In 7 also conarion. [mod.L. a. Gr. κωνάριον, dim. of κῶνος pinecone.] The pineal gland of the brain (held by Descartes to be the seat of the soul).
1656. H. More, Antid. Ath., I. xi. (1712), 33. Is it [the Spirits] themselves, or the Brain, or that particular piece of the Brain they call the Conarion or Pine-kernel?
1667. G. C., in H. More’s Div. Dial., Pref. (1713), 12. This little sprunt Champion, called the Conarion, (or Nux pinea) within which the Soul is entirely cooped up.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., Conarion or conoides … Des Cartes takes occasion to suppose it the immediate place or seat of the soul.
1840. G. Ellis, Anat., 45. The pineal body or conarium, of a greyish colour, is conical in form.
1860. Mahaffy, Descartes, 177. The soul … must be brought into contact with the body … in the conarium, or pineal gland.
