On the posterior lobes of the cerebrum of the quadrumana / by William Henry Flower ; communicated by Dr. Sharpey.

  • Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.
Date:
[1862]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the posterior lobes of the cerebrum of the quadrumana / by William Henry Flower ; communicated by Dr. Sharpey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    1/ J PRESENTED ny the ' ■ [ 185 ] • AUTHOR. ,' IX. On the Posterior Lobes of the Cerebrum of the (fuadrumana. By Willimi Henky Flo WEE, F.B.C.S., Assistant-Surgeon to, and Demonstrator of Anatomy at, the Middlesex Hospital. Communicated by Dr. Shaepey, Sec. B.S. Keceived November 20,1861,—Bead January 9, 1862. Tiedemann states that the hippocampus minor is not found in the brain of Monkeys, or of any other animals which he had examined, but is peculiar to Man*. In his figure of a horizontal section of the brain of Simia nemestrina, a part is described as “ scrobiculus parvus loco cornu posterioris,” and the drawing corresponds with the description. Many writers on human anatomy have followed Tiedemann’s statement; thus Ceuveilhiee ob- serves, “ Du reste, I’ergot [hippocampus minor] de meme que la cavite digitale [posterior cornu of the lateral ventricle] n’existe gueres que chez I’homme, sans doute parce que I’homme seul presente un grand developpement de la partie occipitale du cerveauf.” More recently, the presence of a “ posterior lobe ” of the cerebrum, a “ posterior horn of the lateral ventricle,” and a “ hippocampus minor ” have been afiirmed by an eminent authority in this country, to be the distinguishing characteristics of the human brain J. On the other hand, according to Cuviee, “ les ventricules anterieurs ou lateraux n’ont de cavite digitale que dans I’homme et dans les singes. Cette partie n’existe dans aucun autre mammifere. Sa presence depend de celle des lobes posterieurs§.” M. Seeees, in his well-known work on the comparative anatomy of the brain, has the following passage:—“ Le petit pied d’hippocampe, ou le relief de I’anse d’une anfractuosite dans la come posterieure du grand ventricule, n’a encore ete apergu que dans I’homme; on I’efiace en le deplissant par le precede que Ton met en usage pour developper le grand ventricule lateral; je I’avais moi-meme meconnu en procedant a sa recherche de cette maniere. Je I’ai decouvert au contraire chez les singes et les phoques, en pratiquant sur le lobe posterieur une section verticale au niveau du genou posterieur du corps calleux; on enleve de cette maniere toute la cavite anciroide, et en I’entr’cmTant, en comprimant legerement le lobe posterieur, on voit le petit pied d’hippocampe. Dans les cerveaux qui ont ete durcis par I’alcohol, on le met a decouvert par cette section et * The passage in full is, “ Pedes hippocampi minores vel ungues, vel calcaria avis, quae a posteriore cor- poris callosi margine tanquam processus duo meduUares proficiscnntur, inque fundo cornu posterioris pKcas graciles et retroflexas formant, ia cerebro Simiarum desunt, nec in cerebro aliorum a me examinatorum mammalium occurrunt; homini ergo proprii sunt.”—leones Cerebri Simiarum et quorundam Mammalium rariorum. Heidelberg, 1821, p. 51. ■)' Anatomie Descriptive. Paris, 1836, tome iv. p. 697. X Professor Owen, Proc. Linn. Soc. 1858, and Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist. June 1861. ' § Le9ons d’Anatomie Comparee (3rd edit.), tome iii. p. 103. MDCCCLXII. 2 B