A Practical Physiology: A Text-Book for Higher SchoolsBlaisdell, Albert F. (Albert Franklin)
Science
A Practical Physiology: A Text-Book for Higher Schools
Blaisdell, Albert F. (Albert Franklin)
Human physiology; Physiology
The cerebrum comprises nearly seven-eighths of the entire mass, and
fills the upper part of the skull. It consists of two halves, the right
and left cerebral hemispheres. These are almost separated from each
other by a deep median fissure. The hemispheres are united at the
bottom of the fissure by a mass of white fibers passing from side to
side. Each of these hemispheres is subdivided into three lobes, so that
the entire cerebrum is made up of six distinct lobes.
The cerebrum has a peculiar convoluted appearance, its deep folds being
separated by fissures, some of them nearly an inch in depth.
It is composed of both white and gray matter. The former comprises the
greater part of the mass, while the latter is spread over the surface
in a layer of about ⅛ of an inch thick. The gray matter is the portion
having the highest functions, and its apparent quantity is largely
increased by being formed in convolutions.
The convolutions of the cerebrum are without doubt associated with all
those higher actions which distinguish man’s life; but all the
convolutions are not of equal importance. Thus it is probable that only
the frontal part of the brain is the intellectual region, while certain
convolutions are devoted to the service of the senses.
The cerebrum is the chief seat of the sensations, the intellect, the
will, and the emotions. A study of cerebral injuries and diseases, and
experiments upon the lower animals, prove that the hemispheres, and
more especially the gray matter, are connected with mental states. The
convolutions in the human brain are more prominent than in that of the
higher animals, most nearly allied to man, although some species of
animals, not especially intelligent, have marked cerebral convolutions.
The higher races of men have more marked convolutions than those less
civilized.
A view of the under surface of the brain, which rests on the floor of
the skull, shows the origin of important nerves, called the cranial
nerves, the cerebellum, the structure connecting the optic nerves
(optic commissure), the bridge of nervous matter (pons Varolii)
connecting the two hemispheres of the cerebellum, and lastly numerous
and well-marked convolutions.
268. The Cerebellum. The cerebellum, or lesser brain, lies in the back
of the cranium, and is covered over in man by the posterior lobe of the
cerebrum. It is, at it were, astride of the back of the cerebro-spinal
axis, and consists of two hemispheres joined by a central mass. On its
under surface is a depression which receives the medulla oblongata. The
cerebellum is separated from the cerebrum by a horizontal partition of
membrane, a portion of the dura mater. In some animals, as in the cat,
this partition is partly bone.
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