wilder.] 51j8 I July 15^ 



It is generally admitted tliat tlie brain might be of use in the determina- 

 tion of zoological affinities. That it is really so seldom employed for this 

 purpose, excepting as furnishing merely corroboratory evidence, is largely 

 due to the vagueness of our information, which iirevents exact compari- 

 sons. Now the Carnivora in general, and the Felidte in particular, form 

 very compact and well-defined groups ; hence the careful comparison of 

 the i^arts of the cat's brain with the homologous parts in other members of 

 the family and order should not only be comparatively easy, but also 

 afford some clues to the fanctions of the parts, as well as furnish a basis 

 for taxonomic considerations. 



It would probably be difficult to estimate the iniiuence, upon both physi- 

 ology and systematic zoology, of the sum of knowledge which may be 

 available Avhen the brain has received an amount of time, labor and 

 thought equal to that which has been devoted to the skull. 



Considering the abundance of the domestic cat in most parts of the 

 world where anatomy is cultivated, very little use seems to have been 

 made bf its brain. In several papers (Owen, 35), Krueg (;?), Benedikt 

 (/and^), Pansch (1), the cerebral fissures are more or less fully discussed ; 

 but I am not acquainted with any special paper on the entire organ, and 

 the only figures of the structure known to me are the following : The 

 mesal surfiice is shown by Leuret et Gratiolet (A, pi. v, fig. 3) ; the pro- 

 ccEliae (ventriculi laterales) are shown by Gegenbaur (A, 508, fig. 286) ; and 

 the dorsal and ventral surfaces are partly seen in connection with the 

 nerves in Bourgery and Jacob (A, pi. xvi). 



The sheep's brain seems to have been selected by Foster and Langley 

 (A), and by Morrell (A), partly, at least, on account of the ease with 

 which the head may be procured, thus avoiding the killing of an animal 

 for the sake of the brain. But cats are so plenty, and so readily killed by 

 chloroform, that no objection need exist upon that score, and the brain 

 is removed, preserved and dissected much more conveniently than that 

 of the sheep.* 



The sniall size of some of the parts of the cat's brain is an objection, no 

 doubt ; but this is atoned for by the number of preparations one may 

 make and keep, and by the ease with which the entire organ may be 

 held or placed in any position so as to obtain the best light without the 

 danger — which is ever present with larger brains — of tearing by its own 

 weight. 



B. THE Mx\.CROSCOPIC VOCABULARY OF THE BRAIN. 



In a recent paper (.9), I have presented somewhat in detail both the 

 grounds for attempting a Revision of Anatomical Nomenclature, and the 

 results of that revision. 



With a slight rearrangement, and some unimportant verbal alterations, 

 the following paragraphs remain as there published (pp. 123, 137), and 



* For a detailed account of the methods of preparing the cat's brain, see my 

 paper in '' Science " [11). 



