The Human Brain, Its Configuration, Structure, Development and Physiology

The Human Brain, Its Configuration, Structure, Development And Physiology by Samuel Solly. This nineteenth?century treatise advocates a philosophical, comparative approach to brain anatomy and physiology, arguing against the dry catalogues of parts and for understanding structure through function and lineage. The work unfolds in a series of parts beginning with Comparative Anatomy, where Solly traces nervous system organization from simple invertebrates through Mollusca and Arthropoda to Vertebrata, emphasizing grey versus white matter, ganglia, nerves, and commissures, and proposing that higher brains arise from a single, harmonious plan. He then surveys the Human Brain, its membranes, the spinal cord, dissection techniques, the cerebral nerves, cerebral circulation, development, physiology, and pathological inferences. Plates illustrate the evolution of the nervous system across taxa, the corpus callosum, fornix, thalami, corpora striata, optic tubercles, cerebellum, and olivary bodies, supporting a unified, comparative view of brain function grounded in structure.