28 Dr. Foville on the Anatomy of the Brain. 



tion is carried to some depth in the brain, the lateral ventri- 

 cles are opened by their anterior extremities, each of these 

 extremities terminating in a cul-de-sac, answering to a frontal 

 eminence. In the interval between these two cul-de-sacs of 

 the anterior extremities of the ventricles we reach the anterior 

 curve of the corpus callosum. If we saw in the same way 

 the two superior occipital protuberances, we arrive at the pos- 

 terior extremity of the two lateral ventricles, each of these 

 extremities ending in a hollow cone, answering to one of the 

 superior occipital depressions and eminences. Lastly, if the 

 saw is made to divide the two parietal eminences at their sum- 

 mits, and that portion of the long vault intermediate between 

 them, it leads to that part of the lateral ventricles which is 

 the most spacious and projects the most outwards. It is in 

 this part of the ventricles that is situated, so to speak, the 

 confluence of the anterior, posterior, and temporal regions of 

 these cavities. The same section which leads from the pa- 

 rietal eminences to that part of the lateral ventricles which is 

 the most spacious and projects the most outwards, falls in the 

 interval of the two eminences and of the corresponding por- 

 tion of the ventricles upon the posterior margin of the corpus 

 callosum. 



There exists on a level with the squamous portion of the 

 temporal bone a depression in the interior of the cranium and 

 a corresponding eminence, almost as considerable, on the 

 outside. If we cut through this eminence and the contiguous 

 part of the brain at the same time, we open the base of the 

 temporal region of the ventricle. 



Now as there is nothing on the surface of the brain to ac- 

 count for the cranial prominences of which I have just spoken, 

 it appears to me that we may very fairly consider them as 

 caused by the shape of the corresponding regions of the ven- 

 tricles. This conclusion is strengthened by comparing the 

 form of these eminences with that of the portions of the ven- 

 tricles corresponding to them. The frontal eminences are 

 round, like the two cul-de-sacs forming the anterior extre- 

 mities of the ventricles. The occipital protuberances, and 

 especially the depressions answering to them in the interior of 

 the skull, are sharper, if this language is applicable to pro- 

 tuberances and depressions ; and the greater acuteness of the 

 posterior extremities of the ventricles in relation with these 

 protuberances, is a fact sufficiently notorious. Lastly, the 

 temporal eminences are oblique in the same direction as the 

 corresponding part of the hollow of the ventricles. But the 

 influence of the ventricular cavities, or of the serous sacs of 

 the brain, is not confined to the formation of the different 



