Clinical manual for the study of medical cases / edited by James Finlayson.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical manual for the study of medical cases / edited by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    made so as to open the lateral ventricle on the left side. For this purpose the hemispheres are separated, and a cut is made in a direction downwards and outwards, beginning at the outer border of the corpus callosum. The left hemisphere is so held in the left hand that, when the incision reaches the ventricle, the latter will gape and expose its cavity, which may then be more fully laid open. The lateral ventricle being fully ex- posed, its dimensions are noted, and any excess of fluid which may be present. It is now proper to explore and examine the hemisphere, which is done by a series of parallel cuts, which penetrate from the interior of the ventricle through the white substance outwards to the grey matter of the convolutions. The first of these incisions is almost a continuation of the cut which opened the ventricle, and is placed just outside the corpus striatum, which lies on the floor of the ventricle. The left hemisphere being thus explored, the brain is now wheeled round, and the right lateral ventricle and hemisphere are similarly dealt with. The brain being then brought back to its former position, the fornix and corpus callosum are divided anteriorly by an incision from the foramen of Monro out- wards. These structures with the choroid plexus, and the pineal body, are observed, lifted backwards, and turned aside. If now the cerebellum be supported in the left hand, and an incision made through it in the middle line, the fourth ventricle will be opened. It is easy now to take a survey of the condition of the surface of the corpus striatum, optic thalamus, corpora quadrigemina, and floor of the fourth ventricle. While the cerebellum is in the hand, it may be incised by a series of cuts lying in the direction of the stem of the arbor vitae, and extending through the substance of the cerebellum. The great ganglia in the floor of the lateral ventricles have to be more fully examined. In order to this the left hand is introduced below the brain, so as to support these ganglia, and incisions are in succession made transversely through the corpus striatum and optic thalamus from before backwards, so as to divide them into a number of laminae, first on the one side and