TabulaThe body, as it was written.

A tour · 6 plates

The brain and nerves

Where does thinking happen? The answer now seems obvious, but it had to be argued for, and the argument took more than three thousand years. This tour starts with an Egyptian surgical papyrus, copied around 1700–1600 BCE, which holds the earliest known written descriptions of the brain's surface, its coverings and the fluid around it.1 In the Greek world, Alcmaeon of Croton held the brain to be the seat of understanding.2 In Alexandria, Herophilus told nerves apart from blood vessels and tendons and separated sensory from motor nerves.3 In Rome, Galen cut a nerve in a squealing pig and silenced it.4 Thomas Willis gave the first complete description of the ring of arteries beneath the brain in 1664.5 And in 1888–89, Cajal showed that the nervous system is built from separate cells.6 Each step answered one question by asking a sharper one: not just whether the brain matters, but how its parts are connected.

▶ Play this tour Read the long version

  1. Tab. I: The first word for "brain" (c. 1600 BCE (copy of an older text))
  2. Tab. II: Thinking happens in the head (c. 500 BCE)
  3. Tab. III: Nerves are not tendons (c. 300–250 BCE)
  4. Tab. VII: The squealing pig falls silent (c. 160s–190s)
  5. Tab. XVIII: An architect draws the brain (1664)
  6. Tab. XXII: Using Golgi's stain against Golgi (1888–89)

Sources for this introduction

  1. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, a copy made around 1700–1600 BCE from older material, contains the earliest known written descriptions of the brain's surface, the meninges and the cerebrospinal fluid.

    • M. A. Kamp, Y. Tahsim-Oglou, H.-J. Steiger, D. Hänggi, Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Ancient Egypt: Insights from the Edwin Smith Papyrus. 2012. Journal of Neurological Surgery Part A. doi:10.1055/s-0032-1313635, abstract. Link · Archive scholarly
    • Eric H. Chudler (University of Washington), The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. n.d.. Link · Archive secondary
    • James Henry Breasted (ed. and trans.), The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. 1930. University of Chicago Press. primary

  2. Alcmaeon identified the brain as the seat of understanding and distinguished understanding from perception.

    • Carl Huffman, Alcmaeon (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). 2026. Link · Archive scholarly
    • Hektoen International, Alcmaeon of Croton: philosopher-physician. 2017. Link · Archive secondary
    • Theophrastus, De sensibus (On the Senses). c. 300 BCE. primary

  3. Herophilus distinguished nerves from blood vessels and tendons, separated sensory from motor nerves, and described several pairs of cranial nerves.

    • J. M. S. Pearce, The Neuroanatomy of Herophilus. 2013. European Neurology 69(5):292–295. Link · Archive scholarly
    • Bibliotheca Alexandrina, SCIplanet, Herophilus and Erasistratus: The Butchers of Alexandria. n.d.. Link · Archive secondary

  4. Galen demonstrated before an audience in Rome that cutting the recurrent laryngeal nerves silenced a squealing pig.

    • E. L. Kaplan, G. I. Salti, M. Roncella, N. Fulton, M. Kadowaki, History of the recurrent laryngeal nerve: from Galen to Lahey. 2009. World Journal of Surgery 33(3):386–393. doi:10.1007/s00268-008-9798-z. scholarly
    • Claire Bubb, Finding your pig's voice (Classics for All). n.d.. Link · Archive secondary

  5. Thomas Willis's Cerebri anatome (1664) gave the first complete description of the ring of arteries at the base of the brain.

    • Thomas Willis (plates by Christopher Wren), Cerebri anatome. 1664. London. primary
    • Royal College of Physicians, Thomas Willis: the father of neurology. n.d.. Link · Archive scholarly
    • Revista Brasileira de Neurologia (História da Neurologia), [The arterial circle of Willis and its precursors]. 2021. Link · Archive scholarly · details pending

  6. Using a modified version of Golgi's stain, Cajal showed in 1888–89 that nerve cells are separate units rather than a continuous network.

    • Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Estructura de los centros nerviosos de las aves. 1888. Revista Trimestral de Histología Normal y Patológica. primary
    • CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934), the Cajal Legacy. n.d.. Link · Archive scholarly
    • Scientifica, Meet the Nobels: Golgi and Cajal. n.d.. Link · Archive secondary