Thus spoke the cadaver

Handle me with little love and care

As I had missed it in my life affair
Was too poor for cremation or burial
That is why am lying in dissection hall

You dissect me, cut me, section me

But your learning anatomy should be precise
Worry not, you would not be taken to court
As I am happy to be with the bright lot

Couldn't dream of a fridge for cold water

Now my body parts are kept in refrigerator
Young students sit around me with friends
A few dissect, rest talk, about food, family and movies
How I enjoy the dissection periods
Don't you? Unless you are interrogated by a teacher

When my parts are buried post-dissection

Bones are taken out for the skeleton
Skeleton is the crown glory of the museum
Now I am being looked up by great enthusiasm

If not as skeletons as loose bones

I am in their bags and in their hostel rooms
At times, I am on their beds as well
Oh, what a promotion to heaven from hell

I won't leave you, even if you pass anatomy

Would follow you in forensic medicine and pathology
Would be with you even in clinical teaching
Medicine line is one where dead teach the living

One humble request I'd make

Be sympathetic to persons with disease
Don't panic, you'll have enough money
And I bet, you'd be singularly happy

Introduction
Nervous system is the chief controlling and co-
ordinating system of the body.
It is responsible for judgement, intelligence and
memory. Nervous system is highly evolved at the cost
of regeneration.
It is the most complex system of the body.
It adjusts the body to the surroundings and regulates
all bodily activities both voluntary and involuntary. The
sensory part of the nervous system collects information
from the surroundings and helps in gaining knowledge
and experience, whereas the motor part is responsible
for responses of the body.
Average weight of adult brain in air is 1500–2000
grams. Since brain floats in cerebrospinal fluid, it only
weighs 50 grams which is comfortable.
There are about 180–200 billion neurons in an adult
brain (very rich).
DIVISIONS OF NERVOUS SYSTEM
ANATOMICAL
It is divided into:
1 Central nervous system (CNS) which comprises brain
and spinal cord. It is responsible for integrating,
Flowchart 1.1: Divisions of nervous system
1
The capacity of the mind is as great as that of space .
—Wei Lang
coordinating the sensory information and ordering
appropriate motor actions. CNS is the seat of
learning, memory, intelligence and emotions.
2 Peripheral nervous system (PNS) includes 12 pairs of
cranial nerves and 31 pairs of spinal nerves. These
provide afferent impulses to CNS and carries
efferent impulses to muscles, glands and blood
vessels (Flowchart 1.1).
FUNCTIONAL
Peripheral nervous system functionally has two
components:
1 Afferent component provides sensory information to
CNS.
2 Efferent component carries motor information to
muscles, glands, blood vessels and heart via:
a. Somatic nervous system for the control of skeletal
muscles.
b. Autonomic nervous system for control of heart,
smooth muscle of the organs, glands and blood
vessels. It is subdivided into sympathetic and
parasympathetic parts.