GENERAL ANATOMY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 325 



medulla oblongata, and by the thalami and the corpora striata 

 proceeding from the corpora pyramidalia, and, finally, forming 

 the hemispheres of the cerebrum. 



In addition to the preceding proofs, comparative anajomy 

 furnishes other illustrations. The brain becomes more and more 

 complex as one ascends from fish to reptiles, from the latter to 

 birds, and then to mammiferous animals. The spinal marrow 

 is very voluminousjn the inferior animals, while the brain only 

 forms an appendix to it; whereas, if the spinal marrow were an 

 appendix to the brain, we ought to find the last of a prior for- 

 mation in foetuses, and also in a perfect state in the lower ani- 

 mals, before a medulla spinalis could be observed.* 



The exploration of the anatomy of the Nervous System with 

 the microscope has latterly become a very favourite pursuit, 

 with what advantage to science remains to be settled. For an 

 exposition of the general results of such labours, see Progress 

 of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System, during 

 the year 1836, by Professor Muller of Berlin. These results 

 present very contradictory and incompatible views, the conclu- 

 sions of one observer being the antagonists of those of another. 

 To which side the credit of truth is to be attached, time must 

 determine. We have to remark that this paper bears the stamp 

 of most others which have been presented on the nervous sys- 

 tem for some years, that of inconclusiveness and great doubt on 

 its professed objects. 



* Tiedemann, loc. cit. p. 157. 



VOL. II. 29 



