Neuroanatomy, Ventricular System

Excerpt

The ventricular system of the brain is an interconnected series of cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that cushions the brain. Though the presence of cerebral ventricles was known since ancient times, its function was obscure. Early scientists believed ventricles to be the site of thought, emotions, reasoning, and memory. Leonardo da Vinci, the famed artist who drew Mona Lisa, performed the first ventriculography on the brain of an ox. However, in the 17th century, it was Domenico Felice Antonio Cotugno who first described the connection between cerebral ventricles and subarachnoid space, a fact later confirmed by Francis Jean Magendie.