FIGURE 1.1. The earliest efforts to explore the brain arose from the same deep curiosity that draws researchers into neuroscience today. This Dutch woodcut from J. Dryander's Anatomie (1537) shows that the brain was already understood at this time as a structure composed of diverse parts. The woodcut identifies divisions between a frontal (“sinciput, anterior”) and rear (“occipital, posterior”) portion of the brain, and between lobes at the sides; these divisions still serve as landmarks for students of neuroanatomy. At the right, the letters A, B, C, D, F, and G distinguish the six layers of the cerebral cortex; in this century, observations down to the level of single cells make it possible to sort out the distinct functions of each of these layers. Source: The National Library of Medicine.