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On the Weight of the Brain in the Insane, with reference to the Hemispheres, Lobes, Brain-Stem, and Cerebellum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

A. Mercier*
Affiliation:
Burghölzli Asylum, Zürich

Extract

These results are tabulated after weighing 400 brains as follows:—

  1. 150 cases of Paralysis.

  2. 70 cases of Atrophy.

  3. ISO other causes.

Divided according to sex, thus:—

  1. Males—126 cases of Paralysis.

  2. 36 cases of Atrophy.

  3. 108 other causes.

  4. Females—24 cases of Paralysis.

  5. 34 cases of Atrophy.

  6. 72 other causes.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1891

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Footnotes

For a full description of Meynert's methods, see his work on “Psychiatry,” translated by Sachs, and published by Putnam, New York, 1885. The description of the ganglia of the prosencephalon, thalamencephalon, mesencephalon, and metencephalon is given at page 25, and illustrated by drawings. At page 256 Meynert says that he gives preference to the statistical results of Weichselbaum and Pfleger, because they have enabled us to draw conclusions as to the proportionate weight of the different divisions of the brain. They used his (Meynert's) methods by not joining the cerebellum to the pons and other parts, and they regard the brain-stem, including the prosencephalic ganglion, as an important factor in calculating the weight of the brain. The brain-stem is separated from the mantle by cutting through the corona radiata— that is to say, the caudate nucleus with the island of Reil, the optic thalamus, corpora quadrigemina and crura cerebri, together with the pons and medulla oblongata, are separated from the rest of the brain. Meynert divides the brain into these parts:—Brain-mantle, cerebellum, and brain-stem—synonymous with Brain-Trunk or Axis.—A. R. U.

By “Occipital lobe” is meant the Brain-mantle exclusive of the “Frontal lobe.”—A. R. U.

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