Mikrokosmographia a description of the body of man. Together vvith the controuersies thereto belonging. Collected and translated out of all the best authors of anatomy, especially out of Gasper Bauhinus and Andreas Laurentius. By Helkiah Crooke Doctor of Physicke, physitian to His Maiestie, and his Highnesse professor in anatomy and chyrurgerie. Published by the Kings Maiesties especiall direction and warrant according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the author.

CHAP. X. Of the Substance & parts of the Braine.

AS the Braine is the Originall and seate of all the Animall Facuties, so for the exercise of the same it hath diuerse and different parts cast into * 1.1 sundry moulds which we will now take view of according to Anatomi∣call Method, alwayes remembring that by the Braine wee vnderstande whatsoeuer is conteyned within the Scull and compassed about by the hard and thin Membranes.

The Braine therefore wee deuide into three parts. For first it is parted into a forepart * 1.2 and a hinde-part by the dura meninx quadruplicated or foure-foulded.

The forepart because it is the greater and most principall (for in it the Animall spirites * 1.3 are especially laboured) reteineth the name of the whole, and is properly called Cerebrum or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The hinder part is much lesser, and is called by a diminitiue word, Cerebellum we call it the After-braine. Herophilus as Galen witnesseth in his 8. book of the Vse of parts, and the 11. Chapter, calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Againe the forepart or the Braine, by the dura meninx duplicated and resembling a * 1.4 Mowers Sythe, is parted in the top throughout his whole length into two equall parts, one right another left. [tab. 8. fig. 2. from ^A to ^A tab. 9. fig. 3. from ^N to ^K.]

This partition reacheth altogether to the Center of the Braine and stayeth at that body which we call Corpus callosum. [table 9. figure 3. at ^{L L}.] And this is the reason why alwayes the same part of the head is not pained, but sometimes one part sometimes another, some∣times the whole head.

Some, sayth Laurentius, haue dreamed that the braine is deuided quite through, but they are much deceiued, for the callous body vniteth the parts together. As for the after∣braine though it bee not vnited to the braine, yet is it in two places continued with the be∣ginning of the spinall marrow, and the same marrow by two originalles ioyned vnto the Braine.

The vse of the diuision of the Braine is first out of Vesalius and Archangelus, that the * 1.5 braine might be better nourished, for by this meanes the thinne membrane together with the vesseles there-through conuayed, doe insinuate themselues deeper into the substance thereof: for without this partition and those deepe conuolutions which wee see in it when it is cut, it could not haue beene nourished.

The second vse wee will adde out of Laurentius, to wit, beside the nourishment for the better motion of the same; for as water is not so easily moued where it is deep as where i•• * 1.6 is shallow; so if the braine had beene one entire massie substance, it would not so willingly and gladly as we say, haue risen and falne in the Systole and Dyastole.

The vse of this diuision out of Bauhine is more expresse: for the safe conduct of the Si∣nus or pipes of the hard meninx mentioned in the seauenth Chapter, from whence doe is∣sue * 1.7 small surcles of vessels to conuay nourishment into the conuolutions of the braine.

For because the quantity of the braine is very great, through which the Capillarie ves∣sels were to be dispersed for his nourishment; if the vesselles themselues so small as they are veines and arteries, should haue passed from the backepart to the forepart, from the right side to the left, or on the contrary, they would in so long a iourney through so soft and clā∣my a body haue beene in danger of breaking, wherefore the braine was deuided into three parts; betweene which diuisions there runne foure Sinus or pipes of the hard meninx into which the internall Iugular veines and the sleepy arteries called Carotides ascending from the Basis of the Nowle of the head doe powre their bloud and spirits; which is conuayed on either hand into the after-braine and the brain, by certaine branches deriued out of the height and depth & the sides of those pipes as we sayd ere-while, especially out of the third Sinus, into the left and right parts of the braine.

Finally, because soft bodies when they are great doe easily fall into themselues, there∣fore the braine was diuided into two partes that it might the better consist, as also that the instruments and organs which were led vnto it might not be shufled together: and somuch of the vses of the diuision of the braine.

Now the outward face of the braine which we sayed was of an Ash-colour rather then white, hath many and diuers orbicular circumuolutions and circular ruts, which the Anti∣ents * 1.8 sayeth Vesalius and those after him haue excellently compared to the gired windinges of the guts when the kell is taken off. [Table 8. figure 2. tab. 9. figure 3. ccc.] Galen in his 8. booke of the Vse of partes and the 13. Chapter calleth this variam compositionem, and Ve∣salius himselfe compareth them to the Clouds that a Painter maks in the roofe of a house. Some of these snailing paths are deeper, others do not pierce so deep into the substance of the braine [Table 9. figure 4. ^DD] and therefore are called pars varicosa cerebri, the knotted or embossed part of the braine by Laurentius. They are innested with the pia mater or thin meninx (and when that is taken off may be better discerned) which not onely compasseth them and contayneth them in their superficies, but also with them in many places diueth into the depth of the braine.

[illustration]

FIG. I.

Some are of opinion that these conuolutions are onely * 1.9 framed of necessity, but haue no vse at all: but we with Ga∣len do determine that their vse * 1.10 is to secure the vessels, that go∣ing together with the Pia ma∣ter they might carry vnto the braine nourishment and life, and not be in danger of brea∣king in the perpetuall motion and agitation of the brain. For the Pia mater being a thin and fine membrane and simple (not double that the vesselles might run betwixt the dupli∣cation thereof) needed these winding Meanders to secure the vessels.

[illustration]

II.

But if the superficies or surface of the braine had bin smooth and aequall & the vessels had run along about the circum∣ference thereof they had been subiect to breaking, especially in the Dyastole or Eleuation & in the full of the Moone, at which time the braine by rea∣son of the humidity thereof so swelleth that the vessels must needs haue borne vpon the Scull. Beside, the vesselles would not haue beene suffici∣ent to haue irrigated and wa∣tered the huge and vast body & bulk of the brain if they had onely runne ouer the surface thereof. Platerus addeth further; because the venall and ar∣teriall * 1.11 bloud arising to the braine is not yet fit for the vse thereof, it was necessary it should runne in proper vessels, and that into the inmost substance of his marrow where the in∣bred power of the braine might labour it and purge it from those excrements which are ga∣thered and heaped vp in these Conuolutions, that being so prepared the braine might ap∣ply it vnto his nourshment and also for the procreation of Animall spirits.

Another vse of the Conuolutions remembred also beside Bauhine by Archangelus and Laurentius is; for the recreation of the spirits and the bloud contained in those vessels. For * 1.12 if there had not beene these gyrations in the substance of the braine, the vessels especially in the full of the Moone would haue beene so closely compassed by the Scull, that their moti∣on would haue beene intercepted, and the spirit being compressed would haue beene suf∣focated or strangled, and the heate for want of ventilation extinguished.

Erasistratus thought that the braine of a man had more Conuolutions then the braines of other creatures because of his reasonable soule; which conceite of his Bauhine, Arch∣angelus * 1.13 and Laurentius do sweetly smile at, when, they behold the same conuolutions in the braine of an Asse, the most dull and stupid of all other creatures. Beside we learne out of Galen in his 8. booke of the Vse of parts and the 13, chapter, that vnderstanding follow∣eth not the variety of the composition but the good temper and disposition of that bodye which vnderstandeth. Laurentius and Columbus thinke that Nature by these conuoluti∣ons * 1.14 prouided for the lightenesse of the braine, and to make it more prompt and ready for motion. But Archangelus taxeth them for it. As if (saith he) Nature could not haue made it of a lighter matter if that had beene behoouefull, or a little lesse and so lighter? Beside

[illustration]

Tab. 9. Fig. 3. sheweth the braine vncouered from both his Membranes, and laid on the one side that the processe or duplication commonly com∣pared to a Mowers Sythe, which diuideth the Braine; as also the Callous body might better be shewed.

[illustration]

Fig. 4. sheweth the Braine freed from his Mem∣branes, as also a part of the braines it selfe is ta∣ken away that the marrow and the ventricles might be better discerned.

[illustration]

TABVLA. IX.

[illustration]

FIG. III.

[illustration]

FIG. IV.

• A A, The right side of the Braine.
• B B, the left side of the Braine.
• C C, the conuolutions or breaches of the Braine.
• D D, the duplication or processe of the dura¦meninx called the Sythe.
• E E E, the beginning of the vessels procee∣ding out of the third Sinus into the thin membrane are heere broken off.
• F, A passage running out of the fourth Sinus in manner of a veine into the lower part of the thicke membrane,
• G G, Certaine propogations of this passage running vpward into the same membrane.
• H H, Certaine Surcles disseminated from the lower side of the third Sinus into the pro∣cesse.
• I I, the beginnings of the vessels which passe from the fourth Sinus into the thin Mem∣brane.
• K the beginning of a vessell bred out of the fourth Sinus, which runneth vnder the arch into the third ventricle to make the Plexus or thrumbe of crisped vessels therein.
• L L, the Callous body of the braine.
• M M, the Sinus on eyther hand, at the sides of the Callous body.
• N, A portion of the Sythe which groweth to the partition of the Organe of smelling.
• O O, the thin membrane or Pia mater.
• P P, Parts of the thicke membrane reflected.

[illustration]

Fig. 4.

• A A A, B B B. the right and the left sides of the marrow of the braine remaining yet in the Scull,
• C C C, A part of the braine taken away.
• D D, D, Diuisions or lines frō the breaches of the braine.
• E E E E, the Shel or Barke of the braine com∣passing his marrow.
• G G, H H, the marrow of the braine which when it is pressed is full of red points or small drops or graynes.
• I I I, the Callous body freed on eyther side from the substance of the braine.
• K K, A part of the Callous body. L L, M M, the right & the left ventricle of the braine.
• N N, A part of the vpper side of the left ven∣tricle.
• O O, the complication or thrumbe of vessels called Plexus Choroides.
• P P, Small veines growing to the ventricles.
• Q. Other vessels running frō the same veins into the Pia mater or thin membrane.

we see that the heart is of a most solid and firme substance without any of these gyrations & yet it moueth in Systole and Dyastole very freely. Vesalius and Laurentius adde that they were also ordained for the supportation of the soft substance of the braine that it might aequally * 1.15 be supported and not sway too much to eytherside. And thus much for the vses of these conuolutions as also for the vpper part of the substance of the braine.

Now the internall or inward superficies hath in it diuers parts and impressions because of the many vses for which Nature hath ordained it. The substance therefore of the Braine * 1.16 is by Archangelus diuided into the Braine and the Marrow. The Braine he calleth that Ash-coloured part which compasseth the rest, whereby he meaneth the marrow: we will say it may be diuided into the Shell and the Kernell. The Shell is that Ash-coloured bodye * 1.17

[Table 9. figure 4. Table 10. fig. 5. ^{E F}] which compasseth immediatly the kernel or marrow. The kernell or marrow is that white body [Table 9. fig. 4. ^{G H} Table 10. fig. 5. ^{G H} Table 11. fig. 7. and 8. ^{E E}] which is hid within the ash-couloured body and is somewhat more solide; for this white body is within the ash-coloured body as the christaline humor of the eie is in the glassie humour. Wherefore the shell differeth from the kernell first in colour, the one ash-coloured the other white; then in consistence for the shell is softer the kernell a little harder firmer and more compact; then in scituation because the kernell is in the middest the shell in the circumference distinguished with oblique and crooked lines.

Wherefore the kernel or Marrow is the middle and white body of the braine, of which * 1.18 there are two parts; one contayned within the skull, the other falling out of it and length∣ned downe to the great hole of the occiput and ending in the spine of the back. These two bodies also, the shel and the kernel, may actually be separated if we haue the head of a sound * 1.19 man newe slaine and presently with dexterity dissected, otherwise both of them will grow very moyst and extreame soft, as it hapneth to the mammillary processes which are the in∣struments of smelling, which in a fresh body may easily bee parted at the marrow, but not so if the body haue beene dead any time.

Now if you dissect the braine ouerthwart, about the middest of it you shall perceiue small vessels therein descending to his ventricles, and if the marrowey substance be pressed * 1.20 there will start out of it many drops or graines of bloud, which make me remember that of Hip. in his book of the falling sicknesse. Many and small veines doe ascend out of the whole body vnto the braine, and especially two notable, one from the Liuer another from the Spleene: in the quest of which (if any such be) I would haue the great Anatomistes spend some of their cu∣rious howres.

Aristotle in the first booke of his History and the 16. Chapter is of opinion, that the * 1.21 braine is altogether without bloud (that we finde false by manifest experience) neither con∣tayneth any veine within it, but that onely the Meniux about it hath veines. Vesalius lea∣neth * 1.22 too neare vnto him, for these are his wordes: The substance of the Braine and After-braine is neuer found with any veines therein, although you shall find in those that die mad or phreneticall and such as are hanged, certaine red and bloudy specks or spots; but these spottes carry no resemblance of a veine at all. Notwithstanding, though these two great Clarkes, the one the Genius of Nature and the very President of her priuy Councell and the other the Eye of Anatomie, haue thus resolued vpon the case: I presume there is some∣thing * 1.23 in that Hippocrates hath so particularly related, whose vse is not so peremptorily to seduce his Reader: but I leaue the disquisition to those whose meanes and oportunities are fit for such priuy searches, onely adding this one thing which I confidently auouch, that the onely writings of Hippocrates after so many ages and Commentaries past, haue in these dayes led the diligent and studious Readers into the knowledge of more mysteries of our Art, then all the writers in the world beside; for he alone is a boundlesse and bottomles o∣cean of Physicke: we returne to our history.

If you lightly with your fingers deuide the sides of the braine till you come to a veine * 1.24 of a notable bignesse running through his length and sprinckling branches on either hand into the braine, there will offer it selfe vnto your view a body placed exactly in the middest of the braine [Table 9. fig. 3. ^{L M}] gibbous or rising somewhat round [Table 9. figure 2. ^L] in which sayeth Archangelus the two first ventricles are excauated, long, narrow, smooth and * 1.25 equall, whiter also then the vpper part as being made of the marrow or inward substance, which because it is harder and somewhat like a callus or hardnesse of the skinne gotten by labour but much whiter is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by Galen in the 9. Booke of his Anatomicall Administrations and the third Chapter, that is, A callous body. It is a part continued with the braine, wherefore at the sides thereof in his length two Sinus or ventricles [Table 9. fig. 3. at ^•] are hollowed in the marrow of the braine like deep lines or hollow pipes, which are esteemed to receiue the defluxion, of rheume, or phlegme out of the vpper partes of the * 1.26 braine, and to send it forward by the gibbous superficies of the callous body vnto the nose. But the vse of the callous body vndoubtedly is by his vpper part to sustaine the waight of the braine which lieth vpon it, and that by his mediation both the parts of the brain might be conioyned, as also to make a distinction or hedge which they call septum [Table 10. fig. ••. ^•• holdeth vp ^YY, ^XX, and ^XY lift vp ^{S T V}, least ^{A A A} in the sixt figure should presse ^{H I} in the same fig, or ^H in the 7 and 8. figures of the 11. Table] which separateth the two ventricles; which partition it also sustaineth & lifteth vp the arch called Fornix, least falling downe it should

compresse the third ventricle.

In this place sayth Bauhine in the yeare 1582. I found a scirrhus or hard tumor in the no∣ble * 1.27 Baron Bonacurtius (who lay a long time in a manner Apoplecticall or astonished) when we opened his head after his death.

When we haue cut away the substance of the braine on either hand as deepe as vn∣to the Callous body before we lift it vp, we must mark the septū or partition of the two first ventricles.

This septum or partition [table 10. fig. 5. at^RRR reflected backeward] in the vpper part groweth to the Callous body and is perfectly vnited thereto (wherefore Vesalius calleth it * 1.28 the inner or lower superficies of that callous body) but below it groweth to the place of the Arch or Fornix, so that it standeth in the middest between the callous body and the Arch. This septum before it be stretched is loose & rugous and doeth not shine, neither can you perceiue how it is continued with those bodies of the Callus and the Arch; but drawe it vp so high till it be streatched (and take heed it breake not for it is but thinne) and then if you put a waxe candle to one side of it you shall perceiue the brightnesse of the light through * 1.29 it as if it were through a glasse. Vesalius compares it to the host in the Masse, which being a thinne wafer and a little wet you may see a dull light through it; or say it is like a sliuer of the Muscouy glasse whereof we vse to make Lanthorns, or the horne of a lanthorn it selfe. Whereupon Columbus, Archangelus and Laurentius haue called it speculum, speculum luci∣dum, * 1.30 septum lucidum and lopis specularis, the Looking-glasse. Galen giueth it a name from his vse in his 9. Book Anatomicis Aministrationibus, the first, the third and the fourth chap∣ters, calling it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The partition of the foremost ventricles, because the inner lips of the ventricles are hereby distinguished; wherefore you cannot aright per∣ceiue it vnlesse both the ventricles be layd open, and if it be neuer so little too much stret∣ched it easily breaketh, because it is so very thinne and subtile, yet cannot it not be manifest∣ly seene vnlesse it be lifted vp.

An Anatomist therefore in these curious thinges had neede to haue a fine and a dainty hand and at command. This partition is of the same substance (sayth Galen in the book be∣fore named and the third Chapter and after him Vesalius) with the braine but thinner, and * 1.31 in respect of his tenuity as it were the substance of the braine drawne out into a membrane. Columbus and Archangelus thinke it is nothing else then the pia mater in this place duplica∣ted; but Laurentius and Bauhine agree with Galen. Yet though it bee thinne it is not sim∣ple, and it hath in the middest a little rising like a line [Table 10. figure 5. ^Y] which line bea∣ring downward is by degrees lessened and becommeth the partition of the ventricles. [tab. 10, fig. 5. the lower part of the septum at x x the vpper at^Y.]

These ventricles beeing taken away to the middest of their substance, wee meete with foure swelling particles: two before, about which is the Basis of the ventricles; two on the backeside making the Arch or Fornix of which wee will entreate in the next Chap∣ter.

Notes

• * 1.1

  why the brain hath diuerse parts.
• * 1.2

  3 Parts.
• * 1.3

  The forepart.
• * 1.4

  Subdiuided.
• * 1.5

  The vse of this diuision Out of Vesali∣us.
• * 1.6

  Out of Lauren¦tius.
• * 1.7

  Out of Bau∣bine.
• * 1.8

  The conuolu¦tions of the braine.
• * 1.9

  Their vses.
• * 1.10

  Galen.
• * 1.11

  Platerus.
• * 1.12

  Another vse out of Bauhine Archangelus. Laurentius.
• * 1.13

  Erasistratus his 〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.14

  Archangelus taxeth Colum∣bus and Lau∣rentius.
• * 1.15

  Another vse out of Vesalius & Laurentius.
• * 1.16

  The inward part of the Braine.
• * 1.17

  The Shell & the Kernell.
• * 1.18

  The kernel or marrow.
• * 1.19

  Note this.
• * 1.20

  A difficult place in Hip.
• * 1.21

  Aristotle.
• * 1.22

  Vesalius.
• * 1.23

  Commenda∣tion of Hip.
• * 1.24

  The corpus Callosum.
• * 1.25

  Archangelus.
• * 1.26

  The vse of it.
• * 1.27

  A story out of Bauhine.
• * 1.28

  The septum lucidum.
• * 1.29

  Diuersly com¦pared.
• * 1.30

  The names of it.
• * 1.31

  The substāce of it. Galen & Vesa∣lius Columbus & Archangelus.