Institutiones Anatomicae

Danish anatomist Caspar Bartholin (1585–1629) first published this treatise on the brain in 1611. In 1641, his son Thomas revised the text and added illustrations, including one of the Sylvian fissure (lateral sulcus), which was first described in this work. Thomas Bartholin also famously refuted Descartes’ proposal of the pineal gland as the seat of the human soul. Bartholin argued that the pineal gland was too small for its physical movement to have any effect on other brain structures.