Principles of Thalamic Organization

Abstract

From the earliest developmental and comparative studies, it has been customary to divide the thalamus into three parts: epithalamus, dorsal thalamus, and ventral thalamus (Droogleever-Fortuyn, 1912; Herrick, 1918; Le Gros Clark, 1932a) (Fig. 3.1). Though these subdivisions were based in the first instance on the derivatives of three of the cellular masses of the developing diencephalic wall (see Chapter 6), coupled with a certain amount of phylogenetic speculation, as the years have passed, the tripartite division has been given an increasingly strong connectional basis.

The statement of Hughlings Jackson, in reference to the central nervous system that “difference of structure of necessity implies difference in function”is no doubt broadly true, but the converse is also true.