PREFACE 



SEA'ERAL guides for the study of the gross anatomy of 

 the brain have been published but up to the present 

 time there has been available no small handbook 

 devoted to the minute anatomy of the nerve centres and 

 pathways^which is at least as important as the gross anatomy 

 — in any laboratory animal. The present text is an attempt 

 to fill this gap— to provide a brief but comprehensive intro- 

 duction to the functional anatomy of the central nervous 

 system of a common laboratory type of size convenient for 

 the use of serial sections. 



As the book is designed primarily for elementary students, 

 all important differences from the human structure (which 

 are not very numerous but are sometimes quite instructive) 

 are pointed out, and an introductory chapter upon the 

 general principles of nervous structure has been included, 

 as also an appendix outlining a simple form of the Weigert 

 method of preparing sections. From tAvo or three brains 

 enough short series of sections for a fair sized class may be 

 made. 



Besides being a suitable form for didactic purposes, the 

 rat is so widely used in research that an atlas of the anatomy 

 of its central nervous organs and a summary of what has 

 been recorded regarding them should be valuable to many 

 investigators. With this end in view, an attempt has been 

 made to include all details of the neuro-anatomy of this type 

 which are to be found in the literature except those of the 

 histological localization in the cerebral cortex. Such details 

 are set in small type w^hen they are not of immediate import- 

 ance to the elementary student. A bibliography has been 

 added to bring up to date, so far as the central nervous system 



