INTRODUCTION 



In the course of a series of investigations into the physiology of the 

 swim-bladder in the Carps or Cyprinoids, I was led to study afresh 

 the f mictions of the Weberian ossicles, a series of small bones which 

 connect the anterior sac of the swim-bladder in these fish with the 

 internal ear. Tliis latter study involved the dissection of the brain, 

 and I thus became aware of the very diverse forms of the hind-brain 

 in this family. In looking up the literature of the subject I came 

 upon a reference to a paper by a Frenchman, P. Savoure, communi- 

 cated to an obscure provincial society, the Bull. Soc. Sci. Quest, 

 Rennes, in 1912, which fortunately was in- the library of the Royal 

 Society of London. This paper described the brain of a number of 

 members of the Carp family, and showed the diversity of form in the 

 liind-brain, but the illustrations were on a small scale and semi- 

 diagrammatic. On comparing these drawings with my own of 

 similar species caught in English rivers, I found that my observa- 

 tions did not agree with those of the French observer in several 

 instances, and further, that his descriptions were based entirely on 

 superficial examinations and had not been supplemented by micro- 

 scopic investigations of serial sections. This being the case it 

 appeared to me that there was a fertile field for research into the 

 neurology of the Cyprinoid brain, and for an attempt to associate 

 the various forms or patterns of the brain with the habits and diet 

 of fish, which presented so many opportunities for examination. I 

 was thus led to undertake a series of neurological studies on fishes 

 by means of comparative anatomy. This was the method employed 

 by Sir Charles Bell, the first neurologist, as he has been called. When 

 a child I was given by my mother " Bell on the Hand." When I 

 became a medical student, Alexander Shaw, Bell's assistant and 

 collaborator, gave me Bell's " Anatomy of ExjDression," with annota- 

 tions in his own hand. Some years ago I purchased at the sale of 

 Lord Lister's Library a copy of " Bell on the Nervous System," 

 which had been presented to James Syme by the author, and bears 

 his hand-WTiting : this I treasure, not only for its own sake, but for 

 the triple association of three illustrious men. There are probably 

 few medical students at the present day who reahse that Bell's 



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