Medieval Images of the Brain Detail

From a manuscript in Cambridge dated 1410. Across the topmost rim of the head, from left to right, are anterior pars, dura mater, media pars, and posterior pars. Just below is pia mater ("pious mother"). Four main compartments are labeled (from left to right) (1) sensus communis vel fantasia (2) ymaginativa vel formalis fantasia secundum aliquos (3) estimativa cogitativa (4) memorialis.

Above the eyes is written: "visus organa, qui principaliter consistit in nervo optico admodum etiam transversaliter." The remaining labels are olfactus, gustus, auditus, and by the neck is written "tactus per totum corpus" (touch for the whole body).

Another part of the manuscript (not shown) is written in English: "The forthyr parte of ye brayn is hoot and drye. The medyl parte hoot and moyste. The hyndyr parte colde and moyste. The rygth syde hoot ande dry. The leyft syde colde and drey."

Reference: Sudhoff, W. (1913) Die Lehre von den Hirnventrikeln in textlicher und graphischer Tradition des Altertums und Mittelalters. Archiv. Fur Geschichte der Medizin VII, 149-205, figure 9.

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All images from this Sudhoff article are reproduced with kind permission of the Institute of the History of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University. Copying or other use of these images is not permitted.