deal with a few of the more important bundles of fibres here, but it should be mentioned that much of the white matter of the brain is formed of association fibres which link up different cortical areas, and which become medullated and functional after birth.
Weight of the Brain.
This has been the subject of a great deal of research, but the results are not altogether conclusive; it seems, however, that, although the male brain is 4 to 5 oz. heavier than that of the female, its relative weight to that of the body is about the same in the two sexes. An average male brain weighs about 48 oz. and a female 4312 oz. The greatest absolute weight is found between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age in the male and a little later in the female. At birth the brain weighs comparatively much more than it does later on, its proportion to the body weight being about 1 to 6. At the tenth year it is about 1 to 14, at the twentieth 1 to 30, and after that about 1 to 36.5. In old age there is a further slight decrease in proportion. In many men of great intellectual eminence the brain weight has been large—Cuvier’s brain weighed 6412 oz., Goodsir’s 5712, for instance—but the exceptions are numerous. Brains over 60 oz. in weight are frequently found in quite undistinguished people, and even in idiots 60 oz. has been recorded. On the other hand, microcephalic idiots may have a brain as low as 10 or even 812 oz., but it is doubtful whether normal intelligence is possible with a brain weighing less than 32 oz. The taller the individual the greater is his brain weight, but short people have proportionally heavier brains than tall. The weight of the cerebellum is usually one-eighth of that of the entire brain. Attempts have been made to estimate the surface area of the grey matter by dissecting it off and measuring it, and also by covering it with gold leaf and measuring that. The results, however, have not been conclusive.
Further details of the brain, abundantly illustrated, will be found in the later editions of any of the standard text-books on anatomy, references to which will be found in the article on Anatomy: Modern Human. Das Menschenhirn, by G. Retzius (Stockholm, 1896), and numerous recent memoirs by G. Elliot Smith and D. J. Cunningham in the Journ. Anat. and Phys. and Anatomisch Anzeig., may be consulted.
Histology of Cerebral Cortex.
The cerebral cortex (see fig. 15) consists of a continuous sheet of grey matter completely enveloping the white matter of the hemispheres. It varies in thickness in different parts, and becomes thinner in old age, but all parts show a somewhat similar microscopic structure. Thus, in vertical section, the following layers may be made out:—
