The nervous system, anatomical and physiological : in which the functions of the various parts of the brain are for the first time assigned: and to which is prefixed some account of the author's earliest discoveries, of which the more recent doctrine of Bell, Magendi, etc. is shown to be one.

  • Walker, Alexander.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nervous system, anatomical and physiological : in which the functions of the various parts of the brain are for the first time assigned: and to which is prefixed some account of the author's earliest discoveries, of which the more recent doctrine of Bell, Magendi, etc. is shown to be one. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    stated as to the cerebci, lor he could not see, in it, an organ of volition, without concluding that the nervous cords connecting it with the of sensation, do nevertheless possess that faculty in a subor- dinate degree, and sufficiently to produce the general sense of touch : and also that a nerve which originates as one of sensation from the soft part of the brain, may, at some part of its course, become condensed in its texture, and assume the office of a motory nerve. (De Usu Partium, c. xiv.) The brain, according to Galen, gives origin to seven pair of nerves. 1. The optic, the largest and softest of the cerebral nerves, rise from the thalami optici, and joining each other, but without decussation, again separate, and perforate the ball of each eye, where they are ultimately distributed to the crystalline lens, then supposed to be the more immediate organ of vision. 2. The second pair (the third of the modern arrange- ment,) are smaller, but harder than the first: they rise to- ward the back part of the brain, and pass to the muscles of the eye-ball, to which they communicate motion. 3. The third pair (fifth) are very hard; they rise to- wards the base of the brain, at the junction of the cerebrum and cerebellum. Only two of the branches of this nerve were known to Galen, viz. the superior and inferior maxillary: these are correctly stated to be distributed to the tongue, where they form the organ of taste; to the muscles of the upper jaw, and those of the face ; to the gums, and roots of the teeth. 4. The fourth pair (apparently the first branch of the fifth,) are small, but still harder than the preceding : they rise from the base of the cerebellum, and pass through the same foramina as the third pair. They go to the palate, where they also minister to the sense of taste.