Anatomy of the Brain

...supplying, I was not ashamed to summon the helping hands of others. And here I have made use of the help and cooperative labor of that most learned man, highly skilled in anatomy, Mr. Richard Lower; I gladly acknowledge that the sharpness of both his scalpel and his intellect was of benefit to me in investigating the structure as well as the duties of parts previously hidden. Wherefore, having taken this companion and coadjutor, hardly a day passed without some anatomical administration; so that in a short space of time, nothing concerning the Brain and its appendix within the Cranium seemed to us not clearly detected and intimately perceived. Afterwards, when we approached a task by far more difficult—namely, neurotomy—then the truly admirable ingenuity of this man shone forth greatly, as well as his indefatigable industry and labor that could be halted by no obstacle: for he followed the divarication of every nerve, however minute, and immersed within other bodies, and variously implicated, wandering everywhere, with the most exact investigation; and thus, unfolding the labyrinths of the branches and propagations of each Pair diffused far and wide, he drew with his own hand the diagrams, or Icons—such as are presented in this treatise—of these same, as well as of many blood vessels, which are Ichnographic. He indeed took care that these should emerge absolutely faithful and most corrected, without the charge of falsehood or the stain of error, so that the plate contains scarcely a line, or the slightest stroke, whose conformation and exact relationship has not been verified by the evidence of several animals slaughtered for that cause.