CONTRIBUTIONS
TO
EXPERIMENTAL    PHYSIOLOGY,
                          SHOWING


That the ligation of the  trachea, the divisions of the spinal cord in the
  cervical and dorsal regions, the removal of the viscera, the destruction
  of the ganglions and plexuses of the sympathetic nerve, the ligation,
  section, and removal of the brachial and ischiatic plexuses,  including
  the nerves of the  limbs, do  not prevent intelligence, sensation, and
  motions  which cure accurate in design, perfect in execution, being
  simultaneous and altogether voluntarily in all parts of the body, even
  though  connected only by the muscles ; also experiments on the roots
  of the  spinal cord, 6fc„ <Sfc,
                 BENNET  DOWLER, M.  D.

Corresponding Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ;
    Fellow of the Medico-Chirurgical College of the  same city, &c, &c,
              May 6th,—3 P. M. to 6 P. M.,—1852.

                       VIVISECTION NO. 1.


  By the politeness of Dr. Cartwright, I was called upon, by  letter,
this evening, to make arrangements for the vivisection ©f an alligator,
which he placed at my disposal.   I accordingly called at  his house to
inform him that I would attend on the following day; but  after reflect-
ing upon the matter, I thought it advisable to proceed in the vivisection
                               1 
4
Without delay, although  unprovided  with suitable instruments.*  In  a
few minutes after the operation began, several medical gentlemen ar-
rived, though not all at the same time : Drs. Greig, Coit, Reynolds, Mr.
Gordon, and at a later period Dr. Weatherly.
   1.   The alligator, over 3£  feet long, was vigorous,  and disposed  to
fight and resist.
   2.   It was secured by bandaging its muzzle and tying its body to  a
plank, the  back down.
   3.   The trachea was firmly tied in the middle of  the neck with  a
piece of tape.
   4.   In a few  minutes the animal appeared to  be dying.   The  cords
were untied, those  of  the  mouth excepted.  Death appeared complete
in thirty minutes.   In  the meantime, the viscera of the chest  and ab-
domen  had bean exposed.  One of the hind legs was  dissected—the
skin and facise removed—the muscles separated, and  the sciatic  nerve
and  its branches,  to the popliteal region and down to the ankle, was
pinched, disorganized  and  cut, without any signs of pain—without vo-
luntary  motions, and without  convulsive action, excepting  the  usual
twitchings, chiefly  in the toes [which I have so often described as tak-
ing place in the apparently dead animal, for a period,  sometimes, from
one  to  three days,  and even  in amputated limbs.  These twitchings
do not  appear,  in any  case  to amount to  complete extensions or
flexions].
   All of a sudden the alligator  came to  life.   This was about half an
hour after tying the trachea, the ligature still remaining.  The  limbs
had been relaxed—the body motionless for some minutes.  But in the
twinkling of an eye it turned upon its abdomen—jumped from the table
to the pavement, and without  attempting to run away, faced the com-
pany—took an attitude of defence—struck at  every  one that  came

   * Since writing the above, I have performed some, and reviewed other ex-
periments made with what would be regarded, at first sight, as suitable instru-
ments—instruments which are probably the worst, as sharp knives, keen chis-
els, etc.  In the present instance, the use of a dull case-knife, probably pre-
vented, in a  good degree, profuse haemorrhage, which  is always unfavorable to
striking results.   Franklin, who knew the unaffected simplicity of Nature, ap-
proached her portals, and learned her profoundest secrets, by means of a kite,
a key, a flask, and a few plain instruments, which would make but a sorry ap-
pearance amid the glitter and magnificence of a  mordern laboratory.  With his
kite—an object of ridicule to the ignorant—he  discovered how to disarm the
thunder-bolts of heaven. 
5
nigh, as if intending to  bite ;  though fortunately for its  enemies, its
jaws  were still firmly bandaged  together.  It watched the  vivisectors
narrowly, and turned courageously upon any one who advanced nearest
to it.
   6.   All signs of death having thus suddenly disappeared,  it was de-
termined, after ten or fifteen minutes' delay, to recapture it, and re-bind
it to the plank  for further experiment, the trachea being still tied, as at
first.
   7.   After many attempts with a dull case-knife, used as a chisel, aided
by a hammer, the spine with its cord was divided in the middle of the
neck—several of the cervical  vertebrae  were broken  so that a thumb
could be passed between  the ends of the cord.   By this method of ope-
ration, some of the great muscles of the  neck  were bruised and even
completely disorganized, thereby preventing, in a  great degree, motion
in the head and  neck.  Much blood was lost, though  this animal has
comparatively but little.
   8.   The viscera  were more fully dissected.  The ligature was at
length removed from the trachea.  The latter having been opened, the
lungs throughout the subsequent stages of the vivisection were repeat.
edly inflated by Dr.  Cartwright's black  boy.   In detaching the lungs,
or from some  other cause, a rent  had been  produced, from which the
air escaped,* though this occurred  at an  advanced stage of the dis-
section.
   At intervals  the dissection of the legs  was continued, by which the
skin  and fasciae  were removed, the muscles  separated, the  nerves ex-
posed, pinched, crushed, cut and removed.
   9.   By means of a rusty wood saw, the spine, with the  cord,  was
divided a second time, midway  between  the fore  and hind legs in the
lower third of  the dorsal region, so that the body could have been dou-
bled in three pieces like a pocket-rule, connected only by the skin and
muscles.
   10.  Most of the viscera were removed from the body.   The  remain-
ing  nerves  of the limbs  were exposed, experimented on,  and cut
away.

   * One of the medical gentlemen  who was present informed me, that this rent
was caused by the  black  boy, who inflated  the  lungs with undue  violence.
These organs^indescribably delicate and beautiful, consisting of small transpa-
rent bladders without parenchyma, are easily ruptured. When compressed so
as to  exclude the air, and dried  upon glass, they  form a  fine microscopic ob-
ject, but little  thicker than paper in an animal from one to three feet long. 
f.
   11.  Finally, from the last division of the spine a punch was intro-
 duced into the canal, by which the cord was gradually but completely
 destroyed downwards to  its caudal,  and then  upward to its cervical
 portions.
   12.  From the first to the last division of the cord—from the resusci-
 tation to the close of the experiments, the threefold division of the body
 made by the two sections of the cord, displayed in all three of its parts,
 both sensation, volition, and accurately adapted muscular motion.  The
 eyes  winked or nictated.   The  head, towards the close of the  experi-
 ments, attempted to bite Dr. Reynolds.   The  lumbar and caudal divi-
 sion gave the most unequivocal indications  of pain, contrivance,  and
 adaptative action.  Thus the animal, on being suspended by the neck
 so that the legs might hang down, was  pricked with a scalpel in the
 groin, whereupon it raised one hind leg, (the other had been amputated)
 it carried  the foot (the law  of gravity opposing)  instantly and accurately
 to the exact  spot  where the  injury  was inflicted, pushing strongly
 against the  knife, slightly wounding its ankle in the attempt to remove
 the pain-giving instrument—a feat requiring  extreme flexion—a com-
 plete  doubling of the leg upon the thigh.  Now this flexion, and several
 others performed  near the  close of the experiments by the remaining
 hind leg and by the fore legs, took place not only after two  divisions of
 the cord, but after the removal  of the individual  nerves in the limbs
 themselves, and after the removal of the  viscera and the principal por-
tion of the sympathetic nerves, plexuses and ganglions.   These motions
 indicated sensation  and volition, as truly as those of the undivided nor-
 mal animal.  In the divided, eviscerated  animal, with its limbs deprived
 of its nerves, clear indications of pain and combined motions took place,
 when, at the close of the experiments, the divided ends of the cord were
 touched.   Thus, when the dorso-caudal part of the cord was  irritated,
 the hind leg was strongly directed  to that place.   This it repeated until
 the entire cord was gradually destroyed by a punch reaching down to
the tail.   The  same phenomena occurred  when the punch pressed or
disentegrated the cord, from the last, or dorsal division, upwards tow-
ards the head or cervical division.
 13. In the dissection of the nerves of the limbs during and after the ap-
parent death—after the  first and second divisions of the cord, and after
 amputation, a certain peculiar kind of muscular twitching,  particularly
in the fingers and  toes, took place from compressing or injuring  the
nerve-cords  (as I  have formerly described) ;  slight compression produ
ced many  twitches—a strong disorganizing one, or a section gave one
<-»r two only, after  which compression  in the  same place produced no 
motion whatever.   The motion could always be reproduced  whenever
a new portion of the nerve was  selected, provided it  was invariably
upon the distal side of the disorganization  or section.   The  proximal
end, that is, the end connected with the cord, when thus treated, was not
succeeded by any motion, while that of the distal portion  rather  aug-
mented as the irritation  approached the  extreme distribution of the
nerves upon the fingers and toes.   When the nerves were  uninjured in
any way, these twitchings were  no greater than  after the section of the
nerve  or the  amputation of the limb.  These  twitchings'seem totally
void of volition or adaptation, being equally independent of the cord and
of the  proximal end of the nerves.
  It will be seen that in the preceding experiments numerals have been
used, in conformity to the stages of the vivisection.   These are prefixed
to the paragraphs for the convenience of  the witnesses, who may  have
arrived at different  periods.   It will be seen  by the certificates, at the
bottom of the  page, that Drs.  Coit, Reynolds and Greig saw all the ma-
terial experiments,  beginning with paragraph 7, and thence to  the end.
Dr. Weatherly does not mention particulars, as will be seen.*  This
report has not been changed  or added to  since it was read to,  and ex-
amined by, these gentlemen, with the exception of two foot notes.

                       VIVISECTION NO. 2.
   The following  Programme was submitted to  the gentlemen present
before the vivisection was commenced.  The answers to the interroga-
tories of this  Programme, as given by this experiment, and by many
former  experiments incomparably  more  striking,  varied, prolonged,
and perfect, will be annexed  in the categorical  form  of affirmative  or
negative, within brackets, unaccompanied by explanations, though pre-
lusive of experimental details that follow.   This animal lived, compar-
atively, a short time.  The  weather was hot.   Judging from experi-
ments  made in the cool season, I suppose that  it would have lived  at
least three or four times longer,  had the vivisection. been  made in the

  * We fully agree with Dr. Dowler as to the  correctness of the experiments
which we witnessed, from paragraph No. 7-
                                J. J. COIT, M. D.
                                D. ELLIOTT  REYNOLDS, M. 1).
                                ALEXANDER GREIG, M. D.
  1  saw a portion of these experiments, and so far as I witnessed them they are
correct.
                                J. R. WEATHERLY  M. D 
8
winter.   The rapid haemorrhage, for which no ligatures could be used,
was another most unfavorable circumstance.  I had never before  divi-
ded the spinal canal with a sharp chisel, having generally used hatch-
ets, saws, or dull instruments, whereby haemorrhage was in a great de-
gree prevented.   In decapitating with a dull hatchet, the great carotid
is sometimes, though  rarely so contused or compressed by a sort of tor-
sion,  that a ligature is  not  required.  Furthermore—The animal had
been prepared for vivisection for four days before it took place ; during
this long delay it was constantly and strongly  bound  with numerous
cords, from  the  tip of the  muzzle to the tip  of the tail,  including the
limbs.  I found, upon subsequent dissection,  that portions of the mus-
cular  tissue had been  injured by the cords.   This constant pressure for
four days, doubtlessly, impaired its muscular activity.
   I subjoin a small portion  of the measurements : From the tip of the
muzzle to the central  interspace of the orbits, 5 inches; to the occiput, 7;
interscapular, 11£ ; sacro-iliac, 25 ;  caudal  extremity, 56 ; circumfer-
ence  of the thigh, 1\ ; of the body, 21.

                   Programme of the Vivisection.

   1. Divide the cervical cord:  Will each division continue to manifest
sensation and voluntary motion ?   Will each  division act in concert or
simultaneously on  irritating either at, near, and remote from the line of
division.  [Ans. Yes.]
   2.  Divide the  lower dorso-lumbar cord :   Will all three  parts af-
terwards manifest sensation and voluntary motion ?   Will two or three
act simultaneously for a common  end, where the middle  or extremities
are injured?   [Ans.  Yes.]
   3.  Dissect the  brachial  plexus of nerves from a fore-leg :   Will
voluntary motion and sensation still continue to manifest themselves on
irritating  the axilla,  and the dorsal and  cervical ends  of the cord ?
Will the bare dissected muscles, if pinched or pricked, contract ? [Ans.
Yes.]
   4.  Destroy  the  principal trunks of the sympathetic :   Will this dis-
section excite or destroy sensation and voluntary motion ?  [Ans.  Dis.
section excites these,  but the destruction of the  ganglions and plexuses
of the sympathetic does not  appear to hasten their extinction.   See Dr.
Dalton's very interesting experiments accompanying this paper.  Dr.
Dalton must have cut away  the chief part of the splanchnic nerve, toge-
ther with the solar, coelic, hepatic, gastric coronary, splenic, mesenteric, 
9
renal, spermatic,  aortic, and  cardiac  plexuses,  as well as numerous
ganglions.]
  5.  Dissect the spinal roots of that part of  the cord which gives oft'
the nerves to the hind legs :  Will irritation of the posterior or the sup-
posed sensory root not be  wholly devoid of muscular action ?  [Ans.
No.]  Will irritation of the anterior or so called motor root, afford sen-
sational or other  phenomena like those of the posterior root ?  [Ans.
Yes.]
  6.  After destroying  the spinal roots, remove the corresponding por.
tion of the cord :  What effect will pricking and pinching at the groin
produce ?   [Ans. Voluntary motion, if I remember rightly ; but in for-
mer cases, this most certainly took place.]
  7.  Dissect, pinch, tie, cut,  and disorganize the ischiatic or  sciatic
plexus,  and trace the sciatic, the popliteal, anterior tibial and  peroneal
nerves.  Prick  and compress  the  isolated muscles:   Will they not
twitch equally with and without the nerves ?—with and without connec-
tion with the cord ?   [Ans. Yes.]
   8.  Amputate a limb :   Dissect away its  nerves, prick and compress
its  muscles, will not  the contractions be equally active as before ? [Ans.
Yes.]
   For the following notes, written at the moment the events which they
record took place, I am indebted to my learned friend,  Albert Welles
Ely, A.  M.,  M. D.  The portions  which I have added are included
within brackets.
Vivisection of Alligator at Dr B. Dowler's, on 13th May, 1852, at 9|  A. M.
  Present: Drs. S.  A.  Cartwright, Hale, McKinley of  Tigervllle, B,
Dowler, Nutt, Ely, Copes, Bennedict, Coit, Reynolds and Weatherly.
  Temperature  of room, 79 ° F. ;  of the  animal 75 ° .   He  is just
from under the hydrant.   [The hydrant water  being 70 ° , the animal's
heat has not yet reached that of the air, which it  would soon reach, as
former experiments prove.]
  At 9  h. 20 min.  A longitudinal incision just before  the shoulders,
about 3 inches long in the back of the neck [the muscles  and skin  thus
divided were  held asunder];  a  half inch chisel  was  introduced, by
which the cervical canal and cord were divided [at the  5th vertebrae].
The haemorrhage was most profuse.  All the gentlemen present having
inserted their  fingers  into the wound, were satisfied that  the spinal
canal was divided ;  a piece of sponge was inserted between the verte-
brae.   [The copiousness of the haemorrhage  seemed to indicate  a  divi-
sion of the great carotid, (which is single, and which lies close  to the
anterior surface of the vertebrae) but  the  subsequent dissection,  which 
It)
was continued sewn days, showed that no artery but the vertebrals had
been  cut.]  This first division  of the spine produced no change in
the pupil of the eye [the iris being responsive to the light],  Eyes en-
tirely natural, as before the operation.  No change in the sensation of
the parts below or above the division.  The application of the  point of
a knife  produced rapid motions in the head and all parts of the body,
just as before the operation.
   Division of the spinal cord in the dorsal region at 10 o'clock and 25
min., by means of a chisel.   [The spinal canal was divided through the
14th dorsal vertebra, that  is, at a distance of  7 vertebrae from  the  first
lumbar.]   Still the animal moved all parts  of  the body, even the head,
eyes,  and tongue.  It tried repeatedly to bring the fore paw to the point
where the chisel was inserted.  Motion  in all parts of the body was si.
multaneous.  On inserting a probe  into the canal, the animal moved
all parts of his body as before.   These motions were  the  same  when
the probe was inserted into the upper or lower portion of  the divided
spine.  The application of heat caused motions in all parts, the animal
always endeavoring to place his  fore paws  on the part heated.   The
pupils of the eyes began to dilate after making the second division of the
spine. The animal closed his eyes at 10, 7 min.,  A. M.
   At 5 minutes  before  10, a long incision was made  in the region of
the spine, immediately between the hind legs, during which the fore legs
continued to move, directed to the incision making.  The pupil, during
the dissection of the muscles, in this last operation, became enormously
dilated.   The narrow vertical slit or line of half an inch in length, na-
turally constituting the pupil  in  its contracted state,  became a. perfect
circle.  Some of the motions of the hind legs and tail were convulsive,
while those of the fore legs  and head were voluntary.  At a quarter
past 10  the head appeared to  be perfectly dead, but the fore legs moved
occasionally, [in a voluntary manner] as the dissection proceeded.  On
pinching the skin and muscles of the head, no motion followed; but on
pinching or touching the shoulders  immediately below the division of
the cervical cord, the head moved to the side touched, and the fore legs
both moved also.  On making the touch on the opposite shoulder, the
head  invariably moved in the other direction, that is, towards the side
touched or irritated.
   The dissection was continued down so as to expose the spinal cord,
and the posterior roots covered by the theca, which, in the alligator, is
black.  On touching the  posterior root, motions took place in the hind
legs on both sides, and in the fore legs.  Also the tail moved with force
from  side to side, as when the animal  was operated on.  The motion 
y
 of the tail was evidently voluntary.  [On touching the  core! as well  as
 posterior roots,  both limbs usually twitched ;  this twitching occurred,
 too, in the right, as well as in the left leg, when the posterior roots  of
 the  left side were irritated.  The opening of the cord, always difficult,
 often destructive to the posterior roots, and even  to  the texture  of the
 cord, was in this case, after  some delay, happily accomplished.   Hey's
 saw, chisels and  knives were  used on  both sides of the spinous pro-
 cesses, by which a narrow, vertical, but deep stratum or section  of the
 muscles at their origin, was taken out from each side of these processes,
 and then, along with the spinous processes, a narrow longitudinal strip
 of the vertebrae themselves was removed,  thereby exposing  the cord,
 as covered by the dark, yet semi-transparent theca.   This slit in the
 bony canal was, of necessity, too narrow for the perfect exposure  of
 the anterior roots, but was, for this very reason, (as I had learned from
 experience, not from writers)  all the better for the satisfactory experi-
 ments  upon the  posterior roots.   The  difficulties and disorganizing
 effects  of this operation have not  been   properly estimated.   To say
 nothing of the section of the  muscles (the true motory organs) the
 posterior roots must suffer injury, and even sometimes  complete  disor-
 ganization, if a portion of the canal of considerable width be  removed;
 lor then the sawing  and chiseling of the bones must take place at the
 very points where the posterior roots emerge !  The narrower the por-
 tion of bone cut out,  the greafer the  safety to these roots, and the  less
 the  chance of making experiments upon  the  anterior,  particularly in
 small animals, the usual kind selected, as frogs, rabbits, kittens,  etc-
 That a wide strip of  the spinal canal can be cut out of small animals,
 so as to afford  in the same case and at the same time a good view  and
 a free  manifestation  of the cord and  its nerves at their emergence,
 without  injury to the posterior roots, may well be  doubted!  Here,  I
venture to think, lies much of the history, and not  a little of the  mystery,
too, of the supposed absence of motory excitation by means of the pos-
terior roots.  The injury of these roots, the section of many  muscles,
and  the like, are lost sight of, for a theory.*
   In the present experiment, the two objects sought were  achieved, or
   [* I beg leave to suggest the following rule for operating on the spinal roots,
namely—let two animals be always sacrificed for the double experiment.  In
the one, intended for the demonstration of the posterior roots, let the opening be
narrow; in the other,  wider.  With even  this precaution, the posterior  roots
will often be injured by concussion, etc., etc.   I would like to see the operator
who can cut the anterior roots without injurinp-the posterior.] 
10
rather verified, namely—that of showing, uninjured, the posterior roots,
and proving  that they are motor, as fully as any other  part of the  ner-
vous system.   The twitchings  of the limbs were as distinct when these
roots  alone  were touched, or compressed, as when the cord  was
touched, and  the anterior  roots  torn.  After destroying and  scraping
away  the cord, the twitchings were as great as  ever; as when an
instrument was scraped along  the sides of the canal, so as to impinge
against the remnants of both sets of roots, where they emerge from the
canal;  while on descending, peripherally, from the canal, after the de-
struction of the cord,  the  twitchings became more distinct with every
removal from the centre.   Still more : after destroying every  visible
nerve, the muscles on being compressed gave twitchings, precisely sim-
ilar to those which had been excited through the nerves.]
   At 25 minutes to 11, the sciatic nerve was exposed, the animal mov-
ing the hind  legs as the knife  divided the muscles.   At the same time
the two musk glands were dissected from the lower jaw, during which
the fore legs moved voluntarily.  Next  the  chest and  abdomen were
laid open,  during which all parts, except the head, moved voluntarily,
particularly the  fore  legs, which  continued a  pawing motion.  The
heart was slowly dilating and contracting.   At  10 M.,  to 11, the lungs
were  artificially inflated, when the  heart assumed a more powerful ac-
tion, and the  animal exhibited  signs of coming to life.   The throat di-
lated, the  animal attempting to breathe of his own accord, and the head
and legs moved.  The sciatic  nerve being   tied,  on pinching it  gently
below the ligature, the limb contracted as often  as the  experiment was
made.
   [In this, as in all other experiments, irritation  or the pinching of a
nerve in any  part of its course, produced no effect upon the proximal or
inner part of the nerve, nor on the muscles, whether the connection
with the cord were preserved or severed, affording an invariable physio-
logical law precisely opposite to that laid down in the most recent works
on physiology : Messrs. Kirke and Paget, say for example, "that when
the distal portion  of the divided nerve is irritated, no  effect appears."
(Phys. 289.)   "No muscular action follows irritation of the  posterior
roots."  (Morton's Anat. 508.)  In this, but far more in many other ex-
periments, it  is proved that sundry divisions of the cord  and of the plex-
uses and ganglions of the  sympathetic, do  not   prevent sensation  and
voluntary motion, all parts of the body acting in  concert for a common
end, simultaneously, intelligencially.   Here, again, the newest and best
works repeat, that " the cerebellum is the regulator  of the locomotive 
11
 actions ;"  (Todd on the Brain, <S_c.)  a proposition  quite  incompatible
 with the phenomena already enumerated.]
   Search being made for "lymphatic hearts," none were found.  (Here
 Dr. Ely's notes end.)

   A few minutes after  noon, the gentlemen having gone  up  stairs to
 take some  refreshments, I continued the experiments.   I repeatedly in-
 flated the lungs, for perhaps half an  hour, without any marked effect.
 The death of all the tissues appeared  to be going  on with progressive
 but unusual rapidity.  The action of the heart declined  perceptibly.  I
 ascertained that the swelling of the larynx, noticed in Dr. Ely's notes,
 was not owing to an effort of the animal to breathe, but was caused by
 a regurgitation of  the  air that had been forced through  the' artificial
 opening in the trachea,  made for the  inflating process,  and  which  did
 not readily escape  through the small glottidian slit of the larynx.
   At 1, P. M., Dr.  Ely rejoined me, at which time the twitching of the
 limbs, from irritation of the nerves and muscles, continued unimpaired
 At half past 1, P. M., the experiments having ceased, the animal was
 placed under the hydrant, and irrigated for  half an hour, and then it
 was immersed in a saturated solution of salt, for anatomical examina-
 tion.
   I regret that a want of space prevents me from inserting, in exlenso,
 a recent communication, kindly sent me from  the  elegant pen of Dr.
 Dalton.  The  following extract will be read with  interest:   " Lieute-
 nant, now Capt. John C. Casey, U. S. A., and myself  were  walking
 (I think it  was in 1830) near the shore of Lake Pontchartrain,  some
 half a mile  westward of the  Fort, when we saw an  alligator, four or
 five feet long.  We captured him, and then  I proceeded to open and
 eviscerate the entire contents of the thoracic and abdominal cavities   His
 heart, which we took to our quarters, continued its double action of sys-
 tole and diastole for hours.   From  24 to 26  hours after, I found the
 alligator alive, and  when I approached him  and touched him with a
 stick, he made a vigorous fight at me."
   Having given a faithful detail of the two most   recent experiments
 that I have made, may I not  be indulged with a few remarks, more or
 less elucidatory of the general doctrines which they suggest ?
   It is admitted that alligators, from their anatomical conformation and
 psychical endowments,  are better adapted for physiological experiment
than any animal of the cold-blooded  class—a  class most  relied on for
 these purposes, because their tenacity of life admits of a prolonged ex-
amination—a thorough analysis  and separation of organs, and conse- 
12
quently a  satisfactory appreciation  of functions.   All that  can be ob-
jected against  these experiments, then, as illustrations of comparative
physiology, applies a fortiori, to animals that are  less analogous to
man.*  That a double section of the  spinal cord, cervical and dorsal;
that the removal of the  nerve trunks of the limbs, and the destruction
of the sympathetic  nerve, would not remove all traces of sensation and
voluntary motion in man, I am not prepared to deny.  Nor am I fully
prepared to take  the affirmative, with all the assurance that precise ex-
periment and careful observation  could possibly supply.  I have, indeed,
observed in some warm-blooded animals, that  the trunk, after decapita-
tion,  manifests for  a short time  both of these fundamental functions,
while, I  have  observed for  hours, in human subjects after apparent
death, so  many physiological phenomena,  which I once thought impos-
sible, that I am prepared to believe a good deal more.     *     *    *
   In man, paralysis of sensation  and motion often rapidly follow certain
lesions of the nervous system, while at the same  time these same  func-
tions may survive,  in other cases of injuries of a very extensive and de-
structive kind;  moreover,  in a very  great number  of instances, these
functions are lost, without leaving any trace of disorganization discover-
able by the morbid  anatomist.
  The prevalent  theory of the nervous system is not only erroneous in
itself, physiologically and  pathologically considered, but it is,  it may
reasonably  be supposed,  mischievous in practice.  Muscular diseases
are called and treated as nervous, and although in  many cases the treat-
ment is right, the supposed cure of the nerves is  probably referable to
the muscular system, in  which the morbid actions often are as evident
as  any facts can be, as in cramps, tetanus, hiccup, subsultus, chorea,
convulsions, hydrophobia,  hysteria, epilepsy, abortion, tenesmus, para-
lysis, stricture,  rigidity,  spasmodic contractions, strabismus, wry-neck,
&c.  How all these, and many  other kindred diseases, which present

  * The psychical  and personal history of alligator No. 2, familiarly called Zip
Coon, lor two years, I may on a future occasion publish,  showing his habits.
passions, seeming power of fascination, and most of ull, his apparent foresight
nl. and new contrivances against, the two extraordinary cold spells of the last
winter.  Happier than the  Crocodilcc of the sacred  Ganges, the classic Nile, or
(lie turbid Mississippi, instead of dragging a useless life for centuries  in the
swamps, he died in the cause of physiology.
             Happy ! to whom this glorious death  arrives.
             More to be valued than a thousand lives !
             On such a theatre as this to die,
             For such a cause.                            Wallei:. 
LI
 material phenomena or symptoms in the muscular organs, can be seen
 in the nervous centres, or in the periphery, especially in those multitudi-
 nous cases where no changes can be detected, either symptomatically
 or anatomically, before or after death, would seem a more extravagant
 pretension than that of clairvoyance itself, as the latter only  affects to
 see  what is.   The neurologists of our day, not satisfied with  the Culle-
 nian nosology, which assigns to the class of Neuroses, or nervous dis-
 eases, a formidable host  of species (" quel nombre  prodigieux d'ene-
 mis !"), but they would add even our epidemics, as yellow fever, to the
 catalogue !
               Hamlet.  Nothing is
                   But what is not.

   It is not intended, however, to dwell, in this place, upon the patholo-
 gical method of illustrating physiology.
   Revenons a nos Crocodiles.  As to the above mentioned vivisections
 especially No. 1,  it may be safely affirmed that so far as the natural
 language of brutes can be accredited as defining consciousness, feeling,
 volition, purpose, and  self-determining motions, nothing  is dubious—
 nothing unsatisfactory—nothing to be  desiderated.   Explanation may
 exhaust itself—expositors may  dread and reject unwelcome consequen-
 ces.   The central sensorialist may rail at all parts of the system except
 the nervous, as being unfit for the soul's seat—as unfit for knowing, will-
 ing,  feeling  and acting.   He  can believe most steadfastly in an un-
 known, unfelt spot in brain, which he  calls the sensorium, to which
 all the residue of the system, even  the nervous, is but a mere passive
 conductor; he finds no difficulty  in  believing  in a nervous circle, in
four  distinct, yet wholly hypothetical sets of nerves,  a double set, the
 sensori-volitional, and yet  another double set, the excito-motor !   But
 on the other  hand, how obstinately can he  disbelieve that the mind, or
 psychical entity,  can, by  any possibility, occupy the  muscles, or take
 even a temporary  refuge  in them, after the destruction of the nerves,
 although the former surpass the latter in delicacy and exquisiteness of
 organization, in adaptational contrivance, and in well  developed finality,
 almost as  much as a race horse surpasses an oyster in the locomotive
 apparatus !
   It may be further remarked, that the analogies of  Nature—develop-
 mental, progressive, comparative,  physiological and anatomical, so far
 from teaching that the nervous skeleton is the  sole starting  point, the
 fundamental  type of life and voluntary motion, teach  just the  contrary.
 Natun*  travels far,  surmounts  innumerable  physiological  obstacles, 
14
 mounts high in  the scale of organization, and achieves motiferous and
 sensiferous  systems,  before she admits a nervous system at  all.   In
 plants, and in certain animals wholly destitute of nerves, both motion
 and sensibility exist in various degrees.
   Plants sleep, wake, move, contract, and possess a kind  of sensibility,
 without having a nervous system.  Irritation, pinching, pricking, a drop
 of acid, an unaccustomed heat,  or the  slightest  touch, will suffice to *
 cause some  plants to move.  In  a  word, says  Dutrochet,  they  will
 comport themselves as animals would  in like case :   " En un mot, la
 feuille se comporte comme le ferait, en pareil cas, un animal qui serait
 averti par ses sensations de l'actuelle d'une cause excitante sur ses or-
 ganes."   (Mem. surles Vigtlaux.  Tom. 1. 538. Art. xi. De  l'excita-
 bilite vegetale et des mouvemens dont elle est la  source.)   The mimosa
pudica, (Lin.) or sensitive plant, affords an example of vegetable, anal.
 ogous to animal contractility, being wholly independent of nerves.  A
 violent impression produces greater contraction of the plant, and a more
 rapid exhaustion of its contractile  force  than a slight one.  During the
 repose  of the plant, this force  is renewed.   Some  plants are  easily
 poisoned.   Here identity, rather than mere analogy, is obvious.
   A greater error in  physiology never  prevailed  than that now almost
 universally recognized as a fundamental truth, namely, that the  whole
 of man, his entire Ens  is but  a bundle  of conducting nerves, or rather
 a minute unknown sensorial spot or  centre.   If teleology, or the doc-
 trine of final causes, as explained  by exquisite organization, by unmis-
 takable adaptation, by the harmonious union of means and  ends, and
 by physiological anatomy, be  regarded, then the muscular may, in at
 least several respects, claim precedence over the  nervous  system.  The
 latter is not, as  it  has been seen, even   the essential condition  of life,
 much less is it life itself, its entire ontology.  Nor is it  proved to be
 the whole of man ; nor his sole psychical entity and  instrument.  In
 the human subject recently dead, the nerves exercise no  influence for
 or against muscular contraction.   The latter  being both active and in-
dependent.
  The  motions  above described,  be  it remembered, had not a single
 characteristic strictly  "  automatic," the  pertinacious and pernicious as-
 sertions of celebrated book-makers (and certain automatic critics, who
 always  think with the  celebrated)  to  the contrary notwithstanding.
 Even though an author  were a Nardac of the Empire,  (the highest and
 most celebrated of all titles known in Lilliput) this would not give  va-
 lidity to opinions in physiology, while direct  experiments  prove  these 
15
opinions to  be erroneous.   The  Academician  who  proposed to  build
houses  from above downwards, would be a fit companion for those the-
orists who thrust in the words  "automatic," "reflex,"  "instinctive," and
so  on, as a good explanation of the phenomena  which I have  so  often
described as occurring in animals after  decapitation—after sections  of
the cord—after the removal of the nervous trunks—after the destruction
of the sympathetic system—after the removal of the viscera.   Not only
so ; the word  " automatic"  is as much  applicable to the composition of
the Iliad, or the movements of a dancer, as it can be to those functional
contractions, flexions, and extensions, which  I have observed in an al-
most countless number of experiments, made directly upon human  sub-
jects, soon after the infallible signs of ordinary, not physiological death,
had taken place.   These,  more numerous, curious and instructive, than
any I have observed in vivisection properly so called, are the very re-
verse of " automatic" or mechanical motion, and clearly overthrow the
received theories of the  nervous system—of the  reflex action of the
cord, and of the spinal roots.*  Although I have published many of these
experiments, and many of the purely physiological laws thence derived,
the tenth part  has  not yet been  told.   The muscular system (not  to
name  the co-ordinate  functions, as  the capillary, calorific, &c.)  pre-
sents, in these experiments,  many curious laws, in relation to the incre-
ment, decrement, temporary decline, regeneration, persistence, injuries
and general conduct of its forces, which, though very variable, admit
nevertheless, of scientific  classification  into groups.
  * Bell describes the motions produced by irritating the posterior or so called
motory roots, as barely visible to the natural eye.  Magendie says they are but
slightly marked—'«Ces contractions sont cependent peu marquees," being, as
he says, infinitely weaker than those resulting from  the touching of the cord
itself-  Neither of these experimenters appear to have known, that after the
destruction of these roots, the motions augmented towards the periphery, from
irritating the trunk of the nerve, and even  from irritating the muscles after the
removal of the nerves.  Of course, these facts are completely subversive of
the theories which these gentlemen have deduced from their experiments upon
the spinal roots, not to name the reflex theory, more recently revived  and advo-
cated by others. 
 
17
   To refuse to publish facts  because they will not be believed, was regarded
by  Dr. Samuel  Johnson  as downright meanness  and cowardice.   The  facts
related concerning the vivisection No.  1, upon the 6th of May,  indicate re-
sults, (as clearly as experiments can do) which were as unexpected to me as
they can be to any person whatsoever.   But I relate facts  only, regardless of
their  agreement or  disagreement with  received  theories—regardless  of my
inability to explain them  so as to form a system.   The honest upbraidings and
naive chidings of some of my correspondents, tend, in some degree, to make m<*
think that possibly I may deserve the compliment, though intended  as a  cen-
sure, conveyed in  the following passage in a recent letter  from a friend : "J
never could find what doctrine you want to establish—whether any or not."  I
certainly never expected to establish the doctrine that an eviscerated  animal,
having  the spinal  cord divided in the cervical and dorsal regions, and having,
also, the nerves  cut away from all its limbs, would still continue  to manifest
both  sensation and voluntary  motion !   In  former experiments, I  had,  with
one or two exceptions noticed, that although mere sections of the cord did not
destroy these fundamental functions, yet complete  longitudinal  destruction of
that structure  extinguished these phenomena almost instantly.  The closing
experiments in No. 1, consisted of this complete but gradual destruction of the
cord, which the animal was fully aware of, following, as  it  did with its  feet.
the parts disentegrated !   Now, although it is unwarrantable to assume ana-
tomical structures in order to establish  a doctrine upon a sure foundation, such
provisional assumptions  are sometimes allowable as hypotheses,  several of
which I suggest as possible explanations of the above mentioned experiments.
Taking  for granted, as  proved .by decapitation, that sensation can exist inde-
pendently of the brain;*  taking for granted that the sensoriumis diffused, nay.
even  intensified  in  the periphery; admitting, provisionally, that the muscles ar«
wholly devoid of sensation, still the spinal cord, though  divided into  segments,
appears  essential  to sensation  and self-determined motion.  How  then can
these  several spinal segments be connected with the periphery, in the absence
of the great nervous trunks which go to the limbs ?  If we suppose the exist-
ence of anastomosing  interlacements along the sides of the animal, originat-
ing with or implanted on  the spinal nerves, and, perhaps, connected also  with
the great sympathetic system, here will be a communication  of a very general
character, though  not visible to the naked eye.  It is easy to decapitate ; but it
is not possible, in the short period to which  a vivisection must be restricted, to
remove all the  ganglions, plexuses, and branches of the sympathetic system—
a system that morbid action and vivisection prove to be endowed with sensation
—a system, in which each ganglion is"regarded by Bichat and most other  phy-
siologists as being a distinct centre.   Hence, from the inextricable meshes of
  * Sensation is no mire the property of a special spot in the centre exclusively, than
vitality  is.   Parts of  the human body, as noses, ears,fingers, and soon, after having
been separated from the general system for hours, have retained an independent vital -
ity and been re-united ; while, in other cases, particularly in Oriental couutrioe, sur-
geons have restored lost parts in one person by taking parts from another.
                                     3 
18
  this system, as well as from the spinal, countless numbers of nerves may per-
  vade the substance of the muscles and become instruments of sensation, not-
  withstanding the destruction  of  the great nerve trunks sent  to the limbs.
  Small portions  of these nerves in the intervertebral foramina and a short dis-
  tance beyond, were not removed.  Hence, some branches may pass ofFlaterally
  that would not be included in the plexuses.

    The  experiments in No.  1, differed in manner  from,  and extended  beyond,
  former  experiments, without contradicting them.  But  sciolists may exclaim
  —what has all this  to do with  human physiology ?  Are alligators like men ?
  Not exactly.   I have acknowledged the difference upon  former occasions, per-
  haps to an unwarrantable extent.*   I have a better right to the benefit of the
  objection than these gentlemen, because they profess  to follow the celebrated
  Carpenter, Todd, Bowman, Hall, and others, who, in their latest and most ela-
  borate works, insist that the cold-blooded  animals are the most  reliable ones
  for physiological experiments :  Messrs.  Todd and Bowman, in their most ex-
  cellent  work,now in the course of publication,  namely,  "Physiological Anat-
  omy and Physiology of Man," say " That the  nervous force endures much
  anger in the  cold-blooded animals"—" On  this  account the  cold-blooded animals
  must be selected for exhibiting the phenomena"—a proposition which Prof. Car-
  penter iterates  and re-iterates,  particularly in his learned work, " Physiology,
  General and  Comparative," just republished  in this country.   Now, if dissent-
  ing gentlemen were more consistent in  their objections, their  logic would be
  none the worse for their philosophical  reputation.  If they  can believe that
  European frogs and  turtles  illustrate human physiology, why  should they re-
 ject the  Crocodilus Mississippiensis, albeit, the  wisest, biggest, and most per-
  fect beast of  the cold-blooded class, as the physiologists of the  old world have
 the justice to  acknowledge ?  Does the original  curse against reptilians apply
 to the alligator only, so as to render it unfit for physiological experiments ?  It
 is evident that it was not the reptile which deceived Eve ;  for it does nut " go
 upon its belly all the days of its life."  It walks on four legs !   The curse that
 clings to it is  that of being  a native American and not a European !   Verily
 an  Alligator «• hath no honor in his own country,"! although anatomically and

  ■* A foreign  critic, in 1847, who  intended to do me all possible damage, speaks on
 this wise : "Can  any one, we  ask, entertain a doubt that,  the  conditions being  the
 same, the consequences would be the sain* in  man, with a spinal centre constructed
 upon essentially similar principles  to that of reptiles and animals?  If such kind of
 «tridi-nce  be rejected, physiology must return to its very infancy,  for, with few excep-
tious, little or nothing can  be learnt, strange us it may sound to some ears, of  human
physiology from  observations  restricted exclusively  to man."  A  Dutch Governor
 tried to please all, but finding  that imposs.ble, determined  to hear only  one  side of
 every case, as  he found that hearing both side* not only confused his mind, but gave
 the trouble of changing the first opinion and  forming a new  one!

    Have the anti-crocodiiians  forgot that the classical history  of this  I?epti!i_n is
:.:,v. ii;:.'>:uble?   'that it waa  the symbol  or hie:oglypf.ical lepiesentative  of the 
19
physiologically he combines to a greater extent than any other single animal
the essential  types characterizing the vertebrata and articulata, approaching
birds and mammals on the one side, and rising above  the  fishes, worms and
mollusks on the other.. Can the resistance-men  prove that crocodilian diges-
tion, absorption, sanguification, nutrition, secretion, circulation, volition,motion,
hearing, seeing  and  feeling,  are altogether different in  nature,  not simply  in
degree, from  those functions  in man ?   Take  the  strongest  example of con-
trast, namely, the tenacity of life in the  saurian: because  life persists longer
in the latter than in the former, after extensive injuries,  does it follow that the
vital actions  of the one are essentially different in nature as well as in degree
from the other ?
   Can any unprejudiced and  enlightened mind, upon a careful review of the
above mentioned experiments, and  many others which I have made and pub-
lished,  reconcile them with the following statements?—statements founded
almost entirely upon Sir C. Bell's experiments—which  experiments Bell said
were but very few, and even  these few he had no confidence in, as he emphati-
cally declares!  Todd and Bowman say : ''The anterior  root of each spinal
nerve  is motor—the posterior sensitive.   The  irritation of the latter gives rise
to no muscular action.  Comparative anatomy  confirms this conclusion among
all classes of vertebrate animals.  The  origin of a double  root denotes a dou-
ble function.   The union of theenchephalon with the spinal cord is necessary
for voluntary motion and  for  sensation."
mighty Typhon, the slayer of the famous god Osiris, who was the brother and hus-
band of Isis, and father of the " ever living, resplendent Horus, the beneficent deity?"
At the city of crocodiles, Arsinoe, this sacred saurian was worshipped the most de-
vo Jtly, whether living or dead, in the days of the Pharaohs.