Hitman Physiology 



marking the position of the optic nerves ; the darker por- 

 tion, with its fern-like form, is the cerebellum, or little brain, 

 lying at the lower back part of the head; and the stalk-like 

 portion from which the brain seems to expand like a fruit, is 

 the medulla oblongata (17), and the beginning of the spinal 

 chord (3). 



No inspection of the brain could give us any idea of its func- 

 tions. One can form no idea of the uses of any part of it from 

 its form or appearance. There is no perceptible division into 

 phrenological organs. We can trace the nerves of sight, hear- 

 ing, smell, taste, feeling and motion, into the brain ; we know 

 that when this nervous connection is interrupted, sensation and 

 motion are destroyed. The brain is proved to be the central 

 organ of conscious life ; but how it is so does not appear from 

 its structure. A microscopic examination does not throw much 

 light upon it. Brain matter may be seen in Fig. 28, a mixture of 

 nerve tubes, blood-vessels, and cells or globules, cells of curi- 

 ous forms, but showing nothing which would give us any idea 

 of the machinery of thought, will, memory, or imagination, in 



Fig. 28. BRAIN AND NERVE MATTER. 



A, ganglionic globules, nerve tubes, and blood vessels ; B, B, globules 

 from crus cerebri. 



