The Word Volume 16

by Harold W. Percival

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. ... THE BRAIN AND ITS ACTIVITIES. By Alexander Wilder, M. D. IPROPOSE on this occasion to give a summary of what has been set forth in regard to the cranial and cerebral nervous structures. As dry and heavy as the matter may seem to the superficial reader, it is always certain to be interesting to the student. It will be necessary for every one to be very thorough in this department of physiology. The cerebro-spinal system consists of the cerebrum proper, the cerebellum and apparatus connected with it, and the medulla spinalis with its encephalic expansions. The cerebrum consists of two hemispheres united to each other by a series of white transverse fibres, so as to constitute a twin system, the parts of each of which correspond with those of the other. Each of these hemispheres consists of masses of gray matter and agglomerations of white fibers. Beneath them are the two central ganglions, coupled together, the optic thalami and corpora striata, or opto-striate ganglions. The white fibrous matter of the cerebrum occupies the space between these ganglions and the gray matter at the surface of the brain. The fibers are considered as running like a series of electric wires between the two. They are somewhat like the spokes of a wheel which unite its circumference to the central knob or nave. These are the converging fibers. Others cross from one hemisphere to the other, and are the commissural fibers. "The cerebrum," says Luis, "is the sum total of the cerebral convolutions, united one with another, with those on the same side and with those on the other, and at the same time also with the central optostriate ganglions." The gray matter on the surface is about an inch thick or a little less. It is gelatinous in the new born infant, of a rosy...

148 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2013