Anatomy, Comparative; Embryology, Human; Evolution; Human beings -- Origin
But comparative anatomy and ontogeny teach us that in man and all the
other Craniotes the brain is at first composed, not of these two, but
of three, and afterwards five, consecutive parts. These are found in
just the same form--as five consecutive vesicles--in the embryo of all
the Craniotes, from the Cyclostoma and fishes to man. But, however
much they agree in their rudimentary condition, they differ
considerably afterwards. In man and the higher mammals the first of
these ventricles, the cerebrum, grows so much that in its mature
condition it is by far the largest and heaviest part of the brain. To
it belong not only the large hemispheres, but also the corpus callosum
that unites them, the olfactory lobes, from which the olfactory nerves
start, and most of the structures that are found at the roof and
bottom of the large lateral ventricles inside the two hemispheres,
such as the corpora striata. On the other hand, the optic thalami,
which lie between the latter, belong to the second division, which
develops from the "intermediate brain "; to the same section belong
the single third cerebral ventricle and the structures that are known
as the corpora geniculata, the infundibulum, and the pineal gland.
Behind these parts we find, between the cerebrum and cerebellum, a
small ganglion composed of two prominences, which is called the corpus
quadrigeminum on account of a superficial transverse fissure cutting
across (Figures 2.290 m and 2.291 v). Although this quadrigeminum is
very insignificant in man and the higher mammals, it forms a special
third section, greatly developed in the lower vertebrates, the "middle
brain." The fourth section is the "hind-brain" or little brain
(cerebellum) in the narrower sense, with the single median part, the
vermis, and the pair of lateral parts, the "small hemispheres" (Figure
2.291 c). Finally, we have the fifth and last section, the medulla
oblongata (Figure 2.291 mo), which contains the single fourth cerebral
cavity and the contiguous parts (pyramids, olivary bodies, corpora
restiformia). The medulla oblongata passes straight into the medulla
spinalis (spinal cord). The narrow central canal of the spinal cord
continues above into the quadrangular fourth cerebral cavity of the
medulla oblongata, the floor of which is the quadrangular depression.
From here a narrow duct, called "the aqueduct of Sylvius," passes
through the corpus quadrigeminum to the third cerebral ventricle,
which lies between the two optic thalami; and this in turn is
connected with the pairs of lateral ventricles which lie to the right
and left in the large hemispheres. Thus all the cavities of the
central marrow are directly interconnected. All these parts of the
brain have an infinitely complex structure in detail, but we cannot go
into this. Although it is much more elaborate in man and the higher
Vertebrates than in the lower classes, it develops in them all from
the same rudimentary structure, the five simple cerebral vesicles of
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