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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 838

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 838

nucleus and septum pellucidum, while others are said to enter the caudate nucleus. Posteriorly, it is continued into the roof of the inferior cornu of the lateral ventricle, at the extremity of which it enters the nucleus amygdalæ. Superficial to it is a large vein, the terminal vein (vein of the corpus striatum), which receives numerous tributaries from the corpus striatum and thalamus; it runs forward to the interventricular foramen and there joins with the vein of the choroid plexus to form the corresponding internal cerebral vein. On the surface of the terminal vein is a narrow white band, named the lamina affixa.
  The Fornix (Figs. 720, 747, 748) is a longitudinal, arch-shaped lamella of white substance, situated below the corpus callosum, and continuous with it behind, but separated from it in front by the septum pellucidum. It may be described as consisting of two symmetrical bands, one for either hemisphere. The two portions are not united to each other in front and behind, but their central parts are joined together in the middle line. The anterior parts are called the columns of the fornix; the intermediate united portions, the body; and the posterior parts, the crura.


FIG. 746– Diagram of the tracts in the internal capsule. Motor tract red. The sensory tract (blue) is not direct, but formed of neurons receiving impulses from below in the thalamus and transmitting them to the cortex. The optic radiation (occipitothalamic) is shown in violet. (See enlarged image)
  The body (corpus fornicis) of the fornix is triangular, narrow in front, and broad behind. The medial part of its upper surface is connected to the septum pellucidum in front and to the corpus callosum behind. The lateral portion of this surface forms part of the floor of the lateral ventricle, and is covered by the ventricular epithelium. Its lateral edge overlaps the choroid plexus, and is continuous with the epithelial covering of this structure. The under surface rests upon the tela chorioidea of the third ventricle, which separates it from the epithelial roof of that cavity, and from the medial portions of the upper surfaces of the thalami. Below, the lateral portions of the body of the fornix are joined by a thin triangular lamina, named the psalterium (lyra). This lamina contains some transverse fibers which connect the two hippocampi across the middle line and constitute the hippocampal commissure. Between the psalterium and the corpus callosum a horizontal cleft, the so-called ventricle of the fornix (ventricle of Verga), is sometimes found.
  The columns (columna fornicis; anterior pillars; fornicolumns) of the fornix arch downward in front of the interventricular foramen and behind the anterior commissure,