PINEAL AND PITUITARY BODIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



HOMOLOGY OF THE CONARIO-HYPOPHYSIAL TRACT. 



The structure and local relations of the pituitary and pineal 

 bodies, in Man, have received such close attention in anthro- 

 potomical works as to dispense with repetition. But, before 

 entering upon the special aim of the present Chapter, I feel 

 bound to refer to the latest contribution to the subject, that, 

 viz., by Dr. 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 down- 

 ward, 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 illustrated. The chief aim of these 

 researches, however, is a teleological one ; and the author 

 arrives at the conclusion that the function of the so-called 

 gland " f is secretory, and that it relates to the supply of 

 the intraventricular fluids of the brain. 



Referring to the course from the third ventricle, by the 

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



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



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

 that it secreted the mucosity Inhricating the nasal passages. 



B 



