Special Article How the Brain Got Its Names and Numbers

The amazing development of magnetic reso-nance (MR) imaging has made it possible to show the living brain from almost any anatomical per-spective. The images have sent many neurora-diologists to Gray's Anatomy or the pathology laboratory to learn specific brain details, including names of the anatomy seen. Over the past 5 years, as we have begun to work with MR, it has been interesting to learn and speculate how the brain got its names. We have done this for several reasons. One is to better remember the anatomy. Another is that words and their origins can be intriguing. Lastly, much of brain etymology is conjecture. Many of our suggestions for brain or skull naming cannot be documented. However, science fiction, without the burden of proof, can be stimulating and promoted much of this endeavor. During the last 2,500 years, humans have been in the process of discovering the brain inside and out. The ancient Greeks in their animal dissec-tions were attracted to the center of the brain and especially the ventricular system. The focus of brain anatomy for two millennia was ventriculo-centric. Sixteenth century anatomists, including Vesalius, shifted some attention toward the cor-tex, but even then, and for the next two centuries, central brain structures, including the ventricles, were thought to be the center of all cerebral activity. Aristotle probably first described the ventricles stating, "In the great majority of animals it [th