Stilling, Benedikt (1810-1879). Disquisitiones de structura protuberantia annularis sive pontis Varolii. Untersuchungen über den Bau des Hirnknotens oder der Varoli'schen Brucke. Jena: Friedrich Mauke, 1846. 2 vols. (text + atlas). Latin and German text printed side by side on each page. Atlas: (357 x 522 mm). (oblong folio) 22 lithographed plates. 19th-century half morocco, polished paste paper boards, remains of paper labels on spines, corners skillfully repaired, a few minor scratches. Foxed and toned throughout, first three leaves and last leaf of text volume repaired, front free endpaper and last plate of atlas repaired. Extremely Rare FIRST EDITION, with only one copy of the text volume (sans atlas) cited in OCLC (no library given). Stilling, a German anatomist and surgeon, carried out some of the 19th century's most detailed and precise examinations of the spinal cord, brain stem and midbrain, which 'laid the foundation for the modern anatomical study of the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, and pons' (Clarke & O'Malley, p. 834). Stilling's great work on the pons Varolii, the structure that links the brain to the spinal cord, includes the first accurate description of the red nucleus (superior olive), a structure in the midbrain involved in motor coordination. According to Stilling's fellow neurologist Robert Remak, Stilling's 1846 discovery of the red nucleus 'supplied the first demonstration of the connection of multipolar cells with motor fibers' (E. Clarke and L. S. Jacyna, Nineteenth-Century Origins of Neuroscientific Concepts, p. 87). Stilling's work on the pons, with bilingual Latin and German text, was issued under the general title Disquisitiones de structura et functionibus cerebri / Untersuchungen über den Bau und die Verrichtigungen des Gehirns. It was apparently intended to serve as the first volume in a series; however, we have found no indication that any further volumes were published. Garrison-Morton.com 14337. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing