The brain of the cat (Felis domestica). 1. Preliminary account of the gross anatomy / by Burt G. Wilder.

  • Burt Green Wilder
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The brain of the cat (Felis domestica). 1. Preliminary account of the gross anatomy / by Burt G. Wilder. 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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    1881.] 52G is one of llie tasks -wliicli I wish to accomplish, but I trust this will not deter others from undertaking it.” Since the above was written, I have lost no opportunity of accumulating materials for the illustration of the encephalic anatomy of the cat, and the museum of Cornell University now contains more than 220 preparations of the brain of that animal. A few of these are the entire organ, or its undissected halves ; the larger number are dissections for the sake of show- ing certain points in its structure. At the outset, I hoped to find that, e.xcepting purely histological matters, the structure of the human brain was so fully known as to require little more than the identification and description of the corresponding features in the cat. It was soon apparent, however, that some points of consider- able morphological importance were as yet undetermined, or at least pre- .sented very unsatisfactorily in the standard works. To the deficiencies or positive errors of the published accounts, was added the ditficnlty of ob- taining examples of the human brain in such a condition as to serve for the determination of doubtful points. After considerable observation and enquiry upon the subject, I am constrained to affirm that, by the ordinary method of extraction, the freshest human brain is so distorted as to be useless excepting for the roughest kind of enquiry, while the average dis- secting-room brain is often only fit to be examined with a spoon. Theoretically, of course, the anatomy of the human brain is to be learned only by the examination of that organ. Practically, however, so great are the difficulties of obtaining, preserving, and dissecting it, that, with most persons, a certain expenditure of time and money upon cats’ brains Avill be more productive than if devoted to the brains of human beings.* After spending more than twenty years in the study and teaching of anatomy and physiologj^ aided by the best models and plates, I feel that nearly all my real and substantial knowledge of the brain has been derived from that of the cat. Uor has the time yet come when I can examine a cat’s brain for an hour, without correcting some misapprehension, learning something new, or at least gaining some fresh conception respecting the organization or functions of the organ, or its possibilities in the way of variation. The present paper concerns only the gross anatomy of the brain, and even that is treated in only a general way. I fully recognize the great, perhaps tlie paramount, importance of a complete account of the histology of the organ, if only as a basis for the physiological, pathological and * I have expressed elsewliere '3) the bollefthat,oralI the more ea.sily accessible animals, the cat olTers superior advantuKCS for preliminary anatomical work, but of course a largo amount of Information may be gained from tlie dissection of any mammal, aside from the mere [skill In the use of Instruments which comes from their actual employment upon the organs. Hence tlie following quotation from Solly (.‘V, U!) is given with entire approval:— “ I am sure that whoever will take the trouble to go over this dissection [of the rabbit’s brain I once or twice before attempting that of the human brain, will find his path much facilitated by the knowledge and the manual dexterity he will have acquired.