Phrenology, or the doctrine of the mind : and of the relations between its manifestations and the body.
- Johann Spurzheim
- Date:
- 1825
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Phrenology, or the doctrine of the mind : and of the relations between its manifestations and the body. Source: Wellcome Collection.
60/352 page 44
![of the left presented the usual appearance. The convolutions in the iniddle line of the head above the corpus callosum, which are commonly o})])Osed with the falciform process of the dura mater between them, were raised by the liquid, and formed part of the general surface. The appearance of the anterior and middle lobes scarcely differed from that of the healthy brain: the olfactory nerves were large, those of sight small, and the anterior pair of the corpora quadrigemina very small. The cerebellum was flattened, and its cineritious substance of a very dark hue. The whole of the cerebral mass was soft, and weighed two pounds fourteen ounces and a half. Let us now examine what change the brain undergoes in dropsy of its cavities. Many anatomists have admitted that the brain in common hydrocephalus was distended like, a bladder; but no one knew how this took place; and it seemed inconceivable that a delicate and medullary body, like the brain, could be brought to such thinness by distention, without tearing. Walter, Ackermann, and many others, in admitting the existence of the cerebral mass in hydrocephalic persons, still maintain that it is disorganized. Dr. Gall and I on the other hand hold, that the cerebral substance is not disor^a- nized, and we establish our assertion by anatomical and phy¬ siological proofs. Anatomy shows that the fibres of the brain are vertical or perpendicular to the cavities, and that every convolution con¬ sists of two layers, but closely applied to each other. If therefore water be accumulated in the ventricles, so as to act against the convolutions placed around them, it gradually separates the tw'O layers whose natural position is vertical, and makes them assume a horizontal direction. In this manner, the convolutions, in large hydrocephalic skulls, are entirely unfolded, and present the smooth surface of a membranous expansion, which was considered by Zacutus Lusitanus as a second dura mater. If such hydrocephalic heads have not been shaken, and the dissection been made w'lth due caution](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2929597x_0060.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
