Part 3, Chapter IV

THE BRAIN AND THE NERVES

DIAGRAMS  of the CENTRAL and AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEMS

>
A.     THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Development of the Nervous System

    As a tissue is regarded, the nervous system develops from the ectoderm or outer germ layer of the blastula within the first days of embryonic life: An elongated germinal disk is formed from the flattening blastula and grows into two and finally three germ  layers. The outer layer soon produces a fold, which, closing, develops into the neural tube, from which the tissues of the nervous system gradually grow out. The tube remains as the ventricles of the brain and as the central canal of the spinal cord.

Descriptive

    The Nervous System is generally divided into two parts. One is enclosed in the cranium and in the neural canal of the vertebral column, and is called the Central Nervous System or the Cerebrospinal System. This is concerned in all conscious sensations and voluntary actions. The other part is composed of a double chain of ganglia situated at the sides of the vertebral column and connected by fibres with each other and with the central nervous system, and is called the Sympathetic System. Taken together with certain nerve paths such as the Vagus Nerve which are sometimes designated as "parasympathetic", the Sympathetic System is called the Autonomic Nervous System because it has to do with unconscious sensations and involuntary motor actions.
    The fibres from both systems form various nerves, ganglia, and end organs. The skeletal muscles are mainly supplied from the autonomic.

Functions

    Among the general functions of the nervous System the following are generally recognized:
1.     Determination of the movements of the muscles by initiating or preventing the contraction of the muscle fibers.
2.     Control of the secretions by the glands.
3.     Regulation of blood supply to various parts of the body according to needs, by direct action on the heart and the blood vessels.
4.     Regulation of food intake and energy consumption.
5.     Control of respiration and regulation of oxygen supply.
6.     Regulating heat and moisture exchange.
7.     Conveying impulses from the body to certain cells or neurons, giving rise to sensation; by which the system is informed of the states of the tissues and of conditions in the external environment. This sensation may be conscious to the mind or it may be unconscious.
8.     Serving as the seat of intelligence and of the function of judgment, retaining impressions, and resolving judgment and freedom into complex acts of life, such as speech, etc.

To these Swedenborg adds two additional offices:

9.     The "cortical glands" manufacture certain vital fluids and assist in their purification. These fluids rejuvenate and vivify the red blood. Swedenborg therefore classifies the brain, as a whole and as to distinct parts, among the glands. The fluids elaborated in the cortical glands not only flow out through the nerve fibres but are also mixed with other essences in the ventricles and veins. The chemical function of the brain is largely directed to the ventricles and culminates in the pituitary gland.
10.     It was Swedenborg's conviction, upheld by his investigations and arguments, that the brain has an animation or motion of its own by which the whole body is affected. It "synchronizes" with the motions of the lungs. What this cerebral is, requires special study.(992) The volumatim motion of the brain is not usually recognized by modern observers.

    It is perhaps interesting that graphic recordings of cardiac action as reflected in peripheral circulation show rhythmic changes corresponding to respiration. - Dr. Robert Alden

                      11. The inmost essence of the nervous system serves as the procreative essence of the seed.
    The physiological functions of the nervous system may be classed under two heads - a) chemical, and b) sensory-motor. Both functions, Swedenborg shows, originate in the cortical glands.

Note:
    Aristotle (BC 384-322) regarded the brain as an organ for cooling the blood and for the production of mucus.  He thought the occiput to be "empty".(993) Galen (131-210) speculated on a "soul pneuma" produced in the cerebral ventricles.(994)Descartes (1596-1650) placed the seat of the soul in the pineal gland. Thomas Willis (1621-1675) believed that sensory images were projected on the corpus callosum, and placed the world of ideas and the memory in the cortex of the great brain, where also the animal spirits are generated. (995) Bartholin, Boerheave and Haller localized the origin of motions in the medulla. Swedenborg seems to be the first to show that the cortical "glands" were the seats of the soul's motor functions as well as sensation and higher psychic activities.(996) Swedenborg's reasons for assigning to the cortical glands the primary seat of consciousness and of the soul, are first outlined in his work "On Tremulation"(1719) and were later elaborated in his "De Infinito"(1734), the "economy of the animal Kingdom" (i.e., the Soul's Kingdom!) 1740, 1741, and his various unpublished treatises on the Brain. "Brain", "Rational Psychology", etc.
   

    Swedenborg notes that the brain is a) better protected than any other organ of the body; b) informed more directly than other parts by the sense organs of the head; c) nourished by the richest blood; d) the terminus of the blood vessels and the origin of the fibres. Since these nerve fibres, both sensory and motor, proceed from and to the cortical substances, the cortical glands must be the seat of the soul. Additional confirmations are found in the manner in which the arteries of the brain are so arranged as to break the force of the pulse lest the blood dominate the brain.

    The Central Nervous System is composed of three parts - the Cerebrum, the Cerebellum, and the Medulla. The Medulla has two portions: the Medulla Oblongata and the Medulla Spinalis. In front and partly around the upper Medulla the Pons Varolii is situated.

B.     THE CEREBRUM

    The Cerebrum is distinctly divided by a deep cleft - the longitudinal fissure - into two halves or hemispheres, which are separated by the tough "Falx Cerebri" - a projection of the Dura Mater. The hemispheres are united especially by a thick band of nerve fibres called the Corpus Callosum. The Cerebrum is separated from the Cerebellum by the "interior lamina" of the Dura Mater. But it communicates with the Cerebellum by fibres of the Medulla Oblongata, by common blood vessels, etc.

The Axes and the Ventricles

    Swedenborg describes the parts of the brain as being situated about two axes, which usually coincide with the connected cavities which are called "ventricles". The longitudinal axis runs "like a perpetual duct or canal"(997) from the septum lucidum (or "fifth" ventricle) through the third ventricle and down into the minute central canal of the spinal cord even to the "cauda equine".  Swedenborg postulated the existence of this central canal although it was not yet verified. (998)

Note:
    The references marked "B" are to the work on "The Brain" (Swedenborg), as translated and numbered by Dr. R.L. Tafel, London 1882.

    The transverse axis runs through the "straight sinus" - a venous canal beginning from the middle of the occipital bone into the third ventricle and thence through the infundibulum into the pituitary gland.     Both these "axes" are designed to allow for the motion of the tissues and organs around them. In them are conveyed the fluids of the cerebrum; the transverse axis, however, conveys both blood (in the "straight sinus") and spiritous essences.(999)
    The cerebrum is furnished with its own arteries, which branch from the internal carotids, and has two longitudinal sinuses (i.e., venous channels encased in aura mater) as well as basal sinuses (the superior and inferior petrosel). (1000)

Two Substances

    The brain tissue - aside from the characteristic neuroglia cells which serve the purpose of a supporting connective tissue - is made up of two types of substance, a) the gray, cineritious, or cortical substance, and b) the white, or medullary substance. The nerve cells are massed in the gray matter. The medullary substance consists mostly of nerve fibres.
    In the cerebrum, the cortical substances form a layer which follows the surface and dips into the sulci between the convolutions. This layer is called the cerebral cortex (or bark). In the cerebellum the cortex is more deeply indented. In the spinal cord the gray substance occupies the central position. The medullary substance, which is largely fibrillary in nature, occupies the inner portion of the hemispheres. In the center of the brain there are various organs which are composed of both gray and white matter. (See diagram opposite)

Coverings of the Brain

    The coverings of the brain are, the Pia Mater, which Swedenborg regards as purely vascular rather than fibrous; the Arachnoid Tunic which is less universal, but very delicate, and separated from the Pia by the subarachnoid cavity which is filled with cerebrospinal fluids; and the Dura Mater which is tendinous, made up of fibres "returning from the body." (1001)

    The Pia of today consists of membrane and vessels; though it could be considered as being entirely vascular, supported by the arachnoid. The subarachnoid spaces are considered filled by an "arachnid" meshlike or weblike interweaving of fibres, rather than being a spongy tissue being formed into cell-like compartments. - Dr. Robert Alden

The subarachnoid spaces are filled with a spongy tissue which is formed into cell-like compartments. Fluid passes easily from these spaces into the veins of the dura mater by way of arachnoid villi which protrude into the dura. The sub-dural spaces are also filled with a similar fluid.(1002)
    The skull, the bones of the cranium, the scalp and the hair furnish additional protection to the brain.(1003)

    It's interesting that although the arach. villi are presumed to filtrate cerebrospinal fluid into the venous system, this has not been proven; and it's believed by many that there may also be a direct filtration into veins and venous sinuses elsewhere. - Dr. Robert Alden

Note:
    The following treatment is abstracted from the teachings of the work on "The Brain". It aims to give a general idea of Swedenborg's presentation.

The Functions of the Cerebrum in General

    The Cerebrum maintains and regulates the internal sensories which are contained in its globe. (1004) It moderates their states and operations.(1005) It connects the organs of bodily sense with the sensories of the soul(1006) by fibres which serve as vehicles of the sensations to the soul.(1007) It is therefore called the Common Sensory.(1008)
    The cerebrum also connects and unifies internal sensations so that the inmost senses shall be able to perceive, think, judge and will, thus to see ends, distinguish truth from falsity, and make rational conclusions. It makes possible remembering, imagining, craving, desiring, etc.(1009)

>

    But it is also the means of determining the ends of the soul into choice and act; it is the Common Motory of the voluntary part (as distinguished from the involuntary cerebellum).(1010)

    The sensories reside in the cerebrum in three lobes.(1011) At the crown or the highest lobe, they are in the most vigilant state of potential expansion and intentness. The sulci enable the brain to expand and animate.

    My impression is that Swedenborg did not grasp the significance of how the infoldings of the cortex increase cortical area; and the physical sructure of the brain does not allow for expansion on this basis. - Dr. Robert Alden

    In the sensory-motor areas, perception and volition are present together.(1012)

    The royal road of the sensations from the body is by way of the Corpora Striata (including the caudate and lenticular nuclei). By the same way the soul descends into action. These bodies are therefore a conjoining medium - a Mercury. (1013)
    In the Corpora Striata the conatus of the will is prepared for acting in the body. Here also the sensations are carried to the court of the cerebrum; and the cerebrum then conveys them to the soul; thus to our consciousness.
    But brain functions are localized: The muscles of the feet thus depend on the highest lobe. Those of the abdomen and thorax depend on the middle lobe, those of the face and head of the third lobe. "They seem to correspond to one another in an inverse ratio." (1014)

R. Psy
Brain-Funotion_:Localization.
Left
Left
Left
H. Highest mental region. Human control center Control of animal passions. Inhibition of animal appetites. Moral Sense.
B. Broca's Area Articulate speech and motor image of words (for writing).
On right-handed people the function is located on left side of the brain; and vice versa.
A. Auditory Area: Read lips, tones,, guess. Auditory apperceptive faculty (which interprets sounds).
V. Visual check region: Necessary for writing and picturing words, but not for speech or hearing,. (Copying, is here.) ALEXIA,
M. Musical Center. 1'
G. graphic Center: indicated only by single case); Unlikely.
AMUSIA.
S. Sterao-gnostie, Center: combination of tactile and visual. Lesion here destroys the idea of the use of objects.
Localization of Brain functions.
\ Decussations of Fibres.
In the Writings, Swedenborg gives several instances of how the fibres cross over from left to right et v.v., how the left side and the right have a
different and special function and correspondence .
Div.Wis.iii 4. The left side of the brain like form of the Primitive of man, is the receptacle of Wisdom. Cp W 532
S.D. 1666, 1667 . Certain antediluvian spirits (gent)) were permitted to operate only into the right part of the head, and thence into the left /side
of the thorax; lest man be destroyed,
R.
Psy.
Brain-Funotions:Localization.
E1. Primary Visual Center.
E2. Supposed visual center on apes (Sheridan).
E1 Primary Visual Canter. Destruction of it makes man blind (cerebral blindness); but still he might be able to write from habit, and from
secondary center.

V. Secondary or Apperceptive Center of Vision Destruction causes Psychic Blindness loss of power of interpreting or distinguishing sight images. (Recognition by hearing and touch remains good.)

E1 On both sides. Half of each aye is blinded by a lesion off one of the E centers

R.Psy

Aphasia.

Cortical Motor Aphasia - Can not articulate words.

Cortical Auditory Aphasia - Can not understand their own words, nor those of others.

Cortical Visual Aphasia - Cerabral blindness.

Subcortical Auditory Aphasia - Can speak but not hear.

Subcortical Visual Aphasia - Destruction of axons and secondary centers (interpretive).

Psychic blindness (?) Opt.Thal.(7)

Subcortical Motor Aphasia -A break in fibres between Broca's Area and Face Motor Centers.

education the right Face Motor Area can assist to speak.)

Note:
    Swedenborg here anticipates modern science in announcing the principle of the localization of brain functions. How he arrived at his conclusions is analyzed by Prof. Martin Ranstrom in "Emanuel Swedenborg's Investigations in Natural Science and the Basis for His Statements concerning the Functions of the Brain". Univ. of Upsala, 1910.
    Modern diagrams of brain functions may be found in Herrick;s "Introd. to Neurology", 1934, pp. 339, 337.

    The cerebrum is a conglomerate gland. It supplies a refined lymph mixed with spirits, to enter into the composition of the blood globule.
    The Pituitary Body (hypophysis) is a conglobate gland which conveys this lymph into the jugular veins
    Later this spirit is collected again by the lymphatic vessels of the conglobate glands and is led back into the thoracic duct (and lymph duct) and thus into the blood. (1015)

    What does he mean by spirits? Is a blood globule a cell? Conglobate = rounded mass or ball. Conglomerate = parts collected from venous sources.   - Dr. Marlin W. Heilman

    The Corpora Striata, on the floor of the lateral ventricles and the sides of the infundibulum (1016), also excite the choroid plexuses to emit a lymph with which the spirit from the cerebrum is copulated. This lymph is called a purer blood, for it serves as a serum for the animal spirit. (1017)

    The secretory function of the cerebrum is carried out in the posterior part, around the longitudinal sinus. Here sensations are not so readily perceived as in the anterior region. The fibres of this posterior region are not carried into the corpora striata but into the corpus callosum. (1018)
    The fibres from the cerebrum form the whole of the body as to its circumferences - the skeletal muscles and the organs of the senses. But the viscera are from the fibres of the cerebellum, which is the organ not of man's will but of nature. In the egg, the cerebrum exists first before the cerebellum or the heart. (1019)
    The cerebrum thus first represents in itself the idea or ideal of its soul into the image of which the body is then formed.

    The corpora striata mediate all expressions of the rational mind and the animus, even as it had mediated in the formation of the body. (1020)

    The cerebrum joins the fibres with the blood vessels, and vice versa. The corporeal fibres enter the blood vessels (composing the inmost coat of the arteries) and ascend back by the carotids to the cortical glands, which they enter. (1021) The cerebrum completes the "circle of life" by sending back to the fibres the spirit of the (resolved) blood. Besides the "corporeal fibres" supply the glands with the purest elements which furnish the animal spirit with its elementary or corporeal nature.(1022)

    The cerebrum therefore claims lordship over the blood. It distributes the arteries over itself to supply all its glands, and rules the veins in the sinuses.
    It also concentrates its medullary fibres into the nervous fibres of the body and sends them to the muscles, and directs the various juices by distinct ways, between the fibres or between the fascicles of fibres. The grosser humors it casts out through the olfactory bulbs. (1023)

    The cerebrum expands and constricts and thereby excites all things below it into a universal or animatory motion.(1024)
    Wakefulness is induced by the intension and expansion of the cortical substances.
    Sleep comes from a constriction, relaxation, or collapse of the cerebrum, so that the folds and commissures fold up and stick together. The connections between the glands are then broken, and the vessels do not enter with their blood and spirit; but the corporeal fibres with their purer elements still feed the glands, and indeed more perfectly. The sceptre of the animal kingdom is then handed over to the cerebellum. (1025)
    Thus it is the cerebrum that institutes the intercourse between the soul and the body.(1026)

Note:
    The Writings note that the corporeal is quiescent with man in sleep(1027) and his exterior thought is lulled.(1028) The cerebellum is awake while the cerebrum sleeps.(1029)
    Modern students do not regard the problem of sleep as solved. Some ascribe its cause to toxic substances which are present in the cerebro-spinal fluid during fatigue. Others connect it with muscular relaxation or a general inhibition of the cerebral cortex.(1030) Sleep has been ascribed to cerebral anemia, but this was opposed by the claim that the volume of the brain has been found to swell in trephinal subjects during sleep.(1031) Others find a lowering of the general blood-pressure during sleep.(1032)
    The electroencephelograph records various fast oscillations during wakefulness, but during sleep markedly slower "brain waves" on which are superimposed bursts of fast activity called "Sleep Spindles."(1033)

Three Universal Essences in the Body

    In the work on The Brain three universal essences are listed:(1034)

1.     The "soul" is properly the only substantial and essential thing in the body. >From it are derived all the composite corporeal
substances, and the very form of the body is the result of its essential determinations.
    Each soul is peculiar and individual to itself, so that the soul of one cannot belong to the body of another. While souls are similar, they differ as to states, which vary with the ends and principles in human minds, thus are due to the information of these minds a posteriori.(1035)

Note:
    The "soul" here referred to is in the Economy named "the spirituous fluid".  In the Fibre(1036) and Generation(1037) it is called a "celestial and spiritual form" since it is derived out of the celestial aura and yet contains a spiritual essence and form.(1038) The soul as a spiritual form is treated of in the Rational Psychology(1039) and in the Animal Kingdom.(1040) The recognition that the spiritual soul is above the highest natural "universal essence" of the body, is shown in the following excerpt:

    "If you abstract from the animal spirit [all parts of elementary and terrestrial origin], what then remains is nothing but a form derived from the determinations of the soul, or the veriest being of the body..."(1041)
2. The Animal Spirit.   This term is generally used by Swedenborg, as here, for the intermediate vital fluid. But sometimes it is used in a generic sense (as in the Writings) for a vital essence distilled in the brain.(1042) Usually the animal spirit is identified with the "purer blood"(1043); but in the small treatises in Codex 74 Swedenborg attempts to distinguish between them.(1044)

3. The Red Blood

These three essences have their respective determinants:

1. Thesimplest fibres, which are like rays of the soul.
2. The nerve fibres.
3. The blood-vessels.(1045)

The Chain of Uses

    The cerebrum is thus the uniting medium between soul and body.(1046) Its quality appears from the chain of uses, the circle of ends and effects, by which this intercourse is carried on.(1047) This appears especially in the case of morbid states, injuries or diseases which break the connection of things.(1048)

    In the cerebrum, the soul unfolds its purest and simplest organical forms: the cortical substances. The cortical gland is in the sphere of ends, the cerebrum as a whole in the sphere of causes. Each gland is a cerebrum in least effigy and in a higher sphere.
The more there are of these glands, arranged into separate congeries yet conspiring to the same effect, the more perfect the result, i.e. the state and quality of the cerebrum.(1049)
    From the cortical substances the soul sends out its fibres, entwines them into knots and plexuses, connects them with fibres of different origins, surrounds them with coatings, and sends them out in fascicles, as nerves, into the body.
    The white matter of the medulla of the cerebrum is thus made up of fibres which are supplied with coverings and clothed with vascular capillaries. Hence arises the centrum ovate and corona radiate. Each cortical gland is the producer of a fibre. These fibres are first allowed to have their freedom - "as ought to be the case in every origin and in every conception of things". But soon the soul urges them together and invests them with coverings.
    The sensory and motor fibres which are from the cortex of the anterior part of the brain and concern muscles subject to the will, are guided through the corpora striata.The remaining fibres the soul guides towards the corpus callosum and thence into the body of the fornix.

The fornix carries few, if any, fibres from the callosum, the latter bearing association fibre from one to another hemisphere.   - Dr. Robert Alden

    Cerebral fibres also pass into nerves - as into the olfactory and the optic nerves. Fibres also pass towards the ear, the tongue and the cuticles: but nevertheless they are invested with fibres from another region, as from the corpora striate, the medulla oblongata, the spinal marrow, and especially the cerebellum. They are encircled with membranes and entwined with blood vessels.

    While the fibres of the cerebrum are directed to the sense organs and voluntary muscles, those from the cerebellum tend toward the viscera. Yet both kinds of fibres may summon to their assistance the fibres of the medulla oblongata and the spinal medulla.(1050) Thus as far down as the Pons, the cerebral fibres are associated only with those of the corpora striata. Below the Pons the fibres of the cerebellum are added. From the medulla oblongata on, its fibres also are associated.(1051)

    It is the work of the cerebrum to be a plane of mental activities principally. The soul of the cerebrum issues its commands, but the more robust fibres of the corpora striate execute them, so that the brain may have a rest so far as the concerns of the body go.(1052)

Note:
    For diagrams of the motor tract of fibres passing from the motor areas of the cortex, between the lentiform nucleus and the thalamus and thence to the spine, see Gray's "Anatomy", 1918, p. 870. For the sensory tract, see p. 852. For the pyramidal tract and corresponding sensory tract, see the Mueller-Spatz Neurological Charts, series 2, chart XI.(1053)

    For voluntary muscular movements are provided fibres derived from the cerebrum, the corpora striata, and the medullae,
oblongata, and spinalis. These also weave the circumferences of the body.
    For forming and activating the involuntary visceral parts of the body, are needed fibres derived from the cerebellum and the
two medullae. Thus are made up the nerves called the Par Vagum and the Great Sympathetic. (1054)

Note:
    Swedenborg, like his contemporaries, called the Par Vagum "the eighth pair": it is now called the "tenth pair". He also identified the Great Sympathetic with "the Great Intercostal". (1055)

Fibre Tracts and Organs within the Cerebrum

    For a brief review of the uses of the various parts and organs of the brain, see the report of Dr. A. Acton's lecture on the subject.(1056)

    Corpus Callosum. Swedenborg notes that this tract of transverse fibres, which unites the two hemispheres and forms a road for the anterior ventricles, connects the cortical substances from side to side and also the upper lobes with the posterior. The fibres are mainly derived from the posterior parts and only sparingly from the frontal cortex. No fibres stop in the middle but they spread like wings from side to side.(1057) The corpus callosum serves many uses:

         a) It acts as a steady support for the structures around it which are in constant motion.(1058)

        b) Moved by the corpora striate and the optic thalami, it distills animal spirit into the lateral ventricles and also sends nervous juice (between the fibres) towards the optic thalami.(1059) It is the road which leads to the chemical laboratory of the brain, i.e. to the ventricles.(1060)

       c) It serves to propagate sensations, especially that of sight.(1061)

Note:
    The visual sensory cortex does not seem to have a callosal connection. (1062) But there are of course indirect connections by means of association fibres.

Fibre Paths. Neurologists list the fibres of the brain into three main categories:


a)     Projection Fibres. These comprise sensory and motor fibres which connect the cortex with the brain stem. If traced from the cortex they are seen to converge as the "corona radiata" into the flattened internal capsule and thence in part to the cerebral peduncle. Usually, any nucleus which sends fibres to the cortex receives some in return. The motor fibres from the precentral motor centers of the cortex which go to the spine, are now called the "pyramidal tract"; these fibres control intentional actions. Certain extra-pyramidal tracts, like the cortico-pontile system, are concerned with tonic activities, and reciprocations with the cerebellum.

b)     Commissural fibres. These transverse fibres connect the two sides of the brain. The hippocampal commissure connects the olfactory cortex, while the corpus callosum connects the two sides of the neopallium or non-olfactory cortex.

c)     Association fibres. These connect different parts of the cerebral cortex of each hemisphere, so that all regions are interconnected in bewildering complexity, and able to influence the motor centers and the conscious life. Notable among the longer tracts is the "superior longitudinal fasciculus" which connects the sensory association area in the parietal region with the intellectual area in the frontal lobe.


    Swedenborg gives a general description of these nerve paths in the work on The Brain. (1063)

    Optic Thalami. These bodies, situated on either side and also somewhat behind the third ventricle, aid the cerebrum, Swedenborg shows, in three functions. (1064)

a)     Motor uses. The thalami are not moved except the cerebrum initiates the motion. They do not depend on fibres from the Corpora Striata, but only on those of the cerebrum. While the fibres of the corpora striata bend around the thalamus towards the anterior portions of the medulla, the fibres of the thalamus run towards the posterior region, obliquely, and are bent towards the corpora quadrigemina and the fourth ventricle.
    The thalami may be called "the lower corpora striata".(1065)

b)     Sensory uses. While the corpora striata refer to the sense of smell(1066), the optic thalami are placed over the sense of sight. The optic nerve fibres pass directly into the thalami while the nerves of hearing and taste are rooted in the medulla oblongata and those of touch in the spinal marrow.(1067)

 The optic nerve fibres do not pass directly into the thalami, but probably have some connections there.      The Thalami have some motor fibres; but are chiefly nuclei involving sensory tract reception and distribution to higher centers. Fibres of hearing and taste are included. - Dr. Robert Alden

    The fibre paths of the corpora striata pass to the cortex by the "centrum ovale" or"corona radiata" (1068), while those of the thalami are said by Swedenborg to pass through the "centrum semicirculare" (inner capsule), the corpus callosum, and fornix. (1069) "Every cortical particle is rendered conscious of the modes and the least difference of each sense..."   Sight and smell are rooted in both hemispheres, but hearing, taste and touch are in addition mediated by the medullae.

c)     Chemical uses. From their position at the bottom of the ventricles, the thalami by their expansion and constriction excite the other organs and serve as general regulators and dispensers of the fluids.(1070)

    Corpora Striata. These bodies contain striations or layers of gray matter. They are placed as reception courts for the cerebrum, as well as a gate from the cortex to the medulla.(1071) Above them spread the wings of the corpus callosum.     They serve as balances and bars for the medullary fibres which pass through them, and as the roots or beginnings of the medulla oblongata.     By their expansions they function as the prime motors of the ventricles or chemical laboratories of the cerebrum.

    The striated bodies (and these include the thalamus in this sense) can initiate motions which at first originate with the cerebrum and were thus voluntary.  Thus voluntary acts by daily habit become spontaneous and of second nature.(1072)

>    

Note: Gray notes the following fibre paths which pass through the internal capsule:

1.     From thalamus to frontal lobe.
2.     From lentiform and caudate nuclei to each other.
3.     From cortex to corpus striatum.
4.     From frontal lobe to peduncle and pons.
5.     From motor cortex to motor nuclei of cranial nerves (decussate).
6.     Cerebro-spinal fibres of pyramidal tract (decussate at various points).
7.     Sensory fibres from thalamus.
8.     Fibres of optic radiation from lower visual centers to cortex of occipital lobe.
9.     Accoustic fibres to temporal cortex.
10.   From occipital and temporal lobes to pontine nuclei. (1074)

    In the pyramidal tract motor fibres descend without interruption from the precentral gyrus of the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord. (1075)

    Pineal Gland. This small gland is placed in the median line at the threshold of the cerebral laboratory and at the crossing of its two "axes", at the roots of the straight sinus and under the vascular intrusion of the branch of the vertebral artery which forms the choroid plexus of the third ventricle.
    It is thus somewhat under the control of the cerebellum.
    With the corpora quadrigemina and related tissues it forms the "isthmus" of the brain. (1076)

    Here, according to the views of Swedenborg's contemporaries, the cerebrum - through an "anus" - pours in spirit from the lateral ventricles, and the cerebellum, through the choroid plexus of the cerebellar arteries, the serum. (Quain states that the pineal gland receives sympathetic nerve fibres).
    The cerebellum superintends the chemical operations, so that it is nature, and not man's will, which maintains the health of the body. The pineal gland guards the gate and regulates the flow of lymph in adjacent foramina and in the aqueduct of Sylvius; acting reciprocally with the thalami. According to Swedenborg, (1077) it has its own gray matter and can thus act from itself somewhat. If there is an excess of serum in the ventricles, the serum in the follicles of the pineal gland hardens into gravel.

Note:
    According to recent neurologists, the pineal body has no nerve cells, but is composed of follicles of epithelial nature separated by vascular connective tissue. It contains "brain-sand", a calcarious deposit. (1078)

    The gland has no fibres derived directly from the cortex, but extends fibrous bands to the thalami. It does not take part in the voluntary determinations or intellectual functions of the brain. (1079)

    The Pineal Gland sends fibres towards any sense organ except the eye. The connection with the eye is through the optic thalami, by which the cerebellum may receive visual effects. (1080)

Note:
    The pineal body is sometimes regarded as a "vestigial organ" - a remnant of a third eye.(1081) In certain lower vertebrates the structure has a sensory function as an "invertebrate eye" or "parietal eye".(1082)
    Recent ideas of the internal secretory function of the pineal body (which Descartes had mistaken for the seat of the soul) are that it is an inhibitor to all the other ductless glands. If it deteriorates, the pituitary and other organs grow abnormally large, and female animals lose their maternal instincts. Some maintain that it inhibits sexual maturity.

I do not believe that any of these concepts are credited today. Deterioration of the pineal is seen frequently without evidence of gross physiologic or organic change elsewhere. There is no known relationship to instinct, sexuality, etc. The pineal is observed to begin to degenerate in early childhood; whence it is concluded that it may have a principal function prior to birth. But this is not known, if it is so.  - Dr. Robert Alden

    The Anus.  Swedenborg points to an influence exerted by the pineal gland over the fluids of the cerebrum by reason of its position over the foramen called the "anus". He supposed with his contemporaries that such an "anus" or posterior opening existed between the lateral ventricles, the third ventricle, and the aqueduct, under the pineal gland. (Its existence was denied by Monroe in 1783, later affirmed by Meirzejewsky in 1872, but now is generally denied)(1083)

I've attempted to investigate the possible existence of the "anus", without having done so by direct study of brains and sections. Serial Kodachrome sections, etc., show no plausible place for such an opening. But it is interesting to me that in large areas the lateral and third ventricles are separated from the external fluid spaces only by a thin membrane within the various fissures. - Dr. Robert Alden

    Corpora Quadrigemina.(1084)  The dilation of the aqueduct of Sylvius is effected by the aid of various neighboring organs and especially by the action of the corpora quadrigemina, to allow the flow of the cerebral "lymph" from the "anus" into the third ventricle. The Aqueduct of Sylvius was thus conceived by Swedenborg to be "almost completely" closed off from the fourth ventricle by the "valve of Vieussens".  Modern anatomists all maintain that the aqueduct provides an open channel between the third and fourth ventricles.

C.     BLOOD SUPPLY OF THE BRAIN

    The brain is entirely supplied from two pairs of arteries, the internal carotids and the vertebrals. At the base of the brain these anastomose to form the remarkable Circle of Willis. The carotids enter the circle from an anterior direction, the vertebrals from the back.
        The arteries drop their muscular coat as they enter the skull, and approach the brain through the subarachnoid spaces. The internal carotid curves through an osseous canal before it reaches the Circle of Willis.(1085) This circle encloses the optic chiasma, the infundibulum, etc.

   The above arrangement makes possible a neutralizing of the pulse and assures the brain a constant blood supply even if one of the supplying vessels should become clogged.(1086)
    From the Circle of Willis arise three trunks for each cerebral hemisphere: a) The anterior cerebrals. b) The middle cerebrals. c) The posterior cerebrals. Each of these arteries originate two different and independent systems of secondary vessels.
    The ganglionic system feeds the thalami and corpora striata.
    The cortical system ramifies in the pia mater and supplies the cortex and underlying brain substance.
    The ganglionic system contains what has been called terminal arteries which do not anastomose. The vessels of the cortical system are not so strictly terminaI but approach this type closely; its arteries send off branches perpendicularly into the cortex and sometimes into the medullary substance, with scarcely any anastomoses. This characteristic of the blood vessels makes each area of the brain the master of its own blood supply. But it also increases the possibility of localized anemia, rupture, or apoplexy.

    The choroid plexuses of the ventricles are supplied as follows:
    The anterior choroidal, a branch of the internal carotid, enters the tip of the inferior horn of each lateral ventricle through the choroidal fissure and runs backward in its choroid plexus, serving as an important source for the cerebro-spinal fluid.(1087) This artery extends about two thirds of the length of the plexus. The rest of the plexus of this ventricle is supplied with blood through the foramen of Monroe where the choroid plexus of the third ventricle protrudes into the lateral with a branch from the posterior cerebral;(1088)

    The choroid plexus of the third ventricle receives its blood from the branch of the posterior cerebral, which is distinguished as the posterior choroidal artery. The posterior cerebral draws its blood from the vertebral artery through the basilar trunk. The posterior choroidal passes into the third ventricle above the corpora quadrigemina and below the splenium.

    The two choroid plexuses of the fourth ventricle invaginate the roof of the ventricle from below the cerebellum. They stretch upward forming a T-shaped structure. They are supplied with blood from a branch of the vertebral artery which originates from the subclavian.

    Veins of the cerebrum. These veins possess no valves and no muscular coats. They open into the cranial venous sinuses.

    The veins of the cerebrum belong to two groups, internal and external.
    The internal veins. The terminal vein runs forward in the angle between the thalamus and the caudate, and - at the interventricular foramen - joins the choroidal which has followed the choroid plexus of the lateral ventricle. These two pairs then form the pair called the internal cerebral, which carries the blood backwards through the tela choroidea of the third ventricle, joining into the single great cerebral or Vein of Galen which drains into the straight sinus.
    The external veins, which are visible on the surface of the brain, anastomose freely and drain mostly into the sinuses in the aura mater - especially the superior sagittal sinus, but also directly into the transverse (lateral) sinuses at the base of the brain. These sinuses all flow together and drain into the internal jugular vein.    Several sinuses at the base of the brain form a circular sinus which is situated around the pituitary gland.

   The blood of the whole brain, including the cerebellum, drains through the internal jugular veins.

    The larger choroid plexuses - those of the lateral ventricles - perform the function of absorbing spirit from the fimbria of the Fornix, mixing it with the elements of the blood and perspiring the resultant fluid into the ventricles.(1089) The exudations of the smaller plexus of the third ventricle that is more closely related to the cerebellum, are also directed towards the infundibulum, where the pituitary gland is waiting to extract suitable elements for the blood stream(1090)

D.     THE CEREBELLUM(1091)

    The substance of the brain (which may be called the exemplar of all glands) can be distinguished into three degrees:
a)     A spherule of cortical substance.
b)     A glome or cortical torus formed from a conglomeration of cortical spherules.
c)     The brain as a whole (cerebrum) with its lateral and third ventricles, its aqueducts and foramina, its Infundibulum and pituitary gland.(1092)
    The Cerebellum is a gland of the second degree - a single torus or glome of gray substance. It is more compact than the cerebrum, yet capable of motions because the cortex is folded to its innermost parts.(1093) It is conjoined with the cerebrum through common arteries and sinuses and by common septa, and their fibres are consociated in the isthmus, pons, and medulla and in derivative nerves.(1094) The cerebellum receives Its blood supply from the vertebral arteries.
    The motions and acts of the cerebellum are natural, while those of the cerebrum are voluntary. In wakefulness, the cerebrum may act with inconstancy; in anger it may seethe and strike against the walls of its sinuses, in sadness it may be compressed and lie prostrate. But the cerebellum accommodates its actions to the state of the body. It animates synchronously with the respiration of the lungs.(1095)
    The cerebellum acts as a whole, while the cerebrum can be aroused or elevated part by part. - The cerebellum conducts the instinctive operations within the body, which do not come to the perception of the mind - such as the systole of the heart and the arteries, the chemical economy of the blood, etc.(1096)

    Involuntary action and unconscious sensation.

    The cerebrum has the power of sensating, noticing, and by imagination representing things which have been objects of its senses, thus presenting material ideas.(1097) The cerebellum also feels the smallest changes of state in its body, but these sensations are unconscious to the cerebrum.(1098) But by these unconscious sensations the cerebellum is able to care for every bodily part.(1099) Although the soul is everywhere, still it cannot feel or sensate everywhere, but only in the brain. In the cerebellum, sensation does not reach the mind but is passed on to the soul.(1100)

   The Par Vagum and the Great Sympathetic are the special nerves of the cerbellum, whereby involuntary actions are effected as well as unconscious sensations. All the rest, except those sent out to the genital members from the restiform process of the cerebellum, are under the control of the cerebrum.(1101) As to the lumbar and sacral nerves, see Gener. 44.

    All the fibre that flows into the testicles descends from the medulla of the cerebellum, not from the cerebrum: hence the innermost and vital essence of the seed owes its origin to the cerebellum. If the conception of the seed depended on the will, i.e., the cerebrum; its faculties would soon perish.(1102)

Note:
    "The voluntary things with man continually lead away from order, and by the involuntary lead back to order. Hence it is that the motion of the heart which is involuntary, is altogether taken away from the will of man; similarly the action of the cerebellum; and that the motions of the heart and the forces of the cerebellum rule the voluntary things, lest these rush beyond bounds and extinguish the life of the body before time..."(1103)
    The conscious will (or "voluntary") is formed in the understanding which is based in the cerebrum. The unconscious will (or "involuntary") is based in the Cerebellum.(1104)
    "The cerebellum is especially for the will, and the cerebrum especially for the understanding."(1105)
    "Sense in general, or general sense (sensus communis), is distinguished into a voluntary and an involuntary. Voluntary sense is proper to the cerebrum, but involuntary sense is proper to the cerebellum. These two kinds of general sense are conjoined in man, but still are distinct.  The fibres which flow forth from the cerebrum present the voluntary sense in general, and the fibres which flow from the cerebellum present the involuntary sense in general. The fibres of this twofold origin conjoin themselves together in the two appendices, which are called the medulla oblongata and the medulla spinalis, and through these pass into the body, and form its members, viscera, and organs. The parts which encompass the body, as the muscles and skin, and also the organs of the senses, take their fibres for the most part from the cerebrum. From these man has sense and motion according to his will. But the parts thereby encompassed or enclosed which are called the viscera of the body, take their fibres from the cerebellum. In consequence man has no sense of these parts, nor are they under the control of his will. From this it may in some degree be evident what sense is in general, or the general voluntary sense, and the general involuntary sense..."(1106)

    The "involuntary" is twofold: one is man's hereditary which he has from his parents; the other inflows through heaven from the Lord.(1107)
    In the cerebellum dwells the love of the will, and in the cerebrum the thought of the understanding. When the thought does not lead the love of the man's will, the inmost parts of the cerebellum - which in themselves are celestial "collapse".(1108)

    The cerebellum is disciplined by the cerebrum.(1109)

    Fibres from the cerebrum are joined with fibres from the cerebellum so that man's voluntary things may be ruled by the involuntary.(1110)

    The cerebellum is awake when the cerebrum is asleep(1111), but is seemingly asleep when the cerebrum is awake.(1112) Love cannot sleep.(1113)
    The motion of the cerebellum, like that of the cerebrum, is synchronous with that of the lungs.(1114) The lungs consociate operations of cerebrum and cerebellum.(1115) During sleep, respiration is involuntary.(1116)
    The cerebellum perceives all that the cerebrum does, but does not publish it.(1117)
    The cerebellum is especially designed for the will, and the cerebrum for the understanding.(1118)
    For a study of the connection of the cerebellum with the hereditary will, and of the cerebrum with the acquired will that is gradually formed in the understanding - see New Church Life, 1946, pp. 465-77.

E.     PONS VAROLII

    The Pons, straddling the front of the cerebellum between the midbrain and the medulla oblongata, bridges between the two halves of the cerebellum and also connects the medulla and the cerebrum. It is composed of interwoven transverse and longitudinal fibres and intermixed with gray matter. Swedenborg calls it the "marriage chamber" of the fibres of the cerebrum (and of the central ganglia of the thalami and striata) with those of the cerebellum. The "offspring" are a number of pairs of nerves - especially the trigeminal, abducent, facial, and acoustic. (1119)
        The Pons - he conjectures - is in the axis of the brains's swelling motion (1120); and the fibres of the Pons, as also perhaps those of the Par Vagum, originate from the middle region of the cerebellum.(1121)

F.     FLUIDS OF THE CEREBRUM AND THE CEREBELLUM

Note:
    Anatomists distinguish the fluids found in the brain as tissue-fluid, ventricular fluid, subarachnoid, subdural, spinal, or - in general cerebro-spinal fluid. There are no ordinary "lymph-ducts" in the brain.

1.     The brain tissue is protected by being embedded and suspended in fluids. The origin and flow of cerebro-spinal fluid is briefly described in the Writings:

    In the cortex of the brain the red blood corpuscles are broken up and the "spirits" resorbed from them are received by the cortical glands to be "conjoined" with new spiritual essences. Thence they are carried by fibres into the ventricles, and thus through the infundibulum into the blood.(1122)
    In the ventricles the fluid is carried back and forth.(1123) The spirits are there mixed with suitable serum to prevent their exhalation through the pores.(1124)
    The ventricular fluid is partly absorbed(1125) by the "choroid plexus", partly excreted by the same plexus, and partly it transpires by another way viz., from the cortical glands). Parts of it pass through the third ventricle under the pineal gland (1126) and by the infundibulum toward the pituitary gland.(1127)
    The great ventricles are like a urinary bladder, since they receive serous fluid flowing in the interstices of the fibres. (Compare 'tissue fluid'.) But the serum or lymph is mixed with "spirits" - "something spiritous or vital" - and from the mixture a better lymph is produced which (eventually) returns to the brain.(1128)

    In the pituitary gland the fluid is separated and by three ways is conveyed toward the jugular vein, to be consociated with the chyle from the thoracic duct. (1129) From the jugular vein it is thus brought to the heart and the lungs and is then distributed by the heart partly to the head, partly to all the viscera and members of the body(1130) to vivify the whole mass of the blood. (1131)

Note on the Pituitary Gland:
    The importance which Swedenborg attaches to the Infundibulum and the Pituitary Gland is confirmed by recent research. The gland supplies a variety of hormones which affect the growth of the body tissues, regulate the internal secretions of the thyroid and the adrenal bodies, and stimulate the ovaries and the testes. Swedenborg noted that in some animals the infundibulum is large, and he connects this condition with their more rapid growth and maturation. (1132)
    Swedenborg also stated that - in addition to the ventricular fluid which the pituitary gland received through the infundibulum - a most pure animal essence produced in the cortical substances was brought to the glands swiftly and directly by fibres of the brain. (1133)

    Three kinds of humors are present in the brain which may stagnate and cause disorders. The grossest is the subdural fluid; the next is that which gathers in the mamillary processes. Both of these drain through the sieve-like lamina and the mucous membranes of the nose. (1134) The third kind is collected in the lateral ventricles and is discharged through the infundibulum. (1135)    

Luschka and Magendic; the aqueduct of Sylvius; or of both foramina of Monroe; then internal hydrocephalus develops. This certainly suggests that the principal source of subarachnoid fluid is the ventricles. In addition, if all cerebrospinal fluid is removed, X- Ray studies show that the ventricles fill up first.    - Dr. Robert Alden

2.     In his physiological treatises, Swedenborg took great pains to describe the brain and its fluids. Apart from the "spirituous fluid" (flowing through the simple fibre) and the "animal spirit" or "purer blood" (which was conveyed in the medullary fibre), he recounts lymphs of three kinds.(1136)
    a) A refined humor or spiritous lymph, rich in subtly sulphureous and etherial elements (probably derived from the atmospheres by way of the 'corporeal fibres'). This fluid is distilled from the least arteries. It anoints each cortical gland and flows down between the single nerve-fibres, entering the nerves from their very roots.(1137) This lymph is sometimes (1138) called the 'purer blood'; for "the animal spirit is attached to it, as the blood globule to its serum."
    b) A genuine serum or nervous juice, impregnated with urine-saline and fatty particles, distilled from the arterioles and flowing out between the fascicles of the medullary fibres and between the coatings of the nerves.(1139) (This fluid is of the consistency of teardrops and corresponds roughly to the "cerebro-spinal fluid" of modern texts.) Part of this fluid is secreted into the lateral ventricles from the fibres of the corpus callosum(1140) and the choroid plexuses of the cerebrum; this mostly passes to the infundibulum and pituitary gland for the use of the blood. The part secreted by the cerebellum is purer and more homogeneous and is therefore best fitted to insinuate itself into the nerves. From the fourth ventricle, the less refined elements are poured into the subarachnoid spaces to form the subarachnoid fluid.
    c) A pituitous juice which is rejected from the substance of the cerebrum through the olfactory lobes and through these into the subdural spaces and the mucosa of the nose.(1141) But the pituitous liquid cast out by the cerebellum flows down around the spinal cord and between the outer coatings of the nerves. This subdural fluid is joined by the subarachnoid fluid only where they begin to accompany the nerves. (1142)

3.     It is notable that the ventricular fluid drawn from the cerebrum is destined to enter the blood stream more directly, while the fluid derived from the cerebellum and the fourth ventricle is designed to enter the nerves before it is restored to the blood by way of the glands. (1143)

    a) From the fibres of the callosum the nervous juice passes into the lateral ventricles and thence through the foramen of Monro (also called "vulva") into the third ventricle which adds its own contribution. (1144) Here some is absorbed by the infundibulum and the pituitary gland, for the uses of the blood. On the basis of admittedly incomplete anatomical data, Swedenborg believed that the superfluous portion of the fluids of the lateral ventricles was urged toward a posterior foramen (called "anus") which leads it under the pineal gland into the aqueduct and thence into the third ventricle.(1145) This way is governed by the pineal gland. The fluid in the various cerebral ventricles may flow back and forth according to need. (1146)

Note:
The existence of the "anus" has not been confirmed by recent neurologists. Swedenborg also presumed that the aqueduct of Sylvius was "almost completely" closed by the anterior medullary velum, which was then called "the valve of Vieussens", but which now is merely regarded as the roof of the fourth ventricle. The purpose of the valve, he believed, was to separate the cerebral fluids of the third ventricle from the cerebellar of the fourth.(1147) The aqueduct - which in its course enlarges into what Retzius called the "ventricle of the midbrain" - was thus regarded mainly as a reservoir for fluids from the third entricle.(1148) Swedenborg was aware of the inadequate evidence and left it for posterity to confirm his conjectures.(1149)

b)     The finer nervous juice of the fourth ventricle enters the nerve roots which are abundant here and in the spine, and passes into the interstices between the fibres or their fascicles. (1150) When the nerves unfold their fibres, as in muscle tissues, the released nervous juice goes beneath the coatings of the muscles and seeps under the aponeuroses and into the periostea, and thus into the integuments of the spinal cord. Thence it rises into the aura mater and the pericranium, and serves either as nutriment for the hair and bones or it is exterminated by being discharged into the subdural spaces. During this circulation the essential parts of the juice are gradually salvaged by various conglobate glands throughout the body, and thus restored to the blood and the brain. (1151)

4.     As to the composition of the nervous juice (or ventricular fluid), the vital elements are derived from the cortical substances, but the bulk is a liquid secreted from the choroid plexuses. (1152) According to Maximow and Bloom, the fluid which comes from the brain substance does not go into the ventricles but flows outward into the subarachnoid spaces in perivascular channels. (1153)

On some histological sections I've seen these perivascular channels penetrate the cortex deeply, are extensive and very clearly seen. In some disease states they may be seen to contain white blood cells which have entered from the subarachnoid spaces, apparently. - Dr. Robert Alden

5.     The arachnoid tunic, taken in connection with its substructures, serves the brain in place of lymphatics. (1154) From the ventricles the fluid enters the subarachnoid spaces only through filters (or foramina) in the roof of the fourth ventricle; the fluid there enters the cerebellomedullary fossa, whence it distributes itself in all directions around the brain.    

   From these lymph-spaces there is a rapid drainage of the coarser fluids through the arachnoid villi into the great veins (or sinuses) in the aura mater, as well as a slower seepage into the true lymphatic system by way of an indirect perineural course.

6.     The direction of the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid seems to depend on the motion of the brain and the amount of the fluid,  which is constantly renewed. (1155) Gray notes an ascending current in the central canal of the cord, possibly originating from the ependymal lining of the canal. Swedenborg allows that the fluid flows to and also from the fourth ventricle in the cavity "between the meninges of the medulla spinalis." (1156)

G.     MOTION OF THE BRAINS AND ITS EFFECTS (1157)

    In embryos, or in man when not breathing, the animatory motion of the brains coincides with the pulsations of the arteries; but after birth it coincides with the respiration of the lungs. (1158)
    Blood-vessels entering the cranium lose their muscular coats and come under the government of the brain. Thus, the brain, as the seat of the mind, is freed from a dictation from the body, and the motions of the lungs are made to correspond with the states of man's conscious thought. (1159) The brain has a motion of its own which must not be confused with the pulsation of some of the aural arteries under the top of the skull.     The origin of the motion of the brain is the cortical spherules which expand and contract together or individually. (1160) According to Dr. R L. Tafel's interpretation, Swedenborg's theory may be summarized as follows:

a)     When the cortical substances (or grey cells) expand (in diastole), they do so simultaneously in the cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla and cord. The cortical glands then imbibe the "purer blood" resolved from the arterioles. The medullary or fibrillary substances at the same time are contracted (in systole) and the interstices between the glands and between the medullary fibres close up, as do also the veins and ventricles.(1161)
    This expansion of the gray matter swells the cord and causes the cerebro-spinal fluid to rise into the lower cranial cavity; it also fills the subarachnoid spaces of the departing cranial and spinal nerves, thus passing into the lymph-tracts of the peripheral nervous system.(1162)
    But meanwhile the fibres of the nerves which root in the fourth ventricle and the spine are constricted and inactive, and the lungs consequently expire.(1163)

b)     When the cortical substances constrict in systole, the sinuses and ventricles expand and the medullary fibres are no longer cramped.(1164) The "purer blood" (or animal spirit) pours freely from the cortical glands through the nerve fibres, and thus the contracting cerebrum inspires the costal nerves, and the cerebellum the vagus and the sympathetic, to cause the lungs to inhale.(1165) The fourth ventricle sends its fluid pressing into the subarachnoid spaces, both within the cranium and (especially) in the vertebral column. A new supply of this ventricular fluid is also conveyed from the fourth ventricle into the spinal column, chiefly into the central canal of the cord. (1166)

    A refined lymph (being superfluous) exudes from the medullary substance of the cerebellum during its systole; and this descends from the fourth ventricle into the vertebral cavity to bathe the roots of the nerves. (1167)

H.     CORRESPONDENCES OF THE BRAIN (1168)

1.     The physiological references in the Writings exhibit a picture of the Brain consistent with the descriptions in the physiological works of Swedenborg, but less detailed. (1169)

2.     Through man alone is there a descent from the heavens into the world and an ascent from the world into the heavens. This is effected through the brain and its interiors. (1170)
    The brains, with its cortical substances and fibres, are in exact accordance with the form and flow of heaven. The invisible interiors therein are in accordance with the incomprehensible interiors of heaven. Spiritual things act upon material by a nexus of correspondences.(1171)

3.     Correspondences of the Brain.(1172)

    The brain, like heaven, is in the sphere of ends or uses.(1173) The complex network of the fibres corresponds to the order of heavens(1174) and the cortical glands are compared to angelic societies.(1175)
    The cerebrum and the lungs correspond to the understanding, intelligence, and wisdom(1176) and to the middle heaven(1177); also to the conscious proprial will acquired through the understanding(1178), thus to the voluntary sense.(1179) It is therefore separated from the cerebellum, which represents the hereditary will.(1180)

    Two apparently conflicting teachings are given about the correspondence of the right and left sides of the cerebrum.

    a)     The right hemisphere of the cerebrum corresponds to those who are in the understanding of truth and good and thence in an affection of them.  (1181)        [Both bound versions put this slightly differently:  "The right hemisphere of the cerebrum corresponds to those who are in the will of good and thence in the will of truth, while the left corresponds to those who are in the understanding of truth and good and thence in an affection of them."]

The operation of heaven as regards rational or intellectual things is into the left side of the cerebrum, in the region of the temple.(1182)

Genii are not permitted to inflow into the left side of the head (i.e. by persuasions), but only into the right side, or by cupidities, and thence into the left side of the chest.(1183)

Note:
    It has been claimed that in right-handed people the center for articulate speech and for motor images of words, writing, etc., is located in Broca's area on the left side of the cerebrum. The reverse would be the case with left-handed people.

    I don't see any cause to doubt the validity of extensive evidence indicating one-sided dominance of the brain. This carries even to there being a dominant eye, ear, side of face, etc. Destruction of the dominant speech center causes serious handicap; and I don't believe can fully be compensated for by the opposite, comparable, area. - Dr. Robert Alden

b)     The right hemisphere of the cerebrum is allotted to intellectual things and the left, to affections. The reverse is the case in the body, for so the fibres flow.(1184) The right eye, with the left cerebral hemisphere, represents intellectual things of good; the left eye, with the right side of the brain, represents intellectual things of truth. (1185)

Note:
    As a rule, cerebral projection fibres tend to decussate.
    The crossing, or decussation, of these fibres naturally reverses the correspondence of the organ to which they proceed.
    But the nerve fibres from the outside half of each retina pass through the optic chiasma without decussation. Actually, to render each eye independent, fibres from both hemispheres pass to each of the eyes.(1186) This is an illustration of a "mutual" reciprocal conjunction, which takes place not by alternations nor by action and reaction, but by cooperations. The two ears are in a similar conjunction, as are the two nostrils.


    It is interesting that the right optic cortex receives sensations from the right visual field, via the left half of the retina; so that in a sense the left sensory organ serves the right side of the brain, as if the left half of the right eye belonged to the left help of the left eye.
    One might add that there are numerous association fibres between visual centers, involved in producing stereoscopic, single vision; balance phenomena, etc. The mutually reciprocal nature of this is wonderfully complex.

    One of the more puzzling central systems to me is the extensive ramifications of the olfactory system; which takes up a good deal of the_ and other structures. Connections are amazingly complex, to the  thalamus, brainstem and cortex. The meaning of this is very obscure to me. - Dr. Robert Alden

    The cerebellum and the heart correspond to the inmost heaven(1187) and to the will and its love (1188) or to the unconscious will and general involuntary sense.(1189)
    The love of the will is purlfied and led by the understanding as the cerebellum is disciplined by the cerebrum.(1190)
    The unconscious "involuntary" (which is present even within all that a man thinks and acts from his "voluntary") is twofold - one part from his parental heredity, another part from the Lord through heaven.(1191) The cerebellum rules the voluntary things lest man destroy himself.(1192) The inmost parts of the cerebellum are in themselves celestial. (1193) Celestial angels and evil genii direct their influx into the cerebellum.(1194) Spirits from this province induce paradisal dreams.(1195)
    The medulla oblongata corresponds to a conjunction of the voluntary sense and the involuntary.(1196)
    The fibres of the cerebrum have now (in one race) taken over some of the functions belonging to the cerebellum.(1197)
    The cortical glands correspond to ends, or to what is celestial, or to principles of good, the fibres to thoughts or truth, the nerves to works or acts.(1198)  Nerve fibres correspond to spiritual things (1199), to spiritual angels(1200), and to the inmost proceeding from good, the nerves then corresponding to truths.(1201) Also to the endeavors of the will.(1202)
    The animal spirits(1203) in the Grand Man correspond to the Lord alone(1204); but more generally, to the spiritual.(1205) The relation of animal spirits within the fibres to the fibres is like that of good to truth.(1206)  The circulation of the animal spirits(1207) corresponds to spiritual influx(1208)
    The corpora striata correspond to spiritual things(1209), the isthmus to spirits of differing opinions who are yet consociated internally.(1210)
    The ventricular fluids have various correspondences. The better lymph corresponds to spirits who long for heaven(1211), but the more excrementitious fluids to infesting spirits who are stubborn and domineering, or insinuate scruples of conscience in nonessentials, or produce dullness or even insanities.(1212)
    The lymph of the infundibulum corresponds to various restless and troublesome spirits - suspicious, impatient, and sensitive - who defile spiritual and celestial things by application to filthy and corporeal things.(1213)
    The pia mater corresponds to spirits who are modest and peaceful and serve for communication but are uncertain in belief.(1214) To the dura mater belong some spirits who are formally pious and well behaved but who care not for spiritual things,(1215) some of the female sex(1216), some genii.(1217) The longitudinal sinus corresponds to spirits who are tranquil and sleepy, and serve the angels as a medium.(1218) The spirits of the skull are corporeal and natural, yet salvable.(1219) Some love mere cognition.(1220)

COMPARATIVE NOMENCLATURE OF THE CRANIAL NERVES

I.     SENSORY AND MOTOR NERVES

    A.     The Writings present the general concept that the nerves are composed of bundles of fibres descending form their beginnings in the "corticalglands".(1221) The fibres, fascicles, and nerves represent a series of discrete degrees in a simultaneous order.(1222)
    The fibres of the cerebrum are joined in the medulla oblongata with fibres from the cerebellum.(1223) No fibres ascend through the neck into the brain. (1224) The descending fibres make the structure of the forms of the organs and members, and are "fixed" by means of substances from earth, air, and ether, through the blood.(1225) The nerve fibres contain a nervous juice, and their origins contain animal spirit. (1226)1226 In the most minute fibres there is nothing solid.(1227) Those first fibrils are invisible.(1228)

It may be of note in connection with nerve fibres making the structure, etc., that when a peripheral nerve is damaged there is a degeneration of the part it supplied (if this is the sole nerve source), which may include not only muscle but skin, etc. This indicates an intimate connection between structure and nerve supply. Similarly, polio in child causing extensive motor paralysis of a leg not only affects the growth of muscles but also leads to arrest in growth of the entire limb. Of course disuse is an important factor here.  - Dr. Robert Alden

B. In his Physiological Works, Swedenborg recognizes two kinds of nervefibres and nerves, motor and sensory. Most nerves contain some fibres of each type. Sensory fibres are softer, fuller of spirit than the motor nerves.(1229) But every cortical gland is at once a sensory and a motory, although each differs from every other.(1230) Compare the dendrite and axon of the typical neuron.

    1.     ACTION(1231)

    ACTION proceeds according to certain fibres, not according to all, into the muscular motor fibres.(1232) By its diastole and constriction, the brain expels its spirit and purer blood through its simple and compound fibres, thus producing action by a real communication by means of a fluid. It is necessary that the 'spirit' should be expelled through the simple fibres at the same time; but the Intellectory does not thereby will the action, but only concurs.(1233)

Considering the presumptive evidence that the nerve impulse is of an electrical nature, this would seem quite correct if one conceives of diastole as being the initiation of flow on a pressure gradiant (as in a battery hookup). rather than as its being a "wringing out" of the brain as the heart does blood. It is my understanding of electronics that electron activity expands and contracts according to its degree. This is illustrated by the actual physical expansion of a wire that has been overheated by a high current load, as in a toaster. - Dr. Robert Alden

    Muscular action is thus due to the pressure of the expanding nervous fibre upon the muscle which them expels its blood; there is thus an equilibrium.(1234) In the motive rings of the blood vessels the nerve fibres terminate by dividing into least threads, and the nervous juice from between the fascicles is then released, to be recovered later through the glands.(1235)
    Each cortical gland has in the body its own corresponding muscle fibre and it can therefore be proper to study where in the
brain the various motor centers are localized.(1236)

    Voluntary action is a special and particular animation of a definite number of cortical glands of the cerebrum.(1237) But spontaneous actions flow from a general animation of both cerebrum and cerebellum which produces an equilibrium by means of antagonistic muscles. The skeletal muscles thus receive fibres from both, as do also some viscera (such as the trachea, lungs, and eyes).(1238)
    The muscular motive fibre is in a manner the offspring of a union between the fibres of the brain and the "corporeal fibres". (1239)
    The whole action of our body is first embraced as an idea in our mind which resides in the simple cortex; and is then represented in the body by an act which is determined by the cortical gland. Yet the first determinant of all is the soul. (1240)

    The Writings note that the motion of the muscles, whence action comes, would immediately cease unless there were in it a conatus from. man's will. (1241) In the body itself, the internal viscera act and the externals react. (1242) In the muscles, the arteries act and the little coats from the ligaments react - thus representing an alternate action of the heart and the lungs. (1243) The lungs consociate the motions of the cerebrum and cerebellum. (1244)

2. SENSATION (1245)

    "The external senses, which are five - touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight - have each a correspondence with the internal senses... The sense of touch corresponds in general to the affection of good; the sense of taste, to the affection of knowing; the sense of smell, to the affection of perceiving; the sense of hearing to the affection of learning and also of obedience; and the sense of sight to the affection of understanding and of being wise.(1246)

    Conscious sensation is possible only when the lungs respire.(1247) Heart and lungs are the two fountains of all bodily action and sensation.(1248) "The lungs act as first in the senses, and the heart as second...for all the organs of the senses correspond to such things as are of the understanding."(1249) "It appears as if sensation, as also apperception, comes by influx from the external; but this is a fallacy, for it is the internal that perceives through the external. The senses placed in the body are nothing by organs or instruments that serve the internal man in order that it may be sensible of what is in the world; wherefore the internal flows into the external, causing it to feel...; but not the reverse.''(1250)

    "... The interior man sees and perceives in the exterior what is done outside of this... From no other source is the faculty of
sense, or sensations."(1251)

    "The internal... gives to the external the power of sensation."(1252) It is the spirit which sensates in the body, and therefore
sensation is more exquisite after death, where the internal is freed from the material body.(1253) Life consists in sense, and such as is the faculty of sensation, such is the life.(1254)

    "All the senses are excited and produced from influx. In man there are only the organic forms... which have no sense until something adapted flows in from without. It is the like with the internal sensories which are of thought and affection and which receive influx from the spiritual world." (1255)

    SENSATION according to the Physiological Works, proceeds along the fibres to their origins in the cortical substances.(1256)     Without the highly elastic fluid or 'spirit' in the medullary fibres arising from the cortical glands there is no sensation.(1257) No sensation can ascend immediately (without fibres) to the soul.(1258)
    From every point of the cuticle there issues a sensory fibre which runs toward the medulla spinalis and oblongata; and similar sensory glands. "From this gland, again, are extended simple fibres reaching to a purer cortex which we call 'the simple cortex', whence comes the intellection of the things apperceived and sensated".(1259) The soul, when it sensates, is passive - delighted with things harmonious, saddened by things inharmonious.(1260)

    Mode of transmission. "As soon as the fibre is compressed, the action or animation of the cortical gland must cease... This is the cause of sensation; which exists essentially only in the soul itself."(1261) "If the nervous fibre that carries the spirit" from the brain "is touched or in any way straitened, the spirit has no opportunity of escaping in another direction like the blood through anastomoses. Hence, the instant it is compressed, its beginning cannot by feel the change arising from the touch..."(1262)
    There is no spherule of the cortical substance which does not receive every part of the modification and vibration of the sensation.(1263) Through the brain the modification is diffused in a spiral form, in the cortical gland it becomes vortical, and in the simple cortex 'celestial' or perpetually vortical.(1264)
    Modification becomes sensation from the living essence which is within the spirit and the fibre, and change of state becomes affection.(1265)

    3.     RELATION OF ACTION AND SENSATION

    Intellection is the last of Sensation. Yet it does not at once turn into Will or Action, but "there are intermediate operations of the mind which connect the last of Sensation with the first of Action."(1266) Thus Swedenborg's physiology does not reduce man's life to a mere mass of inevitable reflexes (whether "conditioned" or not). Still, sensation and action together make up the circle of bodily life. If there is not sensation, there would be no will or action.(1267)

RELATION OF ACTION AND SENSATION

    According to the Rational Psychology, the end of sensations and the beginning of actions "meet in the same inmost sensory
organ".(1268)  In modern neurology, a careful distinction is made between sensory neurons and motor neurons. Certain parts of the gray matter are filled with nerve cells having sensory functions while other parts are distinguished as motor areas in which motor neurons are predominant. Yet every neuron both receives and discharges impulses. It usually consists of a cell body, a varying number of processes called dendrites or dendrons which may form an arborization, and an axon or axis cylinder process which may attain great length and give off collateral and terminal branches. The function of the dendrites is thought to be "afferent",viz., to receive impulses and to absorb food for the cell, while the axon is "efferent", carrying impulses from the cell-body.
    A reflex circuit in the nervous system would typically consist of a receptor or sensory neuron and an effector or motor neuron. Between theses one or more other neurons may serve as connectives. The nerve impulse when it is transmitted into the body of the motor cell is converted into a motor impulse. (See diagram)

DIAGRAM OF TYPICAL REFLEX CIRCUIT

J.     THE NERVE IMPULSE

    There has been much speculation as to the manner in which the nerves convey the impulses which transmit sensory stimuli or cause muscles to contract.
    Descartes believed that sensation was an actual image produced on the wall of the central ventricle of the cerebrum by streams of animal spirits (refined blood strained through the brain) which exuded from the openings of the nerve fibres which he considered to terminate there. Motion originated by the mechanical reaction of ventricular pressed into these same
openings.(1269)
    Swedenborg treated all nerve fibres or cell-processes as originating in the gray-cells of the brain and spine and speaks of none as going upward into the brain. (1270)  In effect, this makes all fibres "efferent" and the current of animal spirit within the fibres away from the cortical gland. Yet the impulse or stimulus in a sensory nerve fibre was described as a wave of tremulation which passes inward and upward along the distended fibre towards the nerve cell itself. The sensations were also transmitted to the brain as a whole both by the contraction of the cortical glands and the consequent pressure of the nerve fluid or 'spirit' within the hard motor nerve fibres which wound themselves about the muscle fibres and blood vessels.

    Modern neurologists deny the presence of any fluid within the nerve fibres, although they admit that these are bathed in cerebrospinal fluid between the fascicles.

 As previously noted, more recent work makes it clear that an axon or dendrite is comprised of fibrils which are submicroscopic tubules. These are presumed to carry a fluid substance possibly for nutrition of the nerve fibre; but not to be directly related to transmission-of impulses, since this agrees more with electric-type phenomena. - Dr. Robert Alden

    Certain data have been ascertained in the effort to discover the nature of the nerve impulse. It is now supposed that nerve impulses differ only in the rate of propagation and the frequency of transmission. The sensation to which they give rise would thus depend on the locus in the brain-structure where they eventually terminate. It is claimed that the "size" of the impulse traveling up a nerve fibre does not depend on the energy of the original impulse but on the energy available in each section of the nerve fibre. The individual fibre seems to respond with all its available energy, yet the strength of a sensation varies with the intensity of the stimulus because more fibres are stimulated. The nerve impulse is not a simple electric current, but its passage along the fibre gives rise to tiny electric currents which can be measured by the use of electrodes and amplifiers. The impulse travels at about 300 feet a second in some fibres.
    The nerve cell protects itself against fatigue by ceasing to respond to stimulus if this is excessive. After having transmitted and impulse, the nerve cell will be absolutely refractory for a fraction of a second, and in this phase no impulse can pass. Then it will restore itself automatically. A stronger impulse will shorten the refractory phase to allow more frequent impulses to pass.(1271)

    The Membrane Theory of Nerve Impulse is describe by Ruch.(1272) According to this, the electrical phenomena are merely indicators of chemical reactions within the nerve fibre. The fibre in a state of rest is like a tubular membrane carrying negatively charged ions, but surrounded by ions which are charged positively. But when the fibre is activated, a chemical action begins which destroys the polarization and allows the opposite charges to neutralize each other the membrane becomes permeable and the positive ions farther along move in to neutralize negative ions, so that the nerve impulse can "roll" on down the fibre. While this occurs, the area through which the impulse has passed remains momentarily permeable and its charges are neutralized so that no stimulus can affect it and no opposite charges be built up. But after this "refractory phase" has passed, the membrane is restored as impermeable and thus excitable. (See Diagram)
    How an impulse is translated across a synapse - from the "end-brush" of an axon to the dendrites of a following neuron, is not known. There have been suggestions that the neuro-fibrillae may be continuous from one neuron to another. Others hold that since there is connecting protoplasm an electrical impulse may bridge the synapse. It is thought that within a single neuron an impulse can travel in both directions, and that it can cross the synapse only from axone to dendrite.

    Transmission across a synapse at least involves a chemical exchange. Certain chemicals facilitate transmission, others inhibit. In some nerves acetyl choline is concentrated at synapses but is in delicate balance with its neutralizer, choline esterase. When nerve is stimulated acetyl choline is used up at the synapse. If it is neutralized the impulse ceases at the synapse; though stimulation above it is transmitted. - Dr. Robert Alden

Note:
    Swedenborg describes the medullary fibre (axon) as a tubular membraneous process for conveying the 'animal spirit' generated in the chamber of the corti al gland . Its coat is woven out of 'simple fibres' from the gland's 'simple cortex'. Within these simple fibres 'flashes' the 'spirituous fluid' - the highest substance of the body - which is of the 'perpetually vortical form'. The simple fibre itself is said to "flash" like a "ray of the soul's intellectual light" and it forms the medullary fibre by flowing sinuously in a vortical gyre; while the medullary fibre itself is said to be of the vortical form, like the magnetic vortex of the globe.(1273)
    The description suggests the electromagnetic character of the nervous force. Certain cells of the spinal ganglia also suggest an approach to the vortical or spiral form in that they show axons which curl into a 'glomerulus'.

+ 1273 Fibre 251, 254, 259, 266, 266b, 275, 291, 258; AS 9; see Part IV, below.

We perceive, writes Dr. Wilder Penfield, "that the secret of functional activity in the living brain is the movement within its transient electrical potentials travelling the fibers of the nervous system (Sherrington's phrase)". (Penfield and Roberts, Speech and Brain Mechanisms", Princeton University Press, 1959, p. 14.)

MOTOR SEQUENCE,

Fig. II-8. Somatic sensation. Cross-section of the left hemisphere along the plane of the postcentral gyrus. The afferent pathway for discriminative somatic sensation is indicated by the unbroken lines coming up, through the medial Iemniscus, to the transmitting strip on the postcentral gyrus. and from there on by the broken lines into the centrencephalic circuits of integration. There is, no doubt, close inter-relationship between sensory and motor activity of the units shown in this Figure and the preceding one, across the central fissure. From Penfield and Jasper, 1954.

Fig. II-7. Voluntary motor tracts. Cross-section through right hemisphere along the plane of the precentral gyrus. The pathway of control of voluntary movement is suggested from gray matter, somewhere in the higher brain stem, by the broken lines to the motor transmitting strip of the precentral gyrus. From there it runs down the cortico-spinal tract, as shown by the unbroken lines toward the muscles. The sequence of responses to electrical stimulation on the surface of the cortex (from above down, along the motor strip from toes through arm and face to swallowing) is unvaried from one individual to another. From Penfield and Jasper, 1954.

992 See sec. G. pp. D 69 ff.

993 Nordenskjold, History of Biology ( Afred A. Knoff, 1928), p. 40. 994Nordenskjold p. 63.

994 Nordenskjold p. 63.

995 Nordenskjold, p. 149; M. Foster, Lectures on the History of Physiology (Cambridge, 1901) pp. 275, 277.

996 See M. Ramstrom, Emanuel Swedenborg: Investigation etc. (Univ. of Uppsala, 1910). The clinical basis for Swedenborg's conclusions are here represented.

997 Fibre 68.

998 Brain, i. 104, d, e; ii. 565.

999 Brain, i, 104,

1000 B. i. 28. See section C, p. D 61, below.

1001 Cerebrum vol. 11, n. 46.

1002 Fibre, 344 et al.

1003 Brain, 27.

1004 Brain, 60.

1005 Brain' 61.

1006 Brain, 62.

1007 Brain' 63.

1008 Brain, 64.

1009 Brain, 64.

1010 Brain, 65.

1011 Brain, 88.

1012 Brain, 66.

1013 Brain, 67.

1014 Brain, 68, compare 88. Compare Action xii. end For further localization of sensory functions, see Brain, 496, and 71.

1015 Brain 59.

1016 Swedenborg and others of his age sometimes include the Optic Thalami, which are also striated bodies, in the term Corpora Striata. See ~Brain" 487, cp 475.

1017 Brain 70.

1018 Brain, 70.

1019 Brain, 72

1020 Brain, 72, 73.

1021 Brain 74, cf I Econ. 137.

1022 Brain 75.

1023 Brain, 76, 77

1024 Brain, 78.

1025 Brain 79, 683h; SD 4518; AC 959, 1983, but confer SD 3183e

1026 Brain 80, 84ff.

1027 AC 5114.

1028 AC 4814.

1029 AC 1977.

1030 Pavlov 1923.

1031 Shepard, 1914.

1032 See Herrick, Introduction to Neurology (1934). p.l l8.

1033 See Gardner, Fundamentals of Neurology (1952), p. 288. and New Philosophy 1950:96 and 195':169 - the last an article by Dr. Edith Bancroft.

1034 Brain, 82f; Codex 58, written in 1744.

1035 Brain 82.

1036 Fibre nos. 285, 269, 280, 305, 267

1037 Generation nos. 164 et seq.

1038 Comp. Senses 684, 318.

1039 Rat. Psych. nos. 486, 498, 500 etc.

1040 AK nos. 14, 17, 20.

1041 Brain, 83.

1042 R. Psych. 491.

1043 2 Econ. 122; Fibre 299, 373

1044 Codex 74; Red Blood xi.; An.Sp. 23, 6 n., cp. 14.

1045 Brain, 83.

1046 Brain, 84.

1047 Brain, 85.

1048 Brain, 86.

1049 Brain, 86.

1050 Brain, 87.

1051 Brain, 87.

1052 Brain, 88.

1053 Confer Herrick, op.cit. pp.152, lG2ff,230-231

1054 Brain 88.

1055 See I Econ.478, 485, 488-99.

1056 NewPhilosophy (1937), pp. 328-38.

1057 Brain p 426ff. See Herrick, op.cit., pp. 196f, diag., 341.

1058 Brain p. 430a

1059 Brain, p. 430a.

1060 Brain, p. 71.

1061 Brain p. 430.

1062 See Krieg, Functional Neuroanatomy, p. 346.

1063 See especially Brain pp. 494-500, and 71, 87, 88.

1064 Brain, pp. 493-500

1065 Brain, p. 494

1066 The connections by way of the "anterior perforated  of the rhinecephalon may be referred to.

1067 Brain p. 496.

1068 Swedenborg calls this the 'centrum ovale'.  The fibres of the corpus callosum intermingle with those of the internal capsule.

1069 Brian p.496

1070 Brian pp. 498-500

1071 Brian p. 481

1072 Brian p. 471

1074 Gray, p 836, cf B i. 71

1075  Herrick, p. 163.  See diagram, Herrick, p. 196, 197.

1076  Brian p. 542 ff.

1077  Brian 544, 547

1078 Quain, n. 228 ff. 1079Cerebr. 979.

1079  Cereb. 979

1080 Brain, 549, discussed, Brain i. p. 767.

1081 Herrick, p. 188 f.

1082 1082See Quain, p. 230.

1083

1083 Brain,458,473,512,525, 463, e, f, c. Discussed Brain i. pp.751-59; De Inf., l (1847 ed. p.32).

1084 Brain, 523-30.

1085 Brain 356.

1086 2 Econ.15,16, 19.

1087 Krieg.

1088 Quain, p. 339

1089 Brain, 511.

1090 Brain, 515.

1091 Brain, 674-683u.

1092 Brain, 683b.

1093 Brain,683a b, 674, 681b; I Econ.164.

1094 Brain, 678.

1095 Brain, 679; 2 Econ.162.

1096 Brain, 680 ff, cp. AC 4325.

1097 Brain, 682, cf 683.

1098 Brain, 683 i, k.

1099 Brain, 683 i, k.

1100 Brain, 683a

1101 Brain 683

1102 p. 44. Compare, however, TCR 584, cited on p. C 18.

1103 AC 9683; SD 5781.

1104 One the involuntary sense proper to the cerebellum, see AC 4325, 4326, 9670, 9683; SD 3860; D min. 4715e, cf AC 8593.

1105 DLW 384.

1106 AC 4325.

1107 See AC 3603:5.

1108 TCR 160e, cp 564e.

1109 See DLW 425; TCR 160.

1110 SD 5781. Compare "general influx" vs. "particular influx", AC 5850, 5854, 5862, 6192, 6323, et alla

1111 AC 1977.

1112 SD 3183e.

1113 SD 3166; AC 1983.

1114 Brain, 683g.

1115 Div. Love v:2.

1116 AC 3893; SD 496.

1117 AC 4326.

1118 See DLW 384 cf CL 444(6); ISB 13(4); TCR 160(8), 564; AC 9670. With "Martians", AC 7481.

1119 Brain 726

1120 Brain, 728.

1121 Brain, 731.

1122 SD 914.

1123 SD 915.

1124 SD 914.

1125 Modern texts treat the plexuses as wholly secretory.

1126 This may refer to the supposed 'anus'.

1127 SD 831

1128 SD 830; A 4049, 4050, 5724.228

1129 SD 831,1130.

1130 SD 831.

1131 SD 914, 915; DP 296 14; AC 5180. See also WE 1809; AE 1084, 1153

1132 Brain 580.

1133 Brain 595.

1134 SD 1798-1801,1267, 1793, 939; AC 5718, 5386.

1135 SD 1811.

1136 Cer. 1036 ff

1137 Cf Brain, ii, pp. 579, 593£

1138 Brain, 70, 90.

1139 Brain, ii p. 602ff.

1140 Cf SD 830.

1141 Cer. 951.

1142 Brain, ii, pp. 611-16.

1143 Cer. 1038, 1041.

1144 Cer. 1010f.

1145 Brain 523, 525; Cer. 939 If, 1012.

1146 Brain, 564.

1147 Brain, 711, 715; Cer. 1004.

1148  Brain, 525-529.

1149 In De Inf., English ed., p. 32 and elsewhere Swedenborg speaks of all four ventricles communicating with each other.    Brain, 529, cf Cer.951.

1150 Brain, 712.

1151 Brain ii., p.621 ff; Econ.510.

1152 Cer. 1037.

1153 Textbook of Histology (1942), p.237, cf Gray (1918), p.880.

1154 Cer. 670, 665; Brain. 714.

1155 Brain ii, pp. 578 ff, 604; SD 915. Cer. 1038.

1156 See Dr. Tafel's interpretation, Brain ii., pp. 545-645, especially pp. 584, 586.

1157 Swedenborg's general theory of the motion of the brain is found in 2 Econ. 4-68; AK 398.

1158 Brain, 53.

1159 Brain, 55; DLW part v.

1160 Brain 56, 57.

1161 Cer. 233

1162 Brain. ii Pp. 604, 609, 579; Brain i. P. 69; Brain 467.

1163 Brain i. P 673; AK 398.

1164 Brain ii. P. 579.

1165 AK 398 y.z.

1166 Brain i. p. 691.

1167 Cer. 1035; Brain ii. P. 609

1168 The Correspondence of the nervous system, as a whole, in its supreme sense: The human body as a whole corresponds to the entire Body of Divine Truth- or in the Word in all its forms. Relative to the rest of the body, the Brain and Nervous System may be likened to the Writings or the Heavenly Doctrine which finds its confirmations int he literal sense like nerve fibers terminating in the external tissues and organs. The viscera would then represent the New Testament, and the Muscles and Bones would stand for the prophetic Old Testament. See N.C. Life 1938, p. 163 ff.

1169 See Rev. Samuel Howard Worchester, M.D., The teachings of Swedenborg's Works on Anatomical and Physiological
Subjects (Urbana, O.: 1899). Pp. 8-19.

1170 AC 4042.

1171 AC 4040-4044, 4053.

1172 Gen, art. AC 4039-4055.

1173 AC 4054.

1174 HH 212; SD 2561f, 3779.

1175 DLW 366.

1176 TCR 160e. 564e; ISB 13:4; AE 61, 316:16; HH 251.

1177 AC 9670.

1178 SD 1550 ½; D. Love v;2.

1179 AC 9683, 4325,641,644,4410,5725:SD 5781.

1180 SD min. 4714e, cf AC 641, 640, 652. See New Church Life (1946), pp. 465 ff.

1181 AC 4052, cf DLW 384, 432; D. Wis. Iii 4.

1182 AC 3884; SD 1613

1183 AC 641, 644, 1270, cf SD 3364f, 3375.

1184 SD 1023, 1027, 1667

1185 SD 1023, 1027, 1667

1186 TCR 371.

1187 AC 9670.

1188 TCR 160e, 564e; ISB 13:4; HH 251; AE 61, 316: 16.

1189 AC 4325, 4326, 9683; SD 3860, 3781; SD min 4714; D. Love. v.2

1190 DLW 425; TCR 160e; CL 444:6.

1191 AC 3603:5

1192 AC 9683e; TCR 160e; SD 5781.

1193 TCR 160e

1194 DP 310; AC 1977, 4319, cf TCR 160; LJ post. 52; SD 1623f.

1195 AC 1977

1196 AC 4325; SD 5781.

1197 SD 3868; AC 4326

1198 SD 1059, 1734, 3607, 4013; AC 4051-4054, 5189.

1199 SD 3607.

1200 SD 5575.

1201 AC 5345 refs. 5954, 8530, 9154, 5189e, 3570: 4; SD 1734.

1202 D. Love xix. e.

1203 descr. SD 831, 914, 1968, 3459, cf DLW 423.

1204 SD 3419.

1205 SD 5575.

1206 AC 9154:2

1207 SD 914, 830, 831, 1130.

1208 Cf DP 296:14, 336e; SD 1059, 915; AC 5180.

1209 SD 1058.

1210 AC 4051, 5189:3.

1211 AC 4049f; SD 830f, 919 ½.

1212 AC 4793, 5386, 5717f, 5724; SD 939, 943, 954, 1239f, 1791ff, 1798-1811, 3124. Corruptions of the purer blood, AC
4227; SD 1812.

1213 SD 513-919 ½, 831, 1811; AC 4050, 5742; punishing spirits, SD 1800, 1807.

1214 AC 4047; SD 1727.

1215 AC 4046:3; SD 1688ff, 1692f, 1734.

1216 AC 4046.

1217 SD 1692.

1218 AC 4048.

1219  SD 1024; AC 4046.

1220 AC 7748; SD 3888.

1221 DLW 366; D.Wis. v.; TCR 351; AC 4040; SD 5779f.

1222 DLW 207, 192; ISB 16: 2.

1223 SD 3607; AC 9670.

1224 DLW 365.

1225 DLW 370, 388; HH 212; D.Wis. ii.

1226 SS 66; AC 3470:3, 5951:2, 9154:2.

1227 SD 242.

1228 AE 775: 2.

1229  Fiber 242, Senses 61, 460, 475e; R. Ps. 17e.

1230  R. Ps. 23, 20.

1231 General reference: "Action", Psych.Transact. pp. 117-142.

1232 Senses 61.

1233 R. Ps. 169, 170.

1234 1Econ. 504, 505e, 230, 503:5, cf D.Wis. x.4.

1235 I Econ. 510.

1236 Action ix, x, xiia.

1237 Action xii, xiia.

1238 Action xiii, xiv.

1239 AK 186.

1240  Action xv, xvi, xvii.

1241 AC 5173.

1242 DP 180; DLW 260.

1243 D. Wis. x.4.

1244 Cf D. Love v:2.

1245 General reference: Rat. Psych. (1950 edition), chap. i (nos. 1-34).

1246 AC 4404, cp CL 210.

1247  DLW 407, et al.

1248 AC 3635.

1249 Enum, D.Wis. x. 4e.

1250 AC 5779.

1251 AC 5119, cp DLW 363.

1252 AC 5078:4.

1253 AC 5078:4, 322e; HH 434.

1254 AC 321f, 969e; SD 1718.

1255  AE 349:4.  'Influx' here is use for 'efflux'. Compare AE 926: 2.

1256 Senses 61.

1257  Z57Senses 61, 445

1258 AS 18.

1259 Sensation ii.

1260  50Sensation ix - in PsychoL Transact, p. 150.

1261 AK 529i.

1262 AK 529h. 29h. See section J. below.

1263 Senses 61.

1264 R. Ps. 21.

1265 Senses 445

1266 R. Ps. 24.

1267  R. Ps. 25; see Brain 100. The circle of spiritual life is described in the Writings as a process of Reformation and Regeneration: to know, to understand, to will and to do (AC 242:4); or a progression from love to thought and from thought to love. DP 29:3, cp. D. Love x:2; SD 757; AC 1057:2-4. 1458.

1268 R. Ps. 23.

1269 Trac. de Hom.

1270 DLW 365. In a sense the so-called "corporeal fibresn represented a return of the nerve- to its beginning in the brain; corresponding to the veins in the bloodcirculation.

1271 F.L Ruch, Psychology and Life (1941), pp. 682, 684.

1272 0p. cit. p. 686.

1273 Fibre 251, 254, 259, 266, 266b, 275, 291, 258; AS 9; see Part IV, below.