10 FREDERICK TILNEY AND LUTHER F. WARREN 



Duverney (1761), 10 in support of the theory of Descartes (1649), 89 

 claimed that the pineal body did not exist in the dog. Vicq- 

 d'Azyr (1781) 408 observed the epiphysis in man, but could not 

 find it in fish. Stannius 373 found it in all species which he ex- 

 amined and made a particular study of it in the salmon. In 

 this form he spoke of it as a highly vascular structure. Perrault 306 

 found the epiphysis in the ostrich. Borrich and Harder 38 

 observed the pineal body in the eagle. Malacarne 258 found the 

 epiphysis in birds as did Cuvier ('45). 77 Bichat (1802) 28 con- 

 sidered the pineal body a gland, and in it he found granules of 

 some calcareous substance. The general character of the 

 pineal body is something like the cortical substance of the brain. 

 Soemmering (1785) 359 gave an accurate account of the form of 

 the conarium and also its dimensions in man. In his descrip- 

 tion he confines himself largely to the fact that there occur in 

 the organ accumulations of a substance which he calls brain sand 

 or acervulus cerebri. Soemmering noted many different condi- 

 tions under which this brain sand was apt to collect in the dif- 

 ferent parts of the pineal body. Haller ( 1 768) 165 believed the 

 concretions were pathological and related to mental disorders. 

 Many observers made mention of calcareous concretions in the 

 pineal body, among them being Saltzmann, Ruysch, Meibomius, 

 Vieussens, Vicq-d'Azyr, Malacarne, Brunner, Kruger, Barthplin, 

 Winslow, Petermann, and Santorini. Parisini 300 described the 

 pineal body in the camel, elephant, and lion, and Harder 170 gave a 

 description of it in the dog. Carus (1814) 59 described the epi- 

 physis as having the form of a small peeked sac with almost no 

 nerve fibers in it. He was unable to find the organ in the sal- 

 mon. Chaussier 63 described the form of the pineal body in some 

 mammals, suggesting that its shape compared to the pomme de 

 pin, which comparison led eventually to the adoption by the 

 French of the term corpus pineale. The Wenzels (1812), 42 in 

 their description of the pineal body, call attention to the fact 

 that the organ varies greatly in size according to the period of 

 life. Its size from the seventh year is augmented regularly 

 until middle life and then a successive diminution occurs until 

 old age. Acervulus cerebri is not found in the embryo nor in 



