قراءة كتاب Note on the Resemblances and Differences in the Structure and the Development of the Brain in Man and Apes

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Note on the Resemblances and Differences in the Structure and the Development of the Brain in Man and Apes

Note on the Resemblances and Differences in the Structure and the Development of the Brain in Man and Apes

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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or 23rd week of uterogestation, in which Gratiolet notes that the insula was uncovered, but that nevertheless "des incisures sement de lobe anterieur, une scissure peu profonde indique la separation du lobe occipital, tres-reduit, d'ailleurs des cette epoque. Le reste de la surface cerebrale est encore absolument lisse."

Three views of this brain are given in Plate II, figs. 1, 2, 3, of the work cited, shewing the upper, lateral and inferior views of the hemispheres, but not the inner view. It is worthy of note that the figure by no means bears out Gratiolet's description, inasmuch as the fissure (antero-temporal) on the posterior half of the face of the hemisphere is more marked than any of those vaguely indicated in the anterior half. If the figure is correct, it in no way justifies Gratiolet's conclusion: "Il y a donc entre ces cerveaux [those of a Callithrix and of a Gibbon] et celui du foetus humain une difference fondamental. Chez celui-ci, longtemps avant que les plis temporaux apparaissent, les plis frontaux, ESSAYENT d'exister."

Since Gratiolet's time, however, the development of the gyri and sulci of the brain has been made the subject of renewed investigation by Schmidt, Bischoff, Pansch (78. 'Ueber die typische Anordnung der Furchen und Windungen auf den Grosshirn-Hemispharen des Menschen und der Affen,' 'Archiv fur Anthropologie,' iii. 1868.), and more particularly by Ecker (79. 'Zur Entwicklungs Geschichte der Furchen und Windungen der Grosshirn-Hemispharen im Foetus des Menschen.' 'Archiv fur Anthropologie,' iii. 1868.), whose work is not only the latest, but by far the most complete, memoir on the subject.

The final results of their inquiries may be summed up as follows:—

1. In the human foetus, the sylvian fissure is formed in the course of the third month of uterogestation. In this, and in the fourth month, the cerebral hemispheres are smooth and rounded (with the exception of the sylvian depression), and they project backwards far beyond the cerebellum.

2. The sulci, properly so called, begin to appear in the interval between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the sixth month of foetal life, but Ecker is careful to point out that, not only the time, but the order, of their appearance is subject to considerable individual variation. In no case, however, are either the frontal or the temporal sulci the earliest.

The first which appears, in fact, lies on the inner face of the hemisphere (whence doubtless Gratiolet, who does not seem to have examined that face in his foetus, overlooked it), and is either the internal perpendicular (occipito-parietal), or the calcarine sulcus, these two being close together and eventually running into one another. As a rule the occipito-parietal is the earlier of the two.

3. At the latter part of this period, another sulcus, the "posterio-parietal," or "Fissure of Rolando" is developed, and it is followed, in the course of the sixth month, by the other principal sulci of the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes. There is, however, no clear evidence that one of these constantly appears before the other; and it is remarkable that, in the brain at the period described and figured by Ecker (loc. cit. pp. 212-213, Taf. II, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4), the antero-temporal sulcus (scissure parallele) so characteristic of the ape's brain, is as well, if not better developed than the fissure of Rolando, and is much more marked than the proper frontal sulci.

Taking the facts as they now stand, it appears to me that the order of the appearance of the sulci and gyri in the foetal human brain is in perfect harmony with the general doctrine of evolution, and with the view that man has been evolved from some ape-like form; though there can be no doubt that form was, in many respects, different from any member of the Primates now living.

Von Baer taught us, half a century ago, that, in the course of their development, allied animals put on at first, the characters of the greater groups to which they belong, and, by

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