The study of the Nervous System is -undoubtedly- becoming a very important field in Medical Studies.

Without a good basis in Neuro-anatomy the interpretation of neurologic signs and symptoms in Clinical Medicine would be a very difficult -if not an impossible- task.

In all leading Universites the “Anatomical Sciences” are now tought in the form of three, more or less, separate - but nevertheless allied - disciplines :

1.    Gross morphology of the human body, excluding the brain. This forms the subject of Gross Anatomy “proper”.

2.    Neuro-anatomy which entalis the study of the gross morphology of the brain and spinal cord, as well as the study of their connections and tracts (a subject now called Tractology).

3.    Histology and Embryology; the microscope being an important tool to study and understand both subjects.

I am however, convinced that the most logical and the most productive approach to the study of the Nervous System is to combine the viewpoints of three closely dependent subjects: Neuro-anatomy, Neuro-physiology as well as a basis of Clinical Neurology.

It has been my practice in conducting my lectures to place considerable emphasis on the “clinical aspects”; I feel this is important as it strengthens motivation and gives the students a reason for learning their anatomical sciences in general and their Neuro-anatomy in practical.

It has been my aim to place at the disposal of the medical students a book of convenient size which will provide them with a working knowledge on Neurology and also to select for them, from the great accumulation of material, the least but the most effective methods of dealing with the Nervous System.

This book is not meant to be an exhausive treatise on Neuro-anatomy. I only hope that it will offer a good basis of structure and function which will be of value in understanding how the brain and spinal cord function.

I believe that the best textbook cannot take the place of a good lecture; yet I do also believe that the provision of well-planned illustrations is, perhaps, more important in understanding the different - and perhaps also difficult - connections of the Nervous System than in any other branch of medicine. The illustrations are presented in such a way that they clarify - and even amplify - the text.