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This brief video explains the condition now known as hydrocephalus¹. We will be exploring the history associated with this condition throughout this exhibit.
Source:
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLNI2upLi7I

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These skulls, pictured below, were found in a cave in Mexico and dated to be 900 years old¹. The one on the left appears to be quite different and one might think even extraterrestrial in appearance. However, there is a very natural explanation for their shape differences. It is likely that this oddly shaped skull belonged to a child with the condition known as hydrocephalus. Skulls that have this characteristic type of shaping have been called "starchild skulls"¹. This may have played into the idea of the presence of extraterrestrial beings.
Source:
(1) https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4144

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While the exact cause may have not been known, the condition of hydrocephalus has been known for many many centuries. Documents from the ancient Egyptians, Hippocrates, Galen, others have revealed that this condition of "water on the brain" has been around for a long time¹. Pictured below is one of the first renderings of pediatric hydrocephalus drawn in the 1600s by German physician,  Schröck Lucas¹.
Source:
(1) https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/133/6/1836/350881

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Our Ancient Greek physicians assumed that this condition was caused by an excess of water but did not attribute this extra fluid to be present in the ventricles.¹ It was also believed that it could be caused by improper care by the midwife². "The Father of Surgery", muslim physician, Al Zahrawi was the first to provide a treatment of hydrocephalus, and this took place in between the 10th and 11th centuries¹. Al Zahrawi described decompression or trepanation being necessary to relieve pressure upon the skull; he even described the instruments he used to preform these procedures, which are pictured below¹.
Source:
(1) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00381-008-0773-7
(2) https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/133/6/1836/350881

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The ventricles were highly regarded and thought to be important for perception, consciousness, and memory as well as the seat of the soul by religious people¹. The thoughts of the ventricles persisted up and even through some of the Renaissance Era¹.The image below is a depiction of the ventricles in 1499 by Peyligk J. De Anathomia Cerebri¹. It was Andreas van Wessel, who was the first to report that hydrocephalus was caused by the enlargement of the ventricles in 1543¹.
Source:
(1) https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/133/6/1836/350881

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For a long time, hydrocephalus was attributed to water, however, we know that is not true. Emanuel Swedenborg in the 1740s was the first to discover what we now know today to be cerebrospinal fluid or CSF¹. Emanuel Swedenborg is pictured below and he was a religious man, who like many others wanted to find the place of the soul, he even referred to CSF as "highly gifted juice" when he noted its connection to the ventricles¹.
Source:
(1) http://www.annclinlabsci.org/content/33/3/334.full

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Today, in the age of modern medicine and technology, hydrocephalus does not have to be the death sentence that it might have once been. All these discoveries we have learned about have brought us to the place where it can be a relatively simple fix. Neurosurgeons go in and place what is known as a ventriculoperitoneal or VP shunt¹. As shown in the picture below, this shunt is able to remove excess CSF and reduce the pressure within the ventricles by draining the fluid into the peritoneum¹.
Source:
(1) https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/vp-shunts.html

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I think the perfect docent for this exhibit would be Dr. Harvey Cushing. Dr. Cushing, who is pictured below, is known as "The Father of Neurosurgery."1 He is also attributed with the discovery that cerebrospinal fluid is produced in the choroid plexus². Dr. Cushing actually placed shunts in patients to treat hydrocephalus and while not all his ideas were successful due to the lack of advancements in medical technology, he definitely paved the way for treatment of hydrocephalus today³.
Source:
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Cushing
(2) http://www.annclinlabsci.org/content/33/3/334.full
(3) https://operativeneurosurgery.com/doku.php?id=harvey_williams_cushing