Evolution of the CSF System

Acknowledgments

The main studies upon which this work is based were performed in the Biomedical Research Unit of the University of Hull, England while the author, a full-time Consultant Neurosurgeon, also held a Medical Research Council Grant (740065). They were intially presented in an Arris and Gale Lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, on 9th March 1978, and subsequently published as a relatively brief paper in Ann R C S Eng(1979) 61.349-356. Various other papers concerned with specific aspects of the studies were subsequently published and are included in the references after each Section.

The serial section histology, which was particularly painstaking and constitutes a unique assembly of data from a time when morphological studies were still regarded as of basic relevance, was primarily performed by Gillian Dolman, graduate technician to the project. Hazel Jones, research assistant, helped in the preparation of the animals for the histological studies, and surveyed the light microsopy work independently while establishing the morphological background to further studies of the amphibians which constituted the basis of a PhD accepted by the University of Hull. Both of the assistants provided invaluable contributions to the planning and discussion of the work which was performed under the direction of the author, who also participated in the preparation techniques, and surveyed the whole light microscopy work as part of an MD thesis, accepted by the University of Cambridge.

The work was illustrated by Gordon Whitehead, Department of Medical Illustration, Hull Royal Infirmary, using colour microphotograph and diagram techniques current at the time. Preservation of the original library of serial sections has enabled them to be reviewed and presented by digital photography on the medium of the Internet; the graphics are presented as an attempt to balance the requirements of resolution and definition with on-site space.