132 PEOF. OWEN OF THE HOMOLOGY 



the latest contribution to the subject, that, viz., by Dp. Joseph 

 Sapolini*, who has devoted a special treatise to one portion of 

 the " tract " in question. 



He more especially points out the continuation of the " third 

 ventricle " of the brain by its tubular extension downward, called 

 the " infundibulum," with the substance of the " pituitary gland," 

 the texture, the blood-vessels, nerves, and osseous environment 

 of which body in Man are minutely described and amply illus- 

 trated. The chief aim of these researches, however, is a teleolo- 

 gical one ; and the author arrives at the conclusion that the 

 function of the so-called " gland "f is secretory, and that it re- 

 lates to the supply of the intraventricular fluids of the brain. 



Referring to the course from the third ventricle, by the in- 

 fundibulum, to a cavity or reservoir in the hind lobe of the 

 pituitary J, he concludes that the fluid secreted by the fore 

 lobe accumulates in the " reservoir," and that, by vermicular 

 movements of the gland, governed by the filaments of the sixth 

 cerebral nerve, which he traces thereto, the fluid it secretes 

 ascends, and passes by the tubular or infundibular continuation 

 of the gland into the third, and theuce into the fourth and 

 other continuous vacuities or ventricles of the brain and myelon §. 



"May we not then," he asks, " compare the pituitary gland to 

 the liver, and its cavity to the gall-bladder ?"|(. 



* ' L'aire de la Selle Turcique,' 8vo, 1880. 



t The term "pituitary" was originally applied thereto on the notion that it 

 secreted the mucosity lubricating the nasal passages. 



I " O'^tait mon aniline qui, depuis le troisieme ventricule, ^tait descendue a 

 travers I'infundibulum et le canal de la tige pituitaire, jusqu'a la cavity de la 

 glande. Ceci 6tablit qu'il y a une parfaite communication entre la partie centrale 

 du lobule du corps pituitaire et le troisieme ventricule cerebral." — Op. cit. p. 63. 



§ "A I'etat physiologique il existe toujours dans les ventricules c6rebraux un 

 liquide incolore, inodore, insipide. Ce liquide non seulement peut, mais par 

 moments doit, se mettre en mouremeut ; alors il depasse dans sa course I'aqu^- 

 duc de Sylvius, et suivant I'inclinaison du quatrieme ventricule, il descend le 

 long du canal rhachidien en passant par le trou du calamus scriptorius. Ce 

 liquide, a I'etat normal, augmente par instants dans les ventricules, et ce sera 

 dans le troisieme que se deversera le trop plein des autres."-— Op. cit. p. 63. 



II " Le lobe anterieure de la glande s^creterait done le liquide qui se rendrait 

 et s'accumulerait dans le r6servoir du lobe posterieur ; il passerait ensuite par 

 la valvule de la tige pituitaire qui peut et doit s'ouvrir ; de la il montrait dans 

 la tige elle-meme qui est douee des mouvements vermiculaires, car elle est 

 anim^e par des filets nerveux 6manant du nerf de la sixieme paire. Le corps 

 pituitaire ne serait-il done pas semblable, pour employer une comparaison 

 hyperbolique, au foie qui secrete la bile, et sa cavite a la vesicule bihaire qui est 

 le reservoir de celle-ci ? " — Op. cit. p. 64. 



