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Entered according to act of Congress, in the jseay \$5t6, by, Benjamin Haskell, M. D., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. ESSAY I. INTRODUCTORY. Tuk doctrine of the existence of certain specific vital endowments, by which the functions appertaining to the nerves and nervous centres are performed, has long been considered as established in physiology; and its influence may be traced in the vast prcrjondcruncc of the nervous system, over other organic sys- tems and tissues, in the minds of all writers on the subject. There is scarcely a vital change or process, which takes place within the body, scarcely a mode of ac- tivity of the mind, which has not at some time or other been referred to some particular nerve, part of a nerve, or nervous centre, as it* inherent cause. Se- cretion, muscular contractility, circulation, respiration, and even nutrition, have all, at one time or another, been supposed to derive their power from this source. There arc few di.seases Avhich do not owe their virulence and danger to the mode in which they affect certain properties of the brain, spinal marrow, or the organ- ic nervous system. There are few remedies which do not exhibit a vital affinity for some one of the same properties. Animal magnetism is discredited because there is no nerve leading from the magnetizer to the magnetized. Embryotic influences are disbelieved, because a similar connection exists not between the mother and the foetus in utero. Sympathy cannot be conceived to take place between parts or organs, where there is no nervous medium of communication. Whatever is unexplained in physiology or pathology, is supposed to depend on some occult power of the nervous system. For as its open and admitted powers border on infinity, no limit can be assigned to the number of those which are bid. The spinal marrow-has its reflex function; the medulla oblongata its res- piratory and deglutitory function. The ganglia at the base of the brain are the seats of sensation, instinct, and emotion. The cerebellum has the power of co- ordinating muscular motions. The cerebrum has its automatic actions, which, according to the latest and most popular version of this physiology, comprises nearly all the functions of the soul, leaving out, in short, nothing but the will, which, owing to some peculiar obstinacy of its own, will not come into the cate- gory. All the forms of thought pa-s, by a mutation of words, through " idea- tion" into "cerebration." " Those processes," says Carpenter, " called into ac- tivity by sensorial changes—varying from the simple act of perception to the highest operations of intellectual power—consisting also in the play of fancy and imagination, and including those active states known as passions, emotions, mor- 4 IXlRODtCTORY. al feelings, sentiments, &c, must be regarded as essentially automatic in their nature, and as the manifestations of the reflex activity of the cerebrum." The belief in such a wonderful array of powers inherent in an organic system could not obtain, without leading to the most searching investigation into the an- atomical structure and physiological action of the part thus endowed. Anato- mists would naturally seek to know what were the peculiar configurations, and collocations of parts, of the brain, that adapted it, by its reflex activity, to pro- dutfc thought, emotion, moral feelings, &c; while physiologists would look, if possible, at the play of the machinery in living operation, to divine the moving powers when perception takes place, or fancy is called into exercise, or search into the causes of the spontaneous combustion by which the steam is evolved, when dire hatred or revenge rules the hour. But, unfortunately, the success of such researches has not been commensurate with the efforts expended. The brain has been bisected, dissected and vivisected ; it has been sliced, horizontally, per- pendicularly, transversely and diagonally ; but the radiant crystal which is des- tined to shine forth, when its true cleavage is struck, like the gem of Gray's ele- gy, yet lies in a dark and unfathomable cave. Its tissue has been unravelled, and its fibres have been traced with diligent minuteness throughout their various ramifications and decussations ; but the thread which guides through the laby- rinth, where soul unites with body, cannot be laid hold of. The scalpel and the microscope have both done then utmost. Dogs, rabbits, Guinea pigs, horses and asses, have been tortured into martyrdom, by a modern scientific inquisition, but the responses wrung from these torture; have been exceedingly vague and unsat- isfactory. Every prominence on the surface of the brain, every groove and fissure, has received some high-sounding Greek or Latin name. The scholastic period of its physiology most certainly has been attained. "We have learned disquisitions on the cortical and medullary structure, on the vesicular and tubular portion, on the gelatinous and tubular fibre, on the axis cylinder and primitive band. But no connection, chemical, artistical or mechanical—no adaptation between the structure, and the wonderful functions that are said to grow out of it—has ever been traced. To the unsophisticated eye, the brain, when opened into, appears mysteriously simple and homogeneous. It looks in vain for a reason why its cortical and tubular portions should have any more complexity of function than the cortical and tubular portion of the kidneys. " The telescope that sees, is not there; the whispering gallery that hears, is not there ; the cabinet so nicely framed as to remember," the loom on which the web of thought is woven, the cauldrons in which human passions effervesce, do not reveal themselves. In the language of the popular physiologist above quoted, if we admit with him that the brain is the fount and origin of all intellectual activity, we must also admit that » sensation, thought, emotion and volition, are changes inappre- ciable to our senses by any means of observation which we at present possess "— language which, though sufficiently despairing for the day and generation, holds out the hope that hi the progress of the mechanic arts, some ingenious instru- ment may be invented, which will bring these singular processes into relation with either sight, hearing, touch, taste or smell. Notwithstanding, however, this apparent want of success in discovering any connection between the structure and vital actions of the brain, and these sup- INTRODUCTORY. 5 posed vital properties, there seems to be a general acquiescence in the opinion, that great and important discoveries have been made, since this method of inves- tigation was adopted. "We hear, on all sides, of the great advances that have been made in nervous physiology. So well satisfied are some of the leading phy- siologists of (ireat Britain of the value and permancy of these additions to our knowledge, that they begin to discuss the meed of honor that should be awarded to those who have had a share in bringing them about. We have even the hkh authority of Sir Win. Hamilton, that the results of Sir Charles Bell's investiga- tions are beyond the risk of refutation. One can hardly repress a smile at the complacency with which Dr. Carpenter acknowledges the credit due to the con- tinental physiologists for furnishing details, while he attributes to himself and his insular confreres, every material step in advance, of the general doctrines of the science. France, Germany and Italy have, it seems, produced the lumber- men and brickmakers, and through them the rough materials ; while England claims the Carpenters, and other artificers, by whose handy work the building is " fitly framed and joined together." No son of New England would wantonly disinherit himself, by detracting from the just fame that belongs to the land of his ancestors. We claim an hereditary right, even the right of primogeniture, in all her honors, scientific and literary, as well as those won by flood and field, past, present, and to come. But in the present case, if we should barter our birthright for a mess of pottage, Esau would have the advantage of Jacob. Our portion of laurels won in the reseaiches into the reflex and automatic powers of the brain and nervous system, is about on a par with our interest in the celebrated discoveries of Sir John Herschell in the natural history of the moon, which made so much stir in the papers a few years since. * To be serious,—in the face of the authority of these eminent men, who hold by the ear, the one the philosophical, the other the physiological world, I believe that it can be established, that while facts and details have accumulated, they alone constitute all the progress that has been made; that not a step has been ta- ken in advance, in the general doctrines of the science, since the time of Sir Charles Bell; that even his supposed discovery was, instead of a step in advance, a step aside ; that, by placing what was, in reality, an attribute of mind, in a nerve, as a vis iiisila, and recognizing but a part of a truth as a whole, he has given a tangental impulse to the course of investigation, which has kept it off the track ever since. By endowing the anterior columns of the spinal marrow with a motor power, and the posterior columns with a sensitive power, he sanctioned and gave the chief impetus to subsequent inquiries into the reflex and automatic powers of the brain, ganglia and spinal cord, and the vital endowments of the nerves generally. If the mind or spiritual principle, as a real potential essence, active in the body, is lost sight of in these inquiries, it has been owing, in a great.measure, to the influence of his authority. There are but two methods of considering the nature and office of the nervous system in the human body, which present any claim to consistency in themselves, or any analogy to the forms of knowledge. Either all mental affections must be supposed to inhere in, and to depend on, vital endowments of nerves, or the sup- •The reader will doubtless recollect the moon hoax, which appeared in one of the New York papers in connection with this distinguished name, and which im- posed on certain savans even. g INTROPrCTORY. posed vital endowments of nerves are another name for mental powers or activi- ties, associated with the physical activities of nerves. According to the former of these views, it is by virtue of a specific vital endowment of the optic nerve, that when light is impressed on the retina Ave arc affected with the sensation of color ; by a similar emdo-vvmcnt of the auditory, -when the vibrations of the air reach the internal ear, we are affected with the sensations of sound ; another of the olfac- torv, to which we owe the sensations of odor ; a fourth endowment of the gusta- tory, to which Ave oavc the sensations of taste; a fifth, imparted to the nerves distributed to the skin and the posterior part of the spinal marroAv. gives the sensations of touch. The nerves that go to the muscles, and the anterior portion of the spinal marrow, haA'C a motor endoAvment by which the muscles are con- tracted ; Avhile the central portion has its reflex endowment. The poAver of breathing and the poAver of sAvalloAving are inherent properties of the medulla ob- longata. And as all these sensations of sight, hearing, taste, &c, are as much affections of mind, as thoughts, emotions and passions, and since no connection betAveen the structure or vital actidns of the nerves and these sensations can be traced or even conceived; the mechanical relations in AA'hich indeed they differ, being such as are accommodated to the physical causes acting upon them from without; it is perfectly consistent and legitimate to transpose this reasoning to the brain and the mind in its higher faculties. The brain being a huge conge- ries of nerves of the same character as those of the superficies, any number of vi- tal endoAvments may be predicated of it; and as the brain is not directly operated on by external or mechanical causes, there is no need of a mechanical division into parts distinct to the senses, as in the former case, in order that the analogy may hold. Not merely, then, is sensation, thought, volition, judgment, memory, imagination, Avith the passions and propensities, referable to A-ital powers or en- dowments of parts of the brain, but all the phrenological faculties Avith their craniological organs, coupled Avith all the additions that the phreno-mesmerizers have made, are perfectly consistent with this philosophy. A moment's reflection must satisfy any one that this doctrine is neither more nor less than materialism. If all the mental affections, from sensation up to thought, (and there is no stopping point from the admission of one to the admis- sion of the Avhole,) are dependent on properties of nerves or of the brain, to suppose the existence of mind, soul, or spiritual principle, capable of sen- sation, feeling or thought, is superfluous. "We have no use for it in connec- tion with the body, nor can Ave conceive of its enduring after death. When the nerves and brain crumble to dust, those vital endowments, dependent on then- organizations, disappear along with them. Yet materialistic as it is, this is the doctrine generally acquiesced in by the medical profession throughout this coun- try and the Avorld. The physiological Avorks in Avhich it is set forth, are those Avhich are most strongly recommended by the medical professor to his class, in every school, and by the medical journals to the profession at large. Nor does the evil end here. Compilations from these works are fast being introduced in- to our seminaries of learning, and even into our common schools. So that, among the many neAv and spontaneous developements, Avhich spring up from the pres- ent hot-bed cultivation of the minds of our youth, the next generation bids fair to exhibit in its full maturity, the growth of the principle that the brain thinks. To lay the axe at the root of the tree, that brings forth such fruit, is therefore a INTRODUCTORY. 1 measure required by the best moral interests of society, as Avell as by medical science. The origin of the prevalent doctrine, is to be ascribed to the universal tenden- cy to alloAv the facts derived from sensible observation, to preponderate over those Avhich are revealed by consciousness. So great is this tendency, as mani- fested by physiologists, that they not only are found to explain the latter by phy- sical analogies as a general thing, but frequently suffer them to be crowded out of vieAV entirely—not estimating them at all, —in phenomena where they play at least, as important a part as the former. It is also much heightened by the influ- ence of a false logical principle, which though again and again exploded, stiD meets Avith advocates in high quarters, and is ever thrust forth with the captious phrases, "experience," " practical," " positive method," to fetter thought, and to keep it cramped within scientific splints. Physiology is a science where, in the functions of animal life, if not in those of organic, we can clearly recognize these two great classes of facts to meet, and to blend together. The phenomena are therefore not physical, nor mental, but mixed. The first step in the im-esti- gation of such a phenomenon is, to refer all the facts which presents the character- istics of a physical nature, to physical causes acting in accordance with physical laws ; and those Avhich resemble mental operations, to mental causes and mental laAvs. It is only, as Ave are thus able to refer events to then causes, that Ave can understand then true bearing and import and make any advance in knowledge. We must connect the cause through its laAV, rule, or mode of operation, Avith the effect, not through simple antecedence and consequence. Indeed, we have need to do this, in order to determine, often, which is the immediate antecedent, and Avhich the consequent in such cases. Nor can we, in any other way, satisfy the idea of efficiency, or power, which Ave instinctively carry Avith us, both as a guide to the discovery, and as a test of what is the true cause. Thus, of the tAVo antecedents of day, night and sunrise, Ave decide that the latter is the cause of day, because Ave know that it produces light, which is the essential element of day ; that is, there is an efficiency in this phenomenon to give rise to day. In the light of the principles now indicated, I Avish to present to the consider- ation of all interested in this important subject, what I am unAvilling to estimate as any thing less, than a tAvo-fold refutation of the views generally entertained in regard to the nervous system. I propose to disprove them, by presenting a view of the connection betAveen the mind and the nervous system, founded on the plain and obvious powers and laws of the former, as revealed by conscious- ness ; acting by means of the simple and natural properties, which spring from the structure of the latter : and by shoAving, in contrasting it with the prevail- ing theory founded on the doctrine of vital endowments of nerves, that, while it accounts for every fact Avhich that accounts for, it accounts for many, which a true system ought to explain, but which the one in question does not reach, and others again, Avhich are in direct contradiction of it. These Avill comprise the most important facts in the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the ner- A-ous system. I shall farther confirm this disproof, by pointing out various er- rors, inconsistencies, and absurdities, into Avhich the most ingenious minds have been led by adopting and folloAving out this theory. In the second place, I shall endeavor to prove that, though the theory just mentioned, gave a tolerable account of the facts, so unphilosophical is the nature 8 IDEA OF THE NERVOUS 8T9TEM. of the assumptions, and so imperfect is the positive evidence brought forward in support of the idea of vital properties, that no good reason exists, why we should regard them as really existing. IDEA OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. In order to prepare the way, to appreciate the office of the nervous system in its simplicity, the mind must be divested of the influence of certain terms and phrases, Avhich in neurological Avorks, serve to mystify the subject, if they have not their counterparts in nature. The expressions " nervous poAver," " nervous force," " nervous influence," stand for an idea extremely vague and floating in the minds of those that use them. And as to the existence of an energy corres- ponding to this idea, physiology has about the same ground for belieA'ing it, that chemistry had for belieA'ing in the principle of phlogiston, before the discovery of oxygen. So the terms " afferrent" and " efferrent," as implying some in- fluence, other than physical, transmitted from the periphery to the centre, and some still different influence, generated in the centre, and transmitted to the mus- cles, are irreleA'ant. The words " motor " and " sensitive " even, Avhen held to mean that the intrinsic action of a nerve connected with a muscle, is in any man- ner different from the intrinsic action of a nerve leading to a sensitive surface— as well as the Avords "reflex" and " automatic," Avhich, though of later origin, figure conspicuously in our standard Avorks, if they are intended to apply to any- thing more than a mere description of the phenomena, in reference to Avhich they are used, are of an apochryphal character. In like manner, such phrases as, "the brain is the organ of the mind," the seat of thought and «« will," and this or that " ganglion is the seat of instinct" or "emotion," howeA'er common and tongue-worn they have become, I consider an abuse of language. They are car- rying ideas, drawn from our knowledge of material things, into a province Avhere they have no relation. Bodies or things extended, have seats or localities in space ; but we have no more reason to suppose the spiritual principle to be locat- ed in the brain in thought, than Ave have to suppose it located in the stomach in digestion, in the gland in secretion, in the muscle in contraction, in the organ of sense in sensation—nay, I may add, in the external object in perception. The use of such language, in the works of our most popular Avriters, has had a tendency to exaggerate the office of the nervous system, and to depreciate the value of the spiritual principle. The supposed vital endoAvments have multiplied, and have successively encroached on the province of the mind, until its office in the body has become merely titular. We areata loss whether to call it a life membership, or a sinecure. Indeed, we are constrained to think that it is occa- sionally mentioned only to escape the odium theologicum. Such, it is not unchar- itable to suppose, is the motive, when we find an author simply statin- that by calling the brain the organ of the mind, he only means that it is the instrument through which the mind acts; and after having made this disclaimer, leaves the mmd, as Uncle Toby left his declaration of love, " to shift for itself," while he goes on, referring all the operations of the intellectual faculties, and all the mor- al feelings too, to the reflex and automatic powers of the brain In what I have to say, I shall consider the mind, or spiritual agent, not as a IDEA 07 THE NBRV0U8 SYSTEM. 9 theological abstraction, or a moral necessity, introduced into physiology as a dumb shoAv, but as the living, active, energizing principle, from the punctum Baliens, to the muscular rigidity that closes the scene. I hold, that in all the vi- tal as well as mental operations, this principle is primary and determinative, and organic structures are secondary and accessory; and the recognition of this activ- ity is absolutely necessary to a just appreciation of the phenomena that take place in the body, whether vital or mental, whether in health or in disease. I regard the nervous system as simple and uniform in its function, as in its structure ; that, like all the rest of the bodily organs, it is by virtue of its physi- cal properties, which are one and the same throughout all its homologous parts, it is of use in the body, and subserves the purposes of the mind. If ever it is proper to speak of vital properties, it is in relation to those activities by which its growth takes place, its integrity is maintained in health, and it is repaired in disease. But when it is formed, the nervous fibre, whether it is an attenuated cylinder containing fluid, or a solid, performs the same office whereA-er it is situ- ated, Avhether in the brain, spinal marrow, nerve of sense or of motion. And that office is precisely what its particular structure adapts it to perform. Such is evidently the teaching of analogy, reason and common sense. The same is true of the vesicular portion; whether it forms a ganglion at the point where the nerves that go to an organ of sensation, meet with those that proceed to the mus- cles which move that organ, or occupies the centre of the spinal cord, or is dis- tributed over the surface of the convolutions of the brain, we recognize nothing but an arrangement on physical principles by which arterial blood is brought into close relation with the nervous fibre ; and whatever is the natural effect of the action of arterial blood as it passes to the venous state, (in all probability a dynam- ic effect,) on the nervous fibre, that we are bound, by all the rules of right rea- soning, to consider the true and the only function of the vesicular portion. Noth- ing c&n be more absurd than to make a mere difference of form, where the same structure is brought into similar mechanical relations Avith another structure, a ground of difference in function, vital or otherwise. Of these physical properties of the nervous system, the mind aA'ails itself, in establishing its relations of sensibility and motility with the body. And it does this, not by associating its faculty of sensibility as a whole, or its faculty of mo- tility as a whole, Avith any part of the nervous system ; but particular sensations and classes of sensations, particular motions and combinations of motions, are as- sociated with the physical excitements of particular portions of the nervous sys- tem—a fact exemplified by the special senses, and the movements of respiration. These associations are incidental to ttoo fundamental and correlative laws or general principles, which regulate the union of the mind and the body. One of these principles is mental, the other physical. The first is, that mind governs the motions of the body as directed by sensations. The second is, that the organ on which the impression, giving rise to the guiding sensation, is made, (if not in immediate juxtaposition,) is connected by nerA-e with the muscle to be contract- ed in order to move the organ. These two principles, which 1 think can be shown to be universal facts, consti- tute the key to the true physiology of the nervous system. With reference to the first of them, it is assumed that the action of the mind, neither in its sensitive nor A-oluntary department, is limited to those feelings or those volitions, which 2 LO IDEA OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. it stops to register in consciousness and thus remembers, but extends to all those phenomena, Avhosc character of adaptation, and whose want of harmony with physical laAvs, prove them to be of the same mechanism, or else to lie in a sphere remote from the penetration of our faculties, and one not given us to explore. The object of the union of the muscle to be contracted Avith the sensitive or- gan, appears to me to be, to enable the mind to avail itself of the physical property of the nerve Avhereby the two organs arc brought, as it Avere, into apposition. Such would be the result, were Ave to suppose the physical quality of the nerve to be a poAver to receive and propagate minute impulses. Impressions from without would then be transmitted through the nerve and repeated on the muscular appa- ratus. And the attention of the mind, as held in sympathetic connection Avith the muscle, would be roused, just as it is, Avhen an impression is made directly on the muscle, hi any one of the peristaltic actions. All the forms of motion in the body are thus reduced to the same mcclianism ; and Ave arc spared that con- tradiction of the laAv of parcimony,* Avhich Ave make Avhen Ave attribute one set of motions to the direct action of impressions, and another to influences generat- ed in, and transmitted through, a nerve. In other words, the mind Avills to feel at one and the same moment, the muscle that contracts, and the sensation under the direction of which it contracts ; and it does this when the former is connect- ed Avith the sensitive organ either by nerve or immediate contiguity. In like manner, it corresponds Avith the same view, to suppose the office of the ganglion or vesicular matter to be, to unite in one the nervous fibres passing from A-arious surfaces of relation, as the muscles on one hand,, and the organs of sense on the other. This may be conceived to be accomplished by the action of the ar- terial blood as it becomes deoxygenated, giving rise to minute impulses Avhich excite a vibratory movement on the fibrils, and the interference of a new impres- sion Avith Avhich, is disseminated and felt throughout the whole mass. Thus the ganglion on the simple nervous cord may serve to unite the fibres that lead from the surface of touch of a segment, or small member, with the fibres that lead from the muscles that move that segment or member. The grey matter in the centre of the spinal marroAv, unites contiguous segments and organs in associated rela- tion, and that of the surface of the convolutions controls these minor centres, and unites in one all the nerves distributed to all the voluntary muscles and to all the organs of sense. Whether this be the true office of the blood in the grey matter, or not, one thing is pretty evident, viz., that the blood generates nothing, Avheth- er in the form of electricity, nervous power, or nervous influence, Avhich is trans- mitted to the muscles. For Avhen a nerve has been separated from its ganglionic connections some time, it Avill,when irritated, occasion contraction in the muscle to Avhich it leads ; a fact which proves that the ganglionic centre must act on some property already existing in the nerve, and affords nothing to the medullary fibre which it had not before. Thus, the conclusion Ave come to, is that while the nerve fibre connects the or- gans of sense Avith the muscle ; the ganglion connects the different fibres from a number of points of a sensitive surface, Avith fibres leading to a number of mus- cles. Were there but a single organ of sense, and a single muscle to be contract- *This term is happily assigned by Sir Wm. Hamilton to the old law "that no more causes are to be introduced, than will account for the effects in philoso- IDEA OF THE NEBV0U8 SYSTEM. 11 ed in consequence of sensations arising from impressions, on that organ of sense, the two Avould be united by a nerve without a ganglion. This conclusion, which establishes the uniformity of action of the nervous system, prepares the way for an investigation of the mode in which nature builds up the nervous system, and associates the poAvers of the mind with it. In the lower classes of animals, we find that motions take place, and the ner- vous system begins to be developed in connection with impressions made on the sense and surface of touch. The organs of the specific senses, and consequently the motioiT- arising from impressions made on them, are of later origin. In these primitive motions, Ave may distinguish those, in which the part on which the im- pression is made, moves, from those in Avhich is involved other parts, neighboring or more distant, or in short, the whole body. They are more perfect in then- character, more direct, and more easily performed. We are justified, then, in as- suming that these motions are primary, and that the mind extends its power from part to part until it acquires control over the whole. In those smaller portions, members, or segments, avc find that nerves connect the surface on which tactile impressions are made, with the muscles that move that part or member, a ganglion being intermediate. We therefore in'or that this ganglion and this nerve are for the motions of this part. And so with other parts. But when a neighboring part requires to be moA'ed in consequence of a sensation arising from another part, there must either be a commissural connection between the ganglions, or a direct nerve leading from the ganglion of the latter to muscles of the former. Hence the connection betAveen the ganglions, and the plexuses. And I may add, that it is a remarkable confirmation of the view here advanced, that the brachial and sciatic plexuses, from Avhich the nerves come off, that are distributed to five fin- gers and five toes, arc each of them connected with five ganglions and the corres- ponding segments of the spinal marroAv. In the same way as commissural connections are established between the gang- lions of touch, to enable the mind to move distant parts when directed by this sense ; so, Avhen the organs of the special senses become developed and the mind wills to moA'e distant parts, or the whole body Avhen directed by specific sensa- tions, a commissural connection is established between the ganglions at the termi- nations of the nerves leading from those organs, and the ganglions of touch. So that the poAver of the mind over the body, and the beginning of the deATelopement of the nervous system, is laid in touch ; and the other powers and deA'elopements are, as it Avere, superimposed on these. These commissural connections, in the invcrtebrata, arc cords that pass from the supra-sceophageal ganglion, along the ventral chain of ganglia and those betAveen the ganglia themselves ; analogues of the former, in the Aertcbrata, are the anterior spinal column and roots which form the connection through the corpora striata and optic thalami Avith the cerebrum, Avith the nerves that connect with the muscles below, and by this medium con- nect them Avith the specific senses. The same nerves connect, by the posterior roots, directly Avith the central part of the cord, and commissurally through the posterior columns with the cerebellum. The central portions of the spinal mar- roAV (the true spinal marrow of Marshall Hall) represents so much of the gangli- onic cord of invertcbrated animals as formed the union between the ganglions of neighboring or associated parts, whence arose reflex motions, Avhile the ganglions that remain on the posterior cords are the analogues of the ganglions that united 12 C0MFARI90N OF THE PRECEDING VIEW WITH THAT OF BELL. the nerves connecting the muscles and sensitive surfaces of the isolated member or segment. In like manner, the corpus striatum represents so much of the su- pra-ocsophageal ganglion, as united the nerA'es leading to the ventricular cord with the olfactory ; while the olfactory lobes were intermediate between the nerve of the sense of smell, and the muscles that moA'e the organ of that sense. Again, the optic thalami represent so much of the supra-oesophageal ganglia as united the optic nerves with the nerves leading to the mass of the muscles beloAv ; Avhile the optic tubercles performed the same office betAveen the optic nerves and the muscles that move the eye. It may be mentioned, as confirmatory of this latter statement, that the third nerves terminate along Avith the optic, in the tubercula quadrigemiua. The functions of the great nervous centres, as deduced from their anatomical relations by the light of the tAvo fundamental principles above laid down, are the following :—The cerebrum, which is but the further developement and fusion of the corpora striata and optic thalami, is the organ Avhich the mind makes use of to govern motions when directed by the specific senses. It is connected with these senses by the optic and olfactory nerves, &c, on the one hand, and Avith the nerves of the muscles on the other, by the anterior columns of the spinal cord, and anterior cords or roots, so called, of the nerves. The cerebellum is the organ which the mind makes use of to govern the motions of the body when di- rected by the sense of touch, and it is connected both with the nerves of touch and the nerA'es of the muscles, by means of the posterior columns and posterior roots. The mind makes use of the cerebrum and cerebellum in ite acts of con- scious volition, and by their aid controls the involuntary movements. This con- trol is sometimes lost, either by a diminution of the power furnished by these or- gans, as in apopletic affections—or an excess of irritating impressions acting im- mediately on the nerves connected with the muscles, as in tetanus—or a com- bined influence of irritating impressions, and weakness of the will itself, which ' pwents its calling forth the powers of the brain, as in hysteria. COMPARISON OF THE PRECEDING VIEW WITH THAT OF BELL. The common belief of vital properties of nerves, which this view opposes, de- rives its chief support from the authority of Sir Charles Bell, whose researches are Avell know ; and a comparison of the principles just laid down with certain physiological and pathological phenomena, in order to show the manner in which these last are elucidated by them, Avould naturally lead us to advert to those of that Avriter. In the first place, then, I would state, that the conclusions of Sir Charles Bell never flowed legitimately from his premises. In his first experi- ments on the fifth nerve, before he had any theory to support, or rather before his theory had assumed a definite form, he drew the inference that this nerve was for motion. This therefore, was the natural inference ; and though subsequently when on finding that it did not tally with those he drew from his experiments on the spinal marrow, he withdrew and reversed it, still there were residual phe nomena, which threw serious doubts on its correctness in its amended form The loss of all power in the lip, in an aminal whose chief sense of touch resides m the lips, and the chief motions of which, would naturally be associated with COMPARISON OF THE PRECEDING VIEW WITH THAT OF BELL. 13 it, the dropping of the mouth, and the drawing it to one side, seemed to indicate that something more than sensation was destroyed. Many labored attempts have been made to reconcile this contradiction by his followers. But they have not been successful. Contractions of the iris have also been produced by irritating the fifth ; some distortion is produced by paralysis of that nerve; it sends fibres to muscles, and there are other signs of its agency in contracting certain muscles of the face, particularly the eyelids. Now all this is readily explicable on the supposition that the mind employs the fifth for touch, and those motions which it performs under the direction of touch. * Again, if Ave pass from the nerves of the face, to the spinal marrow, we find his experiments at once in conflict Avith those of Magendie and Bellingeri. While Sir Charles inferred that the anterior cords were for motion, and the posterior for sensation, Magendie inferred that the former were for motion chiefly, and the latter for sensation chiefly ; and Bellingeri that the first were for the movements of flex- ion, and the last for those of extension. Scarcely anything deserving the name of an attempt to reconcile the results of those of the English, Avith those of the Italian physiologist, has been made. But since the discovery of the reflex function, Dr. Carpenter has endeavored, by the aid of special pleading and patchwork, to make the others coincide. By the reflex function, he explains, Avith some plausibility, how motions arc produced, Avhen, after section, the proximate ends of the poste- rior cord are irritated.t But Avhen he explains how it is that sensation takes place through the anterior cord, he assumes the thing to be proved, and then makes use of it to prove itself. For he supposes that sensitive fibres from the posterior cord pass up from the point of union of the two cords towards the spi- nal marroAv, not because they have been traced anatomically, but solely on the ground that dividing the posterior cord puts a stop to the exhibition of sensation when the anterior is irritated. The true question is, whether there are any fibres either in the anterior or posterior cords by whose vital endoAvments sensation *Fora full account of Sir Charles Bell's errors in relation to the fifth nerve, the reader may consult James O'Beirne's analytical correction of that Avriter's views respecting the nerves of the face, re-published, in this country, in the "Register and Library of Medical and Chirurgical Science," for 1834. Dr. O'Beirne comes to the conclusion, that either the fifth nerve must be allowed to have some other office than touch, or the motor portion must extend to branches of it, not uoav conceded by anatomists—which last alternative he adopts. Indeed it is the chief object of his essay to prove it. The view above given accords with the first. In one of the observations quoted by him, Sir Charles himself express- ly admits " a power of holding by the lips, independent of the seventh nerve." fThe inconsequence of this conclusion is shown by an experiment of M. du Bois-Rcymond. " If any motor nerve be selected Avhich divaricates into two branches, (as, for example, the sciatic nerve of a frog, which divides above the bend of the knee into the tibial and peroneal branches,) and a galvanic stimulus be applied to either of these branches, this having been first divided above its insertion into the muscles, the electrotonic state Avill be developed, not merely in the portion of the trunk continuous Avith that branch, but also in that AA'hich is continuous with the other branch, as will be made apparent by the contraction in the mus- cles supplied by the latter."—{Carpenter's Physiology;' Fifth American Edition, pp 653-4.) Here Ave have an undoubted instance of an irritation being trans- mitted through a nerA'e, Avhen seA'ered in part from its natural connections, in a manner opposite to the physiological mode of such transmission, as generally un- derstood. Can any one say, that when the proximate ends of the posterior cords are irritated, the resultant motions through the anterior are not of an analogous character ? H COMPARISON OP THE PRECEDING VIEW WITH THAT OP BELL. takes place. Is it not most natural to suppose, that irritation of the cut end of the anterior cord occasions convulsive or painful contractions of the muscles, and the connection being maintained by the posterior, the animal exhibits indications of suffering ? The value of all such experiments has been very much overrated. In reason- ing from them, it should be borne in niind, that the anterior reaches the nerve below the ganglion, and the posterior reaches it above or through the ganglion. It is admitted to be difficult to make a physical irritation pass through a gang- lion ; that ganglion AA-as once the end or point of union of fibres beloAV it, dis- tributed both to sensitive surfaces and to muscles. When the tension of the nerve is kept up from the spinal marrow, then physical irritation Avould be pro- pagated in both directions ; Avould excite contractions in the muscles beloAV, and painful feelings in the mind ; because both of these affections are associated Avith them. But when the nerve is cut above the ganglion, Avhich is the usual place of section, while irritation of the proximate end Avould occasion feeling, irritation of the distahend Avould probably be null, even supposing the nerve to be con- nected with touch, and the motions directed by touch. In like manner, irritation of the anterior cord, whether connected with the spinal marrow or not, Avould occasion nothing but muscular contraction, for that is all that was ever associated with it by the mind, if we suppose the anterior cords are the medium connecting the cerebrum Avith the muscles, through which the mind governs the motions under the direction of the specific senses. The cause of the observation of Bellingeri of movements of extension, Avhen the posterior columns were irritated, &c, was the fact that movements of exten- sion are more associated with touch, and movements of flexion are more under the direction of the specific senses. The body balances itself on the feet, and ex- tends itself in the erect position, as it is directed by touch, while the Avork of the hands, in which flexion predominates, is more under the direction of the eye. To this it may be added, that the body is habitually extended in the waking state. The same principle accounts for the greater frequency of movements of extension in tetanus, where the wound usually involves the nerves of touch, since they are spread over the greater surface of the body. And it comes into play, also, in ac- counting for some of the phenomena of hemiplegia, and paraplegia, as we shall see when we come to speak of the cerebellum and diseases of the posterior col- umns of the cord. Experiments performed on lambs by Calmeil, quoted by Prof. Nasse, of Bonn, as well as the experiments of M. Brown Sequard lately performed at Boston, are sufficient to show that the posterior columns have something to do Avith muscu- lar contraction. It is also stated by Carpenter, that a limb whose anterior cords are divided, if the posterior are untouched, maintains its size. Noav as the nu- trition of muscles is kept up by their contractions, this fact plainly indicates, much more than direct irritation of the roots, that these roots have an agency in producing contractions. Cases have been published, says this author, in which there has been complete destruction of the anterior columns without loss of mo- tion, and of the posterior without loss of sensation. This ought to be decisive of the question. If motion depends on a vital endowment of the anterior column then disorganization of it must be followed by complete loss of that power Bui if it depends on a power of the mind, there is a chance, in the first place for a COMPARISON OF THE PRECEDING TIBW WITH THAT OF BELL. 16 vicarious operation. The vis medicatrix nature may also come in play. And if a part of its motions are performed through the agency of the anterior cords, and a part through the posterior, as they are directed by the specific senses, or by the sense of touch ; then the operation is all the easier. We can understand, also, Iioav it is that sudden injuries produce total loss of muscular power below the seat of them, while disorganizations as grave, which have been the effects of a sIoav process of disease—or which have been sudden, and not quickly fatal, so as to allow the recuperative energy to display itself—have been followed by opposite and contradictory results. A striking illustration of these remarks is afforded by one of the cases referred to by Carpenter—the case reported by Mr. Stanley in vol. xxiii. of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions. There was loss of motive power of the lower extremities without loss of sensation, attending disorganiza- tion of the posterior columns of the spinal marrow from their commencement to their termination ; a point blank refutation of Sir Charles Bell's views. Every one who saAV this case before death, predicted disease of the anterior column. But on examination, this portion was found perfectly healthy, " white, and of a firm consistence " throughout, while the posterior was of a dark color and soft consis- tence, the line of demarcation being as straight as a line could be drawn between ' the two portions. Here then, was general disease of the posterior column of the spinal cord, and disease isolated in that part. It was natural to expect distur- bance in the function belonging to that part, and nothing else. How happened it that sensation was not lost, if sensation as a whole, belonged to the posterior column ? In this respect, there is reason to believe that the observation was faul- ty. Under the term general sensation, have been ranked affections Avhich should have been kept distinct. The organic feeling, and the localizing of that feeling, are two things. The sensations of pain, of heat, and of touch, are also three dif- ferent things ; and although the same nerves running from the superficies may be concerned in producing all of these, their central connections may have different offices with regard to them. The posterior columns being the commissural con- nection between the cerebellum and the nerves of touch, may only be instrumen- tal in making the mind conscious of tactile impressions, or they may be simply instrumental in enabling the mind to localize the sensations, and to discriminate their kinds. There are a number of facts which seem to point to this latter con- clusion. But the observer being impressed with the idea of sensation as a whole, belonging to the posterior column, if the paralytic person exhibits the least sign of feeling and is conscious of it, he is apt to regard that function as intact. Emo- tion Avith reference to the mind, and pain Avith reference to the body, are correl- ate facts. One is deep feeling grounded on ideas ; the other is deep feeling <*rounded on bodily injury or disorganization. They both seem to affect the mind in a department deeper than the range of the conscious discriminative sen. sations and volitions. Hence, Avhen the connection between the tAvo brains and the muscles is interrupted, and voluntary power over the latter is withheld, emo- tion still gives rise to convulsive moA-ements. Hence, too, in profound diseases of the nervous centres, both spinal and cephalic, as brought forward and nearly es- tablished by Dr. Gull, there is greater loss of motion than of sensation. In the case in question, pricking, pinching and scratching, Avere all the means resorted to, as reported, to test the sensibility of the skin, all of which may be supposed to excite a degree of pain. 16 COMPARISON OF THE PRECEDING VIEW WITH THAT OF BELL. Again, it may be asked, how happened it that motion was lost, while the an- terior column Avas healthy, if motion, as a Avhole, belongs to that portion ? The answer to this inquiry is too obvious to require comment. A third question, more pertinent to our purpose, is this—Hoav happened a dis- ease which was general throughout the posterior columns, and which of course must affect the general function of those columns, to produce paralysis of the in- ferior extremities alone r If the function of this part depended on an inherent vital endowment of it, we should have OA'erwhelming proof that that function was to give motion to the loAver extremities. But it is not thus lightly to be disposed of. That we are ordinarily guided by touch in the movements of the lower extremities, I need not waste words in proving. Our consciousness in- forms us of this fact. Or if it does not, pathological observations teach us that when the sense of touch is wanting, the eye has to be turned down to the extrem- ities hi order for the body to be balanced on the feet. Now, if the habitual mo- tions of the loAver extremities are directed by touch, and if the commissural con- nection of the surface of touch and the muscles, with the central organ, is diseas- ed, the loss of motion Avould display itself here first. This explanation is direct- ly corroborated by the obserA'ed consequences of diseases of the central organ, the cerebellum, and conversely by diseases of the cerebrum. In the Avork of Solly on the human brain, tAvo cases of disease confined to the cerebellum are quoted from Serres, in which the leg on the opposite side Avas palsied, Avith comparative- ly little affection of the arm ; and another, after Abercrombie from Morgagni, in AA'hich scirrhus of the left lobe of the cerebellum was followed by paralysis of both inferior extremities; thus shoAving that Avhether the central organ itself is diseased, or its influence is cut off by disease of its commissural connection, the effect is the same. It is also a remarkable fact that in cases of hemiplegia, Avhere recovery takes place partially or Avholly, the leg precedes the arm in the process, just about in the same proportion of cases, that the seat of effusion is in the cere- brum compared with the cerebellum. It is, as Ave should naturally suppose would result from the mhid's recovering the poAver that it exerts through the cerebellum, first, in consequence of the graA-amen of the disease being less felt there. The rationale of all the varied phenomena which take place when the great centres, or their commissural connections, the anterior and posterior columns, are diseased or injured, I conceive to be this. The mind having built up and acquir- ed its power over the muscular movements of the body in the manner above stat- ed, employs both brains to maintain a certain degree of tension on the nerves leading to the muscles, &c, according to their respective powers. This is done by the intervention of the anterior and posterior columns. The power derived from the cerebellum is proportionately more directed to the inferior extremities, comformably to its habitual associations. That from the cerebrum is more directed towards the superior. This is in conformity to the rule, that all the works of man's hands are performed under the direction of the eye. Now in case of sud- den disease of the centre, as in apoplexy-or of injury of the connecting medium, as in division of the anterior column, the power of that centre is cut off. And the mind, after making allowance for shock, being deprived of the help Avhich it derived from that source, finds itself without the power of executing its accus- tomed movements. But it is a re-active principle; and for the same reason COMPARISON OF THE PRECEDING VIEAV WITH THAT OF BELL. 17 that Avhen a large artery is tied, it sets about to restore the circulation through the smaller ones, it aims to re-acquire its lost powers ; and, so far as it is success- ful, it re-acquires, in the order in which it originally acquired them. In most cases of injury of the spinal marrow, and hi some cases of apoplexy, the patient dies before this re-active tendency developes itself. And as a much larger pro- portion of power is derived from the cerebrum through the anterior column, an- nihilation of motion would be presented in all such cases Avhere this part was sev- ered. A superficial A'icAv, or a view which contemplates the nerves as luwing vi- tal endoAvments, and not as acting in subserviency to a spiritual principle, would lead to the inference that the anterior portion was destined for motion. Thus the results of disease Avould seem to confirm the results of experiments, and still both be Avrong. But in cases of slow disorganization, the mind meets with no sudden disruption of its energizing, and often gradually accomodates itself to circumstances. Such cases Avould be exceptional to the former. We might meet Avith instances of destruction of the anterior cord and persistence of motion to a degree inexplicable on the ground of vital endoAvments ; Avhile we could con- ceive of a gradually-increased activity of the cerebellum to compensate for the lost power of the cerebrum, which would enable us to account for them. These conclusions are aLso confirmed by direct experiments on the two brains. In those of Hertwig, Avhen the upper part of the hemispheres hi a bird were re- moved, sight and hearing Averc lost, but were afterwards recovered ; when the whole Avere removed, sight, hearing, taste and smell, Avere lost arid were never regained, although the animal lived three months. In both animals, the cerebel- lum being intact, signs of sensibility to touch were manifested, and also of a capa- bility to stand and direct motions by this sense. All those experiments, again, on the cerebellum, from Avhich the inference has been drawn that that organ Avas for co-ordinating or combining the muscles, so as to produce voluntary motions, may be explained as well or better by saying that it enables the mind to govern motions by touch. Such movements as Avere disturbed by mutilating it, as standing, walking, balancing, &c, were evidently those Avhich are habitually associated Avith this sense. The chief points of differ- ence are, that the latter explanation exchanges a A'ague and indeterminate expres- sion for a lucid philosophical principle, and brings the office of the central organ into harmony with that of its prolongation into the spinal marroAV. This unnatural separation of the office of the posterior column from that of the cerebellum, is the legitimate consequence of Sir Charles's deserting general analo- gy and anatomical deductions, and trusting solely to experiments, Avithout the true key to guide him in then interpretation. It forms one of the chief objections to his system ; so Aveighty, indeed, that Sir Wm. Hamilton takes exceptions to it alone, while, in deference to the physiologists of Europe, he gives in his adhe- sion to the general principle. The limited number of fibres that, according to Solly, pass from the restiform bodies to the anterior columns, cannot alter the case, although then- purpose for the present is somewhat obscure. Whether they serve to connect the function of respiration, Avith the cerebellum—as the fact that some fibres of the portio dura come off from them would seem to indicate—there can be no doubt that the main connection of the cerebellum is with the posterior columns, and that their functions ought t > harmonise. Finally—it is admitted by Sir Charles, that the mind must be cognizant of the 3 18 CORBOBORATION OF THE VTEAVS ADVANCED. state of the muscles in order to regidate their contractions. And as he has a set of fibres to transmit motor impulses from the brain to them, so he must have an- other set to transmit sensitive impulses upward. Here he draAVs largely on the imagination, and both motor and sensitive impulses are inventions to begin Avith. And what anatomist has ever traced tAvo classes of fibres, that lose themselves in the muscular structure, one of Avhich on being irritated gave rise to mussular contractions alone, and the other to sensations ? Some late physiologists have improved on this idea, and haA'e invented a third fibre to account for the reflex motions, in accordance Avith the rule, that for every specific endowment a distinct fibre is necessary. But this process of laying up the nervous fibres, like the lay- ing up of a rope Avith three strands, is found, by the knoAving ones, to hazard the inconvenience of rendering the Avhole cord uinvieldy, by its size. And it may be seen, by the last edition of Carpenter, that this branch of manufacture has fallen into disrepute. It is, however, of little consequence logically, how many of these fibres with specific endowments are called into being. One class only is necessary to hold the mind iu relation Avith the muscle, according to the view given above. To imagine, therefore, a series of fibres for motor impulses, and another to render the mind cognizant of the state of the muscles, is to intro- duce tAvo causes to account for that, for Avhich one avUI account as well. To recapitulate :—The view of the nervous system promulgated by Sir Charles Bell, does not, in the first place, exhaust, or give a full account of the contents of the experiments and pathological obsen'ations on Avhich it is based, inasmuch as some phenomena are unexplained by it. In the second, it is not necessitated by those phenomena Avhich it does explain, inasmuch as they can be explained by another supposition. In the thud, it is directly contradicted by pathological facts, so admitted by its oAvn supporters. In the fourth, it divides in function, parts anatomically united in structure. And in the fifth, it violates an impor- tant philosophical law, by unnecessarily multiplying secondary causes. In view of these facts it may be safely said, that among the mysteries con- nected with the nervous system, not the least is the circumstance that the medi- cal profession as a body should settle down in the belief that this vieAv presented the sum and substance of all truth in the department Avhich it treats, and form- ed the starting point for all future investigations. CORROBORATION OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. A further and someAvhat singular confirmation of the idea above given of the unctions of the anterior and posterior columns of the spinal cord, is derived from^the foUowing observations of Sir B. C. Brodie on injuries of that organ. The loAver limbs are more frequently paralyzed than the upper, even when the lowerpart of the cervical spine has been injured. This circumstance is re- markable, as it * contrary to Avhat happens when the functions of the spinal cord Ta c r^ " "T11611" °f ^ °f ^ CCTVical ^te- *> 'hese last rno ^1 lP, yS1S ^ ^ C°mpkte iU the UPPer limbs for "«ny ^eeks, or even months before it extends to the lower. Paralysis of the upper limbs has be n known to follow contusion of the dorsal vertebra." Ihese facts, which seem inexplicable on the common theory, are easily under- CORROBORATION- OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. 19 stood, Avhen Ave consider that caries, affecting the bodies of the vertebrae, must involve the anterior columns some time before the posterior ; whereas in injuries, the processes are usually the first to suffer fracture or dislocation, and the poster- ior columns which are most concerned in the movements of the lower extremi- ties, being nearly contiguous, Avill soonest feel the effects, and Avill therefore be most likely to be disturbed in their function. In No. 19 of BraithAA'aite's Retrospect is an account of a discussion before the London Medical and Chirurgical Society,' in which Marshall Hall took part, rela- tive to a case in which there Avas palsy confined to the arms. The doctor was ev- idently at fault in his explanation of the case, simply because there was not room for it in his philosophy. According to his ideas, it was " almost impossible to imagine disease of the spinal marrow so situated as to induce paraplegia of both superior extremities, Avithout involving in its effects the parts situated below."— After Avhat has been said above, * it is unnecessary for me to enlarge upon such a case. It is not difficult to understand how contractions of the muscles may take place Avhen the anterior cords are irritated, and fail to be produced when the pos- terior are excited, Avithout necessitating the conclusion ordinarily draAvn from these facts. If Ave suppose the anterior cords to minister to those motions Avhich are executed under the direction of the specific senses, and the posterior to be con- nected with general sensation, and those motions performed under its direction, it is plain that the functional activity of the former is never exercised except in con- nection with muscular contraction. Whereas the same activity of the latter, be- ing exercised for sensation as Avell, Avill often take place Avithout such contraction. For the mind, after receiving the sensation, deliberates and decides whether it Avill contract the muscle or not. In the one case, an associative connection will be formed between the excitement of the nerve and the contraction of the muscle, Avhich Avill haAre no place in the other. This associative connection may display itself on irritating the nerve, Avhen separated from its centre by the contraction. We are not Avithout facts to sustain this position. Irritation of the third nerve often fails to produce contraction of the iris, oAving, as it is suggested by Longet, to its filaments having to pass through a ganglion ; and AA'hen it does contract the iris, the contraction continues after the withdrawal of the stimulus, which is not the case Avith the contractions of the A'oluntary muscles simultaneously excited by stimulating the same nerve. This last fact is explicable, says Volkman, only by supposing the A-oluntary muscles to be excited directly through the nerves, while the iris is excited through the ophthalmic ganglion as a centre. Noav Avhat the ophthalmic ganglion is to the short branch of the third nerve, in the main, the ganglions on the posterior cords are to their connecting fibres with the spinal mar- row. And it by no means folloAA-s, because it is difficult to excite contractions by irritating these fibres in a mangled dog, that they have nothing to do with muscular action. That philosophy is questionable, AA'hich argues from the contraction of the muscles on irritating its nerve, to the regular and orderedmoAements of the body. Were the nerve stimulus the only one that excited the contractility of the muscle, it Avould be more plausible. But Ave find that galvanism, chemical and mechan- * On the connection betAveen the motions of the arm and the specific senses, and through them with the cerebrum and anterior columns. 20 CORROBORATION OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. ical irritants, applied to the muscle, also excite it. Indeed, live muscle responds in no other AA'ay, than by contraction, to any stimulus whatever. It is easy to conceive of a trembling or A'ibration being communicated to the nerve, by me- chanical irritation, and propagated down to the muscular fibres, where, by means of the peculiar blending of these fibres Avith the nervous, it is felt as though it Avas directly impressed upon it. The muscular contraction folloAving, Avould then be an incidental effect of the mere mechanictd properties of the nerve, and of the irritability of the muscle. The only fact thus left to us by Avhich Ave infer the agency of the nerve in muscular contraction, is its being interposed between the muscle and the centre ;* and we are left at liberty to inquire AA'hether this in- terposition is to connect the muscle through that centre Avith other nerves, and through them with other muscles and organs of sense, or Avhether some unknoAvn and inconceiA'able impulse is generated in the centre, which passes doAvn the nerve to the muscle. The character of the contraction thus excited is spasmod- ic, irritative, Avhile the action of the muscle in movements, involuntary as Avell as voluntary, comprehends both contraction and relaxation, and is one of control. If it be said that mechanical irritation of a muscle through a nerve is followed by its contraction, it may be said, in reply, so are all irritations of the muscle. If it be said that the muscle contracts Avhen stimulated through the nerve, it may be also said, in reply, that it always contracts on the application of stimuli. And what is more to the purpose, not only do individual muscles contract by other stimuli than that (if such exists) Avhich comes through the nerves, but groups of muscles, which having had certain combinations in their contractions, formed, during life, while their connections Aviththe nerA'es and nerA'ous centres continu- ed, have exhibited the same after death, before their irritability had subsided, and after separation from then nervous centres by division of the nerves. Are we, then, to suppose the existence of a double mechanism, by Avhich (to say nothing of the peristaltic motions) the moA-ements of the body are effected ; one by the nerves and nervous centres, and another and ulterior one ? And if this last, of necessity, must be, does it not follow that the first must not be ? Undoubt- edly, the muscular contractions and combined movements Avitnessed by DoAvler and Bro-wn Sequard, in then experiments, take place according to the same laAVs that govern all motions in the living body. And those who maintain the contra- ry, imagining, from seeing the nerve interposed betAveen the muscle and the sensi- tive surface, that some influence passes doAvn to the muscle to cause it to contract, are imposed on by appearances, in the same way as those, who, from seeing the image on the retina, infer that that is what we perceive in vision, Avhereas °it is the external object. Were it the picture, we should both see it double and in the inverted position. The role of the nervous system would then be, to fur- nish certain facilities and conveniences for the execution of these laws,' but not the essential conditions. Another objection is founded on the fact of these experiments not bein<* exact copies of physiological impressions. They are made on the cords of the nerves while the impressions, which in the natural state excite motions, are made on surfaces on which their peripheral extremities terminate. They are therefore at best of a second-hand nature, and correspond with what is called hearsay ev'i- * Aside from this, there is as much reason to suppose thatsatts acidT^wT ism, &c, contract the muscles in our movements, as nervous influence?' CORROBORATION OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. 21 denee in law, which, as all knoAv, will not be admitted in a court of justice. We are, moreover, not Avithout high authority for the assertion, that they are Aery imperfect copies of the originals. " It is to be observed," says Carpenter, " that a slight irritation applied to the peripheral extremities of the afferent nerA'es, is a more poAverful excitor of reflex action than a much stronger impression, Avhich occasions acute pain, applied to their trunks." And in some cases there is rea- son to suppose that in the former way they can be excited, while they cannot at all in the latter. Narcotics, Avhile they act energetically on the surface to which the extremities are distributed, produce no such effect on the larger trunks. Nei- ther do acids. No one could be more alive to the imperfections of this kind of reasoning, than Sir Charles Bell himself. " In a foreign review of my former papers"—says he, in the one of June 19th, 1823—" the results haA-e been considered as a further proof in favor of experiments. They are, on the contrary, deductions from anat- omy ; and I have had recourse to experiments, not to form my OAvn opinions, but to impress them on others. It must be my apology, that my utmost efforts of persuasion Avere lost, while I urged my statements on the grounds of anatomy alone. I have made few experiments ; they have been simple and easily perform- ed, and I hope are decisive." And again—" The whole history of medical liter- ature proves, that no solid or permanent advantage is to be gained, either to medical or general science, by physiological experiments unconnected with anato- my." And still further—"Experiments have never been the means of discove- ry ; and a survey of what has been attempted of late years in physiology Avill prove, that the opening of living annuals has done more to perpetuate error, than to confirm the just views taken from the study of anatomy and natural motions." Thus far Sir Charles Bell.* Dr. Carpenter differs from him a little, hi laying more stress upon comparative anatomy. According to him, " it is only in fact by studying the cerebro-spinal apparatus in its lowest as well as in its highest / form, and by bringing the intervening grades into comparison with both extremes, that it is possible to establish Avhat are its fundamental and essential, and what its accessory parts ; and in this Avay only, can such a correspondence be estab- lished betAveen the deArelopcment of a particular structure, and the manifestation of a certain psychical endoAvment, as may enable the latter to be attributed with any degree of probability to the former. In fact, there is no part of the human or- ganism as to Avhich the adA-antages of such a comparison are so striking, or in which the A-alue of the « experiments ready prepared for us by nature,' is so much aboA'e that of the results of artificial mutilations." Here, then, is the testimony of both these distinguished AA-riters against exper- iments. There was evidently a misgiving in the mind of each, that possibly hereafter the conclusions founded on them might not prove as solid as specious. Yet if any student of either should be questioned why he believes that the pos- terior nerA'es were for sensation and the anterior for motion, or that the cerebel- lum Avas for combining muscular motions, he Avould reply, " from the results of experiments " as given in the Avorks of his master ! But if experiments are not reliable, neither will their retreat to anatomy afford them greater seciu-ity. Anat- omy alone can merely suggest, by a difference in structure, that there might be a * These extracts, more than the temporary success of his theory, prove him to haA-e been a philosopher. 22 CORROBORATION OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. difference in function between tAvo nerves or classes of nerves, but cannot tell m what that difference consists. Nor Avill comparative anatomy, by pointing out the correspondence between the developement of a particular structure and the manifestation of a particular faculty, Avarrant us in referring this last " as a psychical endoAvment to the former." A dozen explanations might be afforded of this connection as plausible as this. What is Avantcd, is a correct psychology to be applied both to the results of experiments and to variations in the structure, origin and distribution of the nerves—a correct comparative psychology as Avell as human. An illustration of the danger of trusting to anatomy exclusively, Avithout the true key to guide us in interpreting its variations, is found in the celebrated " nervous circle betAveen the muscle and the brain," of Sir Charles Bell. He was led to this, by finding, unexpectedly, that a large portion of the fifth nerve terminated in muscles, which, as he demonstrated it to be a sensitive nerve, AA-as somewhat of a puzzle. According to him, the fifth nerA-e sends more branches to the muscles, than to the skin ; and Avhat is more remarkable, it sends more branches to the muscles than the seA-enth, Avhich is a motor nerve. For these facts he must invent a reason. Supposing the mind to be seated in the brain, and transmitting its influence doAvn by the motor nerve, and the nerve having no "^ power to transmit influences but in one direction, (all of which are suppositions without proof,) there Avas no road back ; and as it Avas necessary for the mind to have a knoAVledge of the condition of the muscle, the fifth nerve Avas made the avenue for the communication of this knoAvledge. An apparently clumsy con- triAance, in which the works of God appear to disadvantage, Avhen compared Avith the Avorks of man ; for a messenger sent from place to place on a road made by human means, can generally return by the same Avay he went. A simple explanation of these facts is afforded by the doctrine that the gangli- onic portion of the fifth is a mixed nerve; that is, for touch, and the motions AA'hich the mind performs under the direction of touch. It is to be observed, in this connection, that the branches of the seventh are sent in the greatest propor- tion to the superficial muscles of the face; Avhile the branches of the fifth are distributed in a similar proportion to the deep seated, especially to the muscles of mastication. The superficial muscles are most active in the movements of ex- pression, Avhich are associated Avith those of respiration ; and the seA'enth nerve, though in man a nerve of volition, had originally its connections formed by virtue of this relation. But in mastication we are guided by the impressions made on the teeth, and on the whole internal surface of the mouth. In those acts expressed by the term biting, as when an animal seizes his prey, the visual are the guid- ing sensations. In the former, the nerves distributed to the muscles through the ganglionic portion of the fifth, are instrumental, inasmuch as they connect them Avith the sensitive surface on Avhich the impressions are made, giving rise to the associated sensations. In the latter, the small branch of the fifth, or, as it is call- ed, the motor, is instrumental, as it connects them, through the cerebrum, Avith the eye. This is in accordance with a principle maintained by Sir Charles Bell, (see his " Respiratory System of Nerves,") as well as by Carpenter, AA-ho still maintains the idea of the nervous circle, which, hoAvever, is repudiated by Mar- shall Hall. Having given this instance Avhere Sir Charles's consistency in relying on anat- CORROBORATION OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. 23 omy alone, misled him, I shall give another, AA-here Dr. Carpenter's inconsistency in not relying on comparative anatomy in opposition to " artificial mutilations," has placed him in a similar predicament. It has long been the preA'ailing opin- ion, from the fact that when the par vagum is cut above the origin of the inferior laryngeal nerves, suffocation frequently follows from spasmodic closure of the glottis, that the superior laryngeals had something to do Avith the constriction of that part. But lately, Dr. C, on the authority of Dr. J. Reid, a favorite exper- imenter with him, affirms that the superior is the excitor or afferent, while the inferior is the motor nerve. Although it is found to connect Avith the crico-thy- roid muscle by his own admission, and Avith the arytenoid and inferior constric- tor according to other dissectors, and even inosculates with the inferior laryngeal, yet it has nothing to do with muscular motion, but is a sensitive nerve. The laryngismus, after cutting the recurrent nerves, is attributed to palsy. And some countenance to this opinion is supposed to be derived from the col- lapse of the glottis, in powerful suction through the windpipe in the dead body. The action, hoAveA'er, is eA'idently much more like that excited through a nerve, Avhen the poAver of a balancing nerve (to use the common expression) is taken aAvay. As, when the portio dura of one side is cut, there is little distortion at first, oAving to the restraining poAver of the fifth ; but when the muscles of respiration are called into exercise, as in speaking, laughing, &c, the distortion is very evi- dent, owing to the muscles on the sound side not being balanced by those of the opposite. It is remarkable that laryngismus should be attributed to palsy of the recurrent nerves, Avhen the cause has been irritative to those nerves ; and when there should have been loss of voice, which must depend on that nerve—an event Avhich did not happen in several cases of laryngismus stridulus AA'hich have been attributed to this cause, or, if it did, Avas not mentioned.* It seems to me that the natural inference from Dr. Reid's experiments, is, that they were instituted for the purpose of compressing the superior laryngeals Avithin the limits of the sensitive -and motor theory. An unprejudiced inquirer after truth, before grounding his faith on such man- ipulations, even Avith Dr. Carpenter's endorsement of Dr. Reid's accuracy, A\-ould be inclined to look at the " experiments ready prepared for us by nature," to see if they did not throw some light on the subject. Fortunately, there occurs a singular class of facts, in a loAver tribe of animals, which bear on this very point. In birds, the larynx is placed at the bottom of the windpipe, and to it the inferior laryngeals are distributed. At the top of the windpipe is what corresponds to the superior laryngeal. As a matter of course, the inferior laryngeals are concerned in those motions Avhich properly belong to the larynx, in association with the lungs, such as those connected with the voice, &c. ; while at the top, provision is made to prevent the entrance of all irritating substances into the windpipe. The nerve found at this part, viz., the superior larnygeal, must minister to thisfunc- * A case of cancer of the oesophagus is given in BraithAvaite's Retrospect, vol. xxx, page 135, in Avhich the disease inA-olved the recurrent nerves. There Avas complete destruction of those nerves, and even the muscles to AA'hich they were distributed had undergone degeneration in consequence of disuse. Here then Avasan instance, inAvhich, if spasm of the glottis depended on palsy of the inferior laryngeal nerves, it Avould shoAV itself. Yet it was expressly stated that there was no spasm nor stridor throughout the disease. One such case is more to the point, then all the experiments ever performed. 24 CORROBORATION OF THE VIEWS ADVANCED. tion. It must therefore be both sensitive and motor. But when the larynx ris- es from the bottom to the top of the trachea, the muscular provisions for both these offices become blended. The inferior becomes the recurrent, and its branch- es inosculate with the superior, and supply some, at least, of the same muscles. But still the original function is performed through the same nerve ; an illus- tration, in another form, of the above-mentioned principle of Bell, Avhich has the sanction of Dr. Carpenter himself; as follows. Speaking of the accomplishment of acts of respiration and mastication by the same muscles, when supplied by dif- ferent nerves, he attributes them to an original association with those nerves, while as yet, in the invertebrated class, all the parts were distinct, and thus pro- ceeds : " Now in the A-ertebrata, the distinct organs have been so far blended together, that the same muscles serve the purposes of both ; but the different sets of movements of these muscles are excited by different nen-es ; and the effect of division of either nerve is to throw the muscle out of connection Avith the func- tion to which that nerve previously rendered it subservient—as much as if the muscle were separated from the nervous system altogether." All this is un- doubtedly true ; but it has a more extended application than physiologists have hitherto supposed. Whenever a muscle has more than one nerve terminate in it, it is because the movements which that muscle takes part in performing were ^ ori^inallv associated with more than one class of sensations. The union of the posterior and anterior nerves in the class of voluntary muscles, arises from the fact of the motions regulated by specific sensation being superimposed on those regulated by touch. The muscles being first developed Avith their nerves running between them and the surface of touch, Avere subsequently compelled to have es- tablished nerves running between them and the organs of the senses. But the motions originally associated with touch are still performed through the same asso- ciation, and require the same medium. One of these classes of motions regulates the opening of the larynx ; and incidental to it are all those convulsive motions, Avhether dependent on irritation of the laryngeal surface or remote surfaces, and which play so important a part in croup, hooping cough, epilepsy, &c. > I believe it may be stated with confidence, that there is no proof, nor any thing like proof, in physiological experiments, as they noAV stand, of any influence, im- pulse, or AA'hatever it may be called, generated in the brain, ganglion, or any other nervous centre, and passing down a nervous cord to a muscle to excite it to contraction in movements, A'oluntary or involuntary. Anatomy merely shows a nerve connection between the muscles with each other on the one hand, and with the organs of the senses on the other. And when the physiologist bases his reasoning on any thing more than what may naturally be supposed to flow from the physical properties of the nerves, he argues from a baseless assumption. Having, as I conceive, shown this in the present division, I shall, in the next essay show the utter absurdity of such an idea as the brain or any nervous centre generating these impulses, from the number, complexity of combination, variety and rapidity of changes in the muscles contracting in A-oluntary movements, and other considerations. But before concluding, I shall advert to another point, chiefly because one of very high authority has lent his influence, (as I believe from inadvertence,) to the support of this notion. It is asserted by this class of physiologists, that because Ave are only conscious of the act of willing, before we perceive by external observation the moA'ement of CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, ETC. 2d the body, all that intervenes is the result of the action of this automatic nervous mechanism on the muscles. Sir William Hamilton has analyzed the process, and takes for granted both the existence of the motor and sensitive influence be- tween the muscles and the brain as necessary steps in it. In doing this, Sir Wil- liam has evidently yielded his better judgment to Avhat he considered as establish- ed points in physiology. For he says, " It might seem at first sight—1st, that the organic movement is immediately determined by the enorganic volition; and 2d, that we arc immediately conscious of the organic nisus in itself." And again, he has repeatedly intimated in his work, his opinion that the doctrine of the mind being seated in the brain is an error, and expressed his conviction that it was in some mysterious manner present to all the organs, and actuating each in the per- formance of its function. Noav if the mind is present to all the organs, and actu- ating each in the performance of its function, it must be present to the muscle and actuate it in contraction, for to contract is its function. And if so, Avhat need is there of an influence sent from the brain along the nerve to the muscle to cause it to contract, or of another sent back to the brain from the muscle, to tell the mind Avhen and how much it has contracted, when the seat of the mind is not in the brain ? This very learned and acute author may rest assured that Avhat seems true at first sight, is true at second sight; and that there is no more ground for supposing these influences than there was in the time of Descartes for assuming the representative idea, a modification of the brain. And the period is not A'ery distant when it Avill be regarded as an error of the same kind. CAUSES WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE RECEPTION AND CON- TINUED POPULARITY OF SIR CHARLES BELL'S THEORY; CON- SEQUENCES TO WHICH IT HAS LED. The observations made in the two preceding divisions, enable us to estimate at their true value the experiments and reasonings of Sir Charles Bell, and the influ- ence they haAre had on the subsequent progress of physiology. " The key to the system," says he, " Avill be found in the simple proposition, that each filament or track of nervous matter has its peculiar endowment, independently of the others Avhich are bound up along Avith it; and that it continues to have the same en- dowment throughout its whole length." Here was his fundamental error. Long previous to his time, it had been suspected, from the occasional occurrence of paralysis of motion Avithout loss of sensation, and the reverse, that different nerves Avere somchoAV subservient to these different functions. But the old physiologists Avho held this notion did not, as a general thing, any the less believe that both motion and sensation AA-ere functions of the mind, and not of the nerves. To him it was left to transfer, by a single stroke of his pen, these powers, from the prov- ince of the mind, and locate them in the nerA'es, as functions, springing from these imaginary vital endoAvments. And we look in A'ain in his Avorks for any process of reasoning, grounded on physiological or psychological facts, to warrant the step. It AA-as an assumption, neither more nor less; and it Avas an assump- tion, the necessity for which, it was incumbent on him to sIioav, before he pro- ceeded to experiment. Had he done this, his experiments Avould have been per- tinent to prove whith class of nerves were for motion, and which for sensation. i . .... 26 CAUSES, CONSLQUENCES, 11TC- But as they iioav stand, they proA-e nothing. It has been already shoAvn, that though the anterior cords are, according to his experiments, subservient to mo- tion, they are indirectly so ; that they are not subservient to all mot ion ; and that though the posterior cords are concerned in sensation, they are not all for sensa- tion, something more tlian sensation being accomplished through their agency. Sir Charles, howeA-er, being fully impressed with the truth of his assumption, as soon as he found a class of nerA'es, the irritation of Avhich Avas folloAved by muscu- lar contraction ; and another, the irritation of Avhich Avas folloAved by signs of sensibility, sought no farther. He had found Avhat he Avas looking after. He ncA-er stopped to inquire Avhether the contraction of the muscle on irritating the anterior cord might not be a particular instance of a more general fact; nor did he think of inquirmg Avhether the sensibility exhibited was the whole function of the posterior nerve, but jumped at once to the conclusion with which his mind was previously magnetized. And hi so doing, he overleaped the ganglion entire- ly. Or, if he alloAved his thoughts to dAvell on it for a moment, it Avas only to contemplate it as a sort of label, which the Creator had, in his generosity to per- plexed physiologists, affixed to the sensitive nerves, to enable them to distinguish these from the motor. The size of the posterior cord being larger than the anteri- or cord, Avhich subsequently suggested to Spurzheim the query whether the Avhole story Avas told hi regard to the two classes of nerves, suggested nothing of the kind to him. Nor did the different degrees of obliquity, Avith Avhich the fibres of the two cords enter the spinal column, nor the connection of the posterior Avith the cerebellum and the anterior Avith the cerebrum, unfold to his view any more extended system of relations. It Avas in this Avay that he misled himself and physiologists generally. He saAV a part of the truth, and mistook it for the whole. His system seemed to give an explanation of some pathological phenomena hitherto not understood, and soon began to be regarded with favor. Those cases of loss of motion Avhere the motor nerve Avas sound, and the supposed sensitive nerve was divided, Avere plausibly explained by the loss of the guiding sensation. The anatomical contradiction contained in the distribution of a sensitive nerve largely to muscles, Avas met by the ingenious device of the nervous circle, Avhich required a sensitive nerve to go to the muscle as well as a motor one. These being admitted, it became difficult to disprove it, were it false. It would naturally require time before authentic and well observed facts Avould accumulate sufficient to overthroAv it. And when that time came, the scientific Avere everywhere committed. The makers of phy- siological systems had arranged their statistics and constructed their works ac- cording to the principle of classification which this theory afforded them. The Reviews had promulgated it to the profession, andtothe world at large, as a fixed fact. And grave professors had stood sponsors for it before successive editions of the medical class in a thousand schools. A spirit of conservatism had arisen sufficiently strong to antagonize the spirit of inductive philosophy. The question was not, what was the true meaning of a new fact, but how could it be reconciled to bar C. Bell's doctrine. In addition to which, a species of sectional prejudice m the republic of letters, resisted all change. The rivalry between the nations of Europe in scientific discovery, had identified the national honor with this theory British pride and British patriotism were interested in upholding it. And as Brmsh journals claimed to dispense physiological facts and principles to all who CAUSES, CONSEQUENCE?, ETC. 27 read the English language, such facts could scarcely reach the mass of the pro- fession until their obvious bearing and import had been explained aAvay. " Ca- ses haA'e occurred," says Carpenter, " in which complete destruction of the ante- rior columns appeared to have taken place, without loss of motion in the parts be- Ioav ; whilst a similar destruction of the posterior columns has occurred without corresponding lesion of sensibility." Yet these cases haA'e not been held as in- dicating the necessity for a Avider and more comprehensive A-iew of the nature of the office of the nervous system than Sir Charles Bell's theory presents. We are told that Ave knoAv not to Avhat extent the nervous structure may be disorganized and its function continue. And we are gravely asked to believe, that the nervous influence, in its travels to and from the brain, can jump across an inch or so of disorganized spinel marrow, if it chance to meet with that amount of interruption of continuity. * A better alternative is, to believe that a theory Avhich makes such a demand upon our faith, hoAvever well established it may be supposed to be, must be Avithout foundation. If any further proof is wanting of the erroneousness of these A'iews, it may be derived from the absurd consequences that have followed them. A tree is known by its fruits. A scientific principle is seldom limited to the birth of a single dis- covery. It is pregnant with a generation : a progeny formed after the pattern * At page 669 of the fifth American edition of his Avork, Dr. Carpenter refers to a " case recorded in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xxxiv., in Avhich a portion of the cord, at least an inch long, situated opposite the third and fourth dorsal vertebrae, Avas so soft that the slightest pressure of the fingers broke it up, being nearly in a fluid state through its whole thickness ; yet the patient felt pain in his lower limbs, showing that the poAver of upward transmission re- mained. And although he had lost all voluntary control over the muscles of the loAver part of the body, yet they Avere affected with incessant choreic movements, (Avhich, as will be sIioavii hereafter, Sect. 7, appears to originate in the sensory ganglia,) and these movements were affected hi such a manner by emotions as plainly to indicate the doAvnAvard transmission of motor power." And this case he makes use of, to render it probable that complete destruction of the anterior columns, Avithout loss of motion and complete destruction of the posterior columns, Avithout loss of sensibility, is no disproof of Sir Charles Bell's theory. Although it Avould amount to little, if he could prove that in this case there Avas an upAvard and doAvnAvard transmission of sensitive and motor influ- ence throughout the diseased portion, he is far from making it out. The scat of pain is not in the brain, but in the mind. The seat of emotion is not in the brain, or the sensory ganglia, but in the mind. Both pain and emotion affect the mind (as has been "said before) more deeply than the range of those sensations and mo- tions Avhich the mind receives, and performs, through the instrumentality* of the brain and the columns. And if the communication tlrrough the spinal marrow is cut off, it does not, therefore, folloAV that communication between aboA-e and beloAV, through the mind, is also cut off; especially, if the former disruption takes place by a sIoav process of disease. Beflex movements, choreic or otherwise, are still, like all other movements, performed by the mind. They are those which the mind performs involuntarily, or Avithout consciousness of its volition. Emo- tions, we all know, extend so far as to produce perturbations of our involuntary, as Avell as of our voluntary movements. And it is by no means impossible, that by an inverse method, an obscure sense of pain may reach consciousness, when there has been no sudden break in its relations. Certainly, it is the part of Avis- dom to believe this, rather than to believe a theory which takes away all meaning from organization ; Avhich makes a function to grow out of vital endoAvments of a part, and whi.-h holds on to the function after the part ceases to exist. Besides, there is reason to believe that the feeling of pain is more connected with the central portion of the spinal marroAV than any other part. And in the case in question, this portion Avas healthy for a great extent beloAV the seat of lesion. 28 CAUSES, 0ON«ed fore the simpler elliptical theory of Kepfcr On the oth^r I TT^' t^ the luminiferous ether, was BuJple^KSisS^bSft w--t ^yP°thesis °.f And it has justly been condemned by Comte, S Mm ™ * * m cau,MU GENERAL PROBABILITIES, ETC. 33 A writer in the British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. xv., p. 139, in op- position to our distinguished countryman, Paine, argues in favor of these proper- ties as follows : " First, as to the origin of these properties. We see these so in- separably connected Avith particular forms of structure,—the properties never be- ing manifested without the structure, and the structure never existing in its per- fect state without the properties,—that no reasonable ground can be assigned for attributing vital properties to anything else than that peculiar structural arrange- ment, and that peculiar union of elements which characterize the tissue exhibiting them. There is here a strong analogy, then, to the production of a new and pe- culiar set of properties in a piece of mechanism, or in a chemical compound, by a certain disposition of elements ; but it is only an analogy, since the conditions requisite for the production of an organized tissue, are, as already shown, of a new and peculiar character. Still, the analogy is important in this,—that, as we do not consider it necessary to imagine the separate existence of an elastic princi- ple which is imparted to steel, when tempered in a peculiar way, or of a saline principle, Avhich is imparted to muriatic acid and soda, in the act of their combi- nation,—so there is no necessity to infer the existence of a vital principle, because a tissue formed in a peculiar manner, possesses peculiar properties. And upon the logical principle of avoiding unnecessary hypotheses, we cannot but do wrong in making such an assumption. For we may consider it as a law of the Creator equally constant in its operation Avith any of those already alluded to, that the act of organization, or the production of an organized structure out of an amor- phus plasma, does generate, or deA-elope certain properties, Avhich are as closely related to the structure as elasticity is to blue tempered steel. If there be not such laws of uniform operation in physiology, we know not what hope there is of ever raising it in the scale of sciences." This reasoning, in Avhich the reviewer assures us, " some very able logicians have been unable to detect any flaw," does not reach the case. It will only ap- ply to instances Avhere but a single property springs out of a single definite struc- ture, as, for example, contractility in the muscular fibre. Where a number of distinct properties, having no conceivable resemblance to one another, are attrib- uted to the same organized structure, as the endowments of nerves, or the varied supposed properties of cells according to the different glands they enter into the composition of, or the different tissues they are metamorphosed into, it has no place. To escape from this dilemma, he imagines some infinitesimal A-ariation of structure in the cell, far beyond the power of the microscope to reA-eal, or some change in composition, Avhich chemical analysis cannot as yet define. But this is begging the question. The vital endoAvments of the nerA'es must be considered as superadded to their structure. Each one is a specific cause—a neAv creation. We haA-e all the evidence that the nature of the case is susceptible of, that the struc- ture is the same for all. No one in his senses Avill ever belieA'e that this structure is so modified in the optic nerve, as to haA-e the property of affecting the mind Avith color, and in the anterior column of the spinal marrow, so as to have the property of exciting muscular contraction. "The logical principle of avoiding unnecessary hypotheses," therefore, points in the opposite direction. We assume one of these properties for eA-ery neAv mental fact that avc explain. Granting, then, that the vital principle is an assumption, it reduces the number of such as- sumptions from almost infinity to one. 5 34 GENERAL PKOBABILITIES, ETC. The RevieAver sums up by saying " that, as there are certain properties of mat- ter, Avhich operate in a certain uniform manner, (or according to certain hnvs,) to produce the class of phenomena Avhich Ave ordinarily designate as physical—and as there are certain other properties Avhich act in their peculiar manner to produce chemical phenomena—so there is another class restricted to particular elements, which, when operating under certain required conditions, produce vital phenom- ena." To this it may be replied, that the logic is loose, and the analogy distant. It may be met and parodied by saying : That as the simple aggregations of mat- ter possess both physical and chemical qualities, so, the binary compounds pos- sess other physical and chemical qualities,—the ternary compounds, (or those of vegetable organizations,) still other physical and chemical qualities,—the quarter- nary compounds, (or those peculiar to animal organizations,) yet other, and higher physical and chemical qualities. And since Ave knoAv that all these qualities ac- tually exist, is it not more philosophical before Ave assume the existence of others, which we know nothing about, to enquire Avhether the act of organization is not to bring these last physical and chemical qualities into subserviency to the great purposes of man's existence in a Avorld of material causes and laAvs ? If Ave admit of the existence of a vital principle, or of a spiritual agent, Avhich devclopes it- self hi the life of the body on the one hand, and in the life of the mind on the other, there is no occasion for predicating any thing else of the tissues but the new chemical and mechanical properties developed by the act of organization; and it is pertinent to say of these only, that they might exist in a latent state in the component elements. These only are " as closely related to the structures, as elasticity is to blue tempered steel." It is granted that " no chemical admixture of ingredients, nor any structural arrangement of them, could produce a tissue that Avould contract on the application of a stimulus." But there may be a chem- ical admixture and a mechanical arrangement, Avhich adapt a structure for the application of this poAver. And this is all that really belongs to the muscle. The supposed properties of contractility and irritability are poAvers of the vital agent. The strong attraction of carbon and hydrogen for oxygen, it is natural to suppose, may haA'e its influence in rendering the compound vegetable elements fixed in adhesion, so that they are comparatively immobile among themselves; while, the addition in animal structures of the fourth element, nitrogen, with its indifference for oxygen, and self repulsiveness, may serve to render them mobile, and the union of the antagonizing properties of cohesion, and repulsion, thus engendered, adapt the muscle to produce a mechanical effect Avheu the poAver of contractility is applied. It is only thus, that avc can discern a propriety in the expression of the reviewer, that the properties resulting from the act of organization are latent in the elements. When we would draAV analogical conclusions from mechanical and chemical phenomena, Ave must keep, as it were, within the forms of chemi- cal and mechanical laAvs. Nothing but confusion results when avc step beyond these boundaries. A sufficient reason can be given for the organization of all the tissues, by sup- posing its end to be, to develope mechanical qualities. We see, by this idea, not only the use of the chemical ingredients, but that of the arrangement of parts. Every organ and organic system in the body appears, on the surface of things, to be constructed as it is, solely for the purpose of attaming the physical results that grow out of that construction. It is by the hardness and firmness of bone, phy- GENERAL PROBABILITIES, ETC. 35 sical qualites, in which, too, avc recognize the influence of its chief chemical in- gredient, phosphate of lime, that it subserves all its varied purposes in the ani- mal economy. Muscle is adapted, by its capability of being contracted while tense, to produce a mechanical effect. The strength and flexibility of tendons, the hydraulic poAvers of the vascular system, are all physical properties. The se- rous and synovial membranes possess the physical qualities of smoothness and polish, to enable the organs, which they cover, to glide over each other Avith the least possible amount of friction. The eye, and the ear, the heart, lungs and stomach, subserve their purposes by the physical qualities which they possess. Vital powers may be concerned in their formation, and vital processes may be carried on Avithin them : but Avhen they are formed, they favor these operations solely by the physical qualities that belong to their structure. There is therefore no analogy in the other organs and tissues for vital endowments of nerves. If such exist, they constitute an anomaly in the system. Analogy here, as Avell as of nature generally, concurs Avith the philosophical law which condemns the mutiplications of causes, and Avith that AA'hich forbids the introduction of occult causes, in pointing to the developement of physical poAvers and qualities merely, as the end of the organization of the nerves. And this conclusion is confirmed by the structures and position of the seA-eral parts of the nervous system, both in relation to themselves, and to other organs ; in Avhich, is an evident adaptation to a physical office. Can any unprejudiced observer imagine for a moment, that nature took pains to build up the nervous fibres, arrange them into cords, expand them on surfaces to receive material im- pulses, isolate them to a certain extent, and then nullify her work, by bestowing on them endoAvments Avhich bear no relation to these properties ? Is there any meaning in this structure, if it is not for the purpose of receiving and transmit- ting impulses ? Again, in the ganglion, centre of the spinal marrow, surface of the convolutions of the cerebrum and of the laminae of the cerebellum, the same structure is throAvn into three different forms, and each successive higher form is / a better adaptation on physical principles, to perform one and the same office. Does not this fact almost force the conclusion, that this office is a single and a physical one ? The causes also, Avhich act from without, through the organs of the senses on the nerves to excite their normal activity, there isTeason to belieA-e, all act accord- ing to the laAV of impulse. They are therefore calculated, as far as we can form a conception of their action, to excite nothing but mechanical agitations in the nerves themselves. So, likeAvise, the causes which, without destroying the struc- ture, most strikingly interfere with nervous aclivities, are those Avhich impede mechanical motions. Concussion and compression, AA'hich annihilate the func- tions of the brain for the time being, are evidently calculated to arrest vibrations, or other agitations of the nervous matter composing it. The same is true of the individual nerves. If a nerve be tied or otherwise compressed, its function be- yond is arrested. This Avill not howeA-cr arrest the passage of electricity beyond that part. A fact, which gives us reason to infer that the function so arrested is of a material nature, grosser even than electricity. What more probable, than that it is a motion among the particles composing the nervous cord ? The cross- ing of the influence of the tAvo hemispheres, as exemplified in palsy, the rotatory motions arising from the loss of the influence of one half of the cerebellum as in the 36 RETIEW OF THE POSITIVE TACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. experiments of Magendie, and the decussations of fibres in the optic nerves, and in the medulla spinalis, all take place according to the law of direction of a physi- cal force generated in these centres, and surfaces, and mutually acting and react- ing betAveen them. The organs of the senses are evidently constructed on the principle of bringing different classes of mechanical impulses into relation with the same physical pro- perties of nervous tissue. Externally, they appear formed Avith reference to the condensation and concentration of these mechanical impulses, and internally, there is a concentration and insulation of nervous tissues to receive them. And it is worthy of remark, that the more refined and delicate the outward impulses, the greater the magnifying and intensifying power of the organ, and the greater the number of fibres, (as in the eye and ear,) on the same surface. Noav this ap- pears altogether a work of supererogation on the part of nature, if she makes spe- cific sensation, to depend on a vital endowment of a nerve. For she could give that f ndoAvment to a few fibres, as easily as to many, and she could make a nerve so endoAvcd, see or hear without an organ, as well as with one. This point Avill be considered more at length in another connexion. It is introduced here, to show that the common theory, contrary to the common belief, accuses nature of not being economical in her selection of means to an end. REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. The foregoing are some of the a priori considerations, Avhich readily suggest themselves, as favoring the idea of the single and material office of the nervous system, in its relation to the mind. Taken separately, they Avould not perhaps be regarded as entitled to much weight in a question of facts. But collectively, they afford a strong ground of presumption, Avhich should lead us to question closely, conflicting facts, lest Ave be imposed on by appearances merely, in an in- vestigation so complicated. In the Avhole range of physiological experiments, but two facts have been brought to light, on which much stress has been laid to prove the doctrine of vital endowments. One of these, is, the specific sensation arising in the mind when the nerve of special sense is irritated ; the other, is the contraction of a muscle, when the nerve leading to it is separated from the cen- tre and stimulated. From the former, it is inferred that there is a specific proper- ty in the nerve, Avhich affects the mind Avith the sensation. From the latter that there is a specific property of the nerve, which occasions the muscle to con- tract. In each case, the materialistic observer judges precisely as he Avould of a phenomenon purely physical. He can imagine no cause in operation, Avhich is not evident to the senses. He perceives not the possibility of the mind intervening to affect itself Avith the sensation, because such an act, if it takes place, is beyond the depths of consciousness. He sees not again the possibility of the interven- tion of an act of the mind to effect the contraction of the muscle, because the nervous connexion between the muscle and the brain, Avhich he considers the seat of the mind is interrupted. Before however, we accept conclusions which violate all analogy—which ig. nore the connexion between structure and function—which explain phenomena by occult causes—which subvert mental philosophy—and which lead to conse- REVIEW OF THE POSITiYE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. 37 quences not only absurd, but mischievous—a full demonstration is required, that the inherence of such phenomena in the mind as cause, is impossible. And it is the business of those Avho urge these phenomena in favor of such conclusions, to make this demonstration good. The onus probandi lies with them. Hoav far they have acquitted themselves of this task, may be seen by the following ex- tract from Muller, in Avhich the whole grounds of this theory, and, so far as sen- sation is concerned, the history of its rise is set forth. " The nerves have always been regarded as conductors, through the medium of which we are made conscious of external impressions. Thus the nerves of the senses have been looked upon as mere passive conductors, through Avhich the im- pressions made by the properties of bodies were supposed to be transmitted un- changed to the sensorium. More recently, physiologists have begun to analyze these opinions. If the nerves are mere passive conductors of the impressions of light, sonorous vibrations, and odors, how does it happen that the nen-e which perceives odors is sensible to this kind of impressions only, and to no others, while by another nerve odors are not perceived; that the nerve Avhich is sensi- ble to the vibrations of light, or the luminous oscillations, is insensible to the sonorous vibrations," &c. * * *" These considerations have induced physiol- ogists to ascribe to the individual nerves of the senses, a special sensibility to cer- tain impressions, by which they are supposed to be conductors of certain quali- ties of bodies, and not of others. " This last theory, of which, ten or twenty years since.no one doubted the correctness, on being subjected to a comparison with facts, AA'as found unsatisfac- tory. For the same stimulus, for example, electricity may act simultaneously on all the organs of sense,—all are sensible to its action ; but the nerve of each sense is affected in a different way,—becomes the seat of a different sensation : in one, the sensation of light is produced ; in another, a sensation of sound; in a third, taste ;. Avhile in a fourth, pain and a sensation of a shock is produced. Me- chanical irritation excites in one nerve, a luminous spectrum ; in another, a hum- ming sound; in a third, pain. * * * * A consideration of such facts could not but lead to the inference, that the special susceptibility of nerves for certain impressions is not a satisfactory theory, and that the nerves of the sense are not mere passive conductors, but that each peculiar nerve of sense has special poAvers or qualities, which the existing causes rendered manifest." In a question of this sort there are three classes of facts, Avhich must be con- sidered and disposed of, before the correct conclusion can be drawn. 1st—All those connected with the structure of the organs of the senses, including their nerves, and Avith the physical agents impressing them, Avhich lead us to infer a mechani- cal effect as the result of their combined action. 2d—The sequences of the pheno- mena Avhen the specific nerves are irritated. 3d—All those founded on the na- ture of the mind itself, as made known by consciousness, and which reveal sensi- bility in all its modifications as a faculty of the mind purely. It is necessary that such an explanation should be given of sensation as will harmonize all of these three classes of facts. Any theory founded on one of them to the exclusion of the rest, must be partial and imperfect. If we accept even that doctrine of causation which rests the whole idea of cause on simple antece- dence and consequence, and which relies for its authority solely on habitual ex- perience, then the second of these classes of facts are of no more weight than 38 REVIEW OP THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. either of the others. For habitual experience no more constantly assures us that the antecedent is the cause of the consequent, than it declares that mechanical poAvers and arrangements produce none but mechanical ^effects; or that mental effects spring from mental causes. Noav, of the three theories of sensation refer- red to, in the last paragraph of the quotation from Muller, the latest, and the one noAV generally adopted, was founded Avholly on the consideration of the second class of facts. The other tAvo classes, which formed the chief ground-Avork of the first of the theories alluded to, or that of the nerves being passive conductors, be- ing in collision with the conclusions draAvn, are thrown completely out of the discussion. If, therefore, no Avay could be readily seen, by which these facts could be reconciled, still, true philosophy would hesitate before it adopted so partial a view. It Avould naturally suspect some flaAV in the reasoning, or that some important fact had been overlooked in a question so complicated. The cause of the discrepancy, hoAvever, does not lie so deep as to be beyond the reach of the most superficial mind. It consists, simply, as aforesaid, in the fact, that in a mixed problem, where material and immaterial causes meet, the former are more obtrusive, being sensible, and are alone regarded. And that, as a con- sequence, the occasional are mistaken for the efficient causes. It will readily be granted, by all who are alive to the almost infinite rapidity of the action of the mind, especially in cases where it is habituated to act in a given manner, that, though, when a specific nerve is irritated, the sensation ap- pears to rise in the mind instantaneously, there is yet time for an act of the mind to intervene between the impression and the sensation experienced. It will also be admitted, that, according to the principle of association, if the mind is. fre- quently experiencing a given sensation, in connestion with the physical agita- tion of a nerve, which, also, it feels, it would call up that sensation, on the recur- rence of this agitation, even though it is produced by a different stimulus. The sensation, being normally excited in the first instance, corresponds to the realities of things ; in the second, it is illusory. Here, then, is the true solution of the mystery. By the law of the union of the mind with the body—by the law which unites its cognitive power with exter- nal objects, through physical impressions on nerves, it cannot but act, Avhen the nerve is stimulated; and it acts in the way it has been in the habit of acting when the nerve is—normally stimulated: consequently, the sensation experienc- ed resembles the true sensation of the part. These sensations are to be considered in the light of hallucinations, or sensual illusions. They are deceptive appearan- ces,* and instead of explaining the real, are themselves to be explained by the real. It is because that originally, and habitually, the nerves are physically agitated in connection Avith the mind's experiencing the true and real sensation, that by the law of association, it repeats this sensation when they are agitated by a stimulus of a different kind. The doctrine now maintained, is an exact reversal of the truth. It is like saying, the sun moves round the earth, whereas the earth is the moving body. It associates the sensations with the organic affections, Avhereas the organic affections have been associated with the sensations. It makes the mind passive in sensation—merely perceiving these affections of the nerves, where- * Deceptive in sensation, it is remarkable that they should extend their pow- er of deception into the province of reason, by imposing a false theory on man- kind for years. REVIF.AV OP THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OP THE THEORY. 39 as, it is active, perceiving external things. It, moreover, takes aAvay all ground for a belief in an external world, inasmuch as it limits our knowledge in sensa- tion to these subjective affections, Avhile it is the belief of mankind that it ex- tends to things as they are in themselves. But the process of sensation which we haA-e just indicated, while it evolves these illusory appearances accordmg to known mental laws, suggests an office for the organs and the specific nerves, which is in harmony with their structure and relations, and thus brings in one colligation all of the three classes of facts above referred to. NotAvithstanding there is a strong persuasion generally prev- alent, that there is a something in the organ which affects the mind and produ- ces the sensation, there is good reason to believe that this is little better than a prejudice. And it probably OAves its origin in a great measure, to the fact of an image being reflected from the retina. While, however, such an instance, con- fined to the retina alone of the special organs, being also the common effect of light reflected from a focal distance, may be readily conceived to be the incidental effect of the reciprocal action of this substance and the surface, it is difficult to rid ourselves of the idea, that if the image is Avhat Ave perceive, we should see it in the inverted position, and double. It is doubtful Avhether a thorough and profound analysis of sensation would assign a more important office to the organ, than merely to arrest and fix the at- tention of the mind on the object. In perception, and in all the other acts of the mind, Ave are conscious of a concentration of attention as the essential prerequi- site to the healthy performance of Avhatever it may, for the tune, be engaged in. There is no resemblance, and we can conceive of no necessary connection between the external impression and the sensation felt. In perception, the mmd attends and constructs the object in space. In reasoning, it attends and recognizes intui- tive judgments. In sensation, the last fact that external observation reveals to us, is a physical agitation of a nerve ; and the first fact that internal observation reveals, is an act of attention. Is it not, therefore, as good philosophy to say that the mind, roused by this physical disturbance, has its attention directed to the cause, and experiences the sensation by its own innate powers, as to say that the physical impression leaves the sensation on the nerve, to be subsequently trans- ferred to the mind as to a passive recipient ? May it not thus intuite external truths, as Avell as internal ? Examples might be adduced, from all the senses, Avhere illusions of perception, which analogy, if not the identity of perception and sensation, lead us to refer to the same fundamental law as those illusions above mentioned, occur, without any possibility of then: dependence on properties of nerves. A single one, hoAV- cver, Avill suffice for illustration. The familiar instance of the false sensations wit- nessed in a case of amputation of a limb. It is well known that the subject of such an operation, experiences all the usual feelings of the limb in its integrity. But what is in point for our present purpose, is, that he not only has the same feelings Avhich are common to others, but he has some peculiar to himself. If he has been accustomed to feel a particular pain, for instance, before amputation, he will feel the same afterwards. If he has been in the habit of wearing a tight boot or garter, he will occasionally feel either of them on, while his leg is off. Now iris not supposable that he has any different nerve endowments from oth- ers. Nwr is it supposable that those feelings, which he has in common with 40 REVIEW OP THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. others, are produced in a different way from those peculiar to himself. If one class are produced by vital endoAA-ments of nerves, so are the other. On the con- trary, if one class arc owing to the reaction of the mind on the physical agitations of nerves, so are the other. These facts are all deducible from the knoAvn poAV- ers of the mind, according to the principle of association ; and render the intro- duction of the hypothesis of vital properties unnecessary. They are the simple aberrations of the mind's activity,—the indirect consequences of its cognitive poAV- er being associated Avith external physical impressions. It may, however, be objected to the doctrine of these false sensations and per- ceptions being the result of the mind's associating with the physical excitement of the nerA-es, the sensations felt through the normal and habitual excitement of them, that these facts are congenital, and might be witnessed, (had the child the power of expressing its feelings,) at the moment of birth, and consequently before it had had time to form such associations. This objection would be entitled to some weight were the mind a perfect blank, as Locke thought, on its entrance into this world. In the phenomena of instinct we have abundant examples of asso- ciations, which must have been formed previous to the birth of the individual in which they are manifested, and which must be considered entirely independent of nervous properties, for sometimes there is no room to suppose any addition to the nerA-ous system to account for a neAv association. The pointer, setter, and shepherd dogs act as their progenitors acted, on the first occasion of their exer- cising their peculiar instincts. But has any one ever discovered, or thought of discovering a neAv ganglion to distinguish them from other dogs, or from each other ? The young foal neighs, kicks, and rolls, precisely as his ancestors did, on the day of his birth, and before he has received any instruction from his eld- ers. The child sucks his thumb a minute after he is born, as soon as he is capa- ble of experiencing a sensation of light when the retina is irritated. In each case, he feels-a sensation proximate to the true one, and acts accordingly. But if we should hence say, that he experiences the true sensation on the same ground that he experiences the false one, we should be guilty of saying, that the child nurses the breast because he sucks his thumb. * * In the recent work of Professor BoAven, of Harvard College, on Metaphysics and Ethics, at page 228 of the second edition, the author, after admitting that such motions as the beating of the heart, the movements of respiration, and the peristaltic actions of the intestines, are properly automatic, or mechanical, quali- fies his admission in a note, as follows : " To avoid misconception, I may here mention, once for all, that I use the common phraseology that is founded on the mechanical theory of nature's opera- tions, or the doctrine of secondary causes, but without admitting the truth of that theory. In the former part, I endeavered to prove that all action or change in the purely material creation, must be attributed to the immediate agency of the creator. Still, for the convenience of speech, to avoid circumvolution and incessant reference to this doctrine, I continue to use the language that is sanc- tioned by universal custom, though it is derived from what seems to me a whol- ly unphflosophical and mistaken vieAv." ' With this ingenious author, whom it is a pleasure at all times to read, I a redness and greenness. So are heat and cold as specific, as rough and smooth ; rises in importance. So when you undertake to apply such terms to the motions of animals, the reaction of the language leads into grave errors The mind, al- wavs aiming to assimilate the new farts with what Avas previously known, is in- stinctively led to conceive of them uiul-r the relation of mechanical causes and 1-iavs The mere loss of consciousness of volition, on the part of the animal, or of the sensations on which the movements arc based, is not of so much importance ■is Avhether the v are to be referred to mechanical or mental Uvws and causes. Are habits no longer regulated by mental laws, when they cease to be attended with consciousness r If they are not, Avhen did they pass out of one province into the other5 When habits become hereditary instincts, do they then revolutionize their form of government ? If they do, what historianhas chronicled the change r Investigations mav be carried on, and knowledge acquired in the purely phy- sical sciences, without necessarily keeping in sight the efficient causes ; but in studvin" vital phenomena, efficient causes are not to be blinked out of view, not £en\vith a protest. The polygon here becomes a square. 1 liese P^nomena cannot be arranged, aud classified, and discoursed about intclligibh, Avithout a crstantre?eren°ce to those causes and the laws which limit them. Hence in quoting with approbation and adopting the terms of Carpenter ,md his school ?he Professor has rendered his chapter on the " Nature of Instinct the most msat sfactory portion of his whole book. If he would take the trouble of read- inrthe chapter on the functions of the Cerebrum in Carpenter, and see Avhat use he°there makes of the reflex function, he would, perhaps, find reason to withdraw his endorsement of this theory. Formerly, metaphysicians opposed a barrier to the ^Sizing tendencies of physiologists ; but, of late, it seems that thej have made an unconditional surrender. 6 42 REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IK BUPrORT OF THE THEORY. yet, what nerve, going to the skin, imparts either of these sensations Avhen irri- tated ? Again : some of these feelings can be imitated, if impressions, purely physical, are made on the expanded extremities of the nerves, Avhile, if they are made on the trunks, no such effects follow. A sense of nausea arises if the fauces be irritated ; an acid or saline taste, if the tip of the tongue be struck gently. Here, we see that the nearer Ave approach the physiological process, the nearer Ave are to the physiological result. A converse demonstration is the fact, that through the nerves of the eye and ear, the irritation of Avhose trunks iiiA-ariably produces those specific sensations, none other than sensations of sight and sound are ever normally transmitted. Here, then, also, Ave should naturally infer, that the more habituated the mind is to receive specific sensations, through certain nerves, the more certainly does the physical excitation of the trunk give rise to the corresponding false sensation. Such facts admit of explanation only on the theory of the mind's associating the sensations Avith the nerves. To be consis- tent, the theory of vital properties requires, that irritation of their trunks should excite them, as well as irritation of their extremities ; and that one nerve should as truly and completely exhibit this property, as another. It also requires, that every distinct class of sensation should have its appropri- ate nerves, and that every nerve should have its appropriate property, Avhile nei- ther of these facts can be possitively asserted of any class of sensations, or of any nerve, where the nerve is not insulated by its organ from all but one class of im- pressions. Some philosophers of this school, have, indeed, imagined the exis- tence of distinct fibres for the evidently distinct classes of sensations, which are experienced through the general nerves"; but they have been philosophers, rather than physiologists. Having received this doctrine from the hands of physiolo- gists, and recognising in consciousness, sensations of touch, of temperature, of disorganization, muscular sensations, &c, at least as many kinds as are included under the term specific, they have naturally expected the same provision for the one as the other. But the absurdity of this idea, Avhen the size of the nerves is considered, has induced even those physiologists, Avho otherAvise agree Avith them, to discard it altogether. The absence of a distinct dividing line between the nerves of general and spe- cific sensations, Avhich is manifested by the sensations of taste being communi- cated to the mind through the medium of, at least, tAvo nerves of common sensa- tion, is still farther confirmed when we look for the specific nerves of the inverte- brate. Although there can be no doubt of the sensibility of insects to sounds and odors, naturaliste have hitherto failed in assigning to any distinct nerA-e either of these functions. Indeed, their ideas of specific properties have been a bar to their ascertaining the respective organs of these senses. Amid conflicting statements, however, there seems good reason to suppose that the antennal nerves are employ- ed in smell and hearing, as well as in touch, not only with insects but with the Crustacea. * Thus, while specific sensations are dependent on specific properties -* If Ave consider this fact, along with the experiments of Magendie, Avhich tend to show that the sense of smell in dogs is not dependent on the olfactory nerve alone, and with the observations of Beclard and Mercy, of cancerous indura- tion of the olfactory lobes and nerves, with persistence of the power of smell, in man, we have three concurrent proofs from different sources,—viz : the differ- ent stages of ite progress,—that the apparent specialization of the nerves of the senses is the result of association. For, in the lowest animals, it has not proceed- REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACT* IN SUPPORT OF THB THEORY. 43 of nerves, we find, in man, four classes of these sensations with three nerves ; and in the highest of the invertebrate, the same number of the former, with but one of the latter, viz : the optic, which alone can be recognized as answering the con- ditions requisite to constitute it a specific nerve. When we interrogate consciousness, we recognize the power that perceives and distinguishes one color from another, as precisely the same as the power which distinguishes a color from a sound. That power which distinguishes a color from a sound, is precisely the same as that which distinguishes a sound from a smell. The power Avhich distinguishes a sound from a smell, is the same as that which ' >v discriminates one thought from another, or a thought from a feeling, or a feeling from a volition. Now, if we distinguish color from sound by a property of nerve, we have need of similar properties of nerves by which to distinguish different colors from each other ; and if so, other properties, by which to distinguish shades of colors. And so Avith sounds, odors, tastes, tactile sensations, thoughts, feel- ings, volitions. The absurdity to which we have already alluded, when speaking of special fibres for the distinct classes of general sensations, renews itself here in a redoubled form. For the fibres of nerves, however numerous they may be sup- posed to be, must have a final limitation, while no limit can be assigned to the number of sensations, thoughts, &c, we are capable of experiencing. If, there- fore, Ave undertake to assign a fibre, with its specific endowment, to eA'ery sensa- tion, thought, feeling, and volition, in the end, we shall find our stock of fibres exhausted, Avhile yet an unlimited residue of mental affections remains. It must be accounted a little remarkable, if, after having convicted this theory of a discrepancy between the number of fibres actually existing, and the number necessary to alloAV a fibre for each endowment, Ave should be able to point out a further discrepancy betAveen the size of the fibres, and that which they should have, to fulfill the requisite conditions. Yet, microscopical admeasurement of the papilla? that form the surface of the retina, has developed a fact, which seems altogether inconsistent Avith the idea of sensations of sight being dependent on vital endowments of its individual fibres, and one, the obvious bearing of Avhich has not escaped the attention of philosophers of this school. A fibre, according to this doctrine, runs isolated from circumference to centre, and ^in the optic,) should give a sensation locally distinct from all others. A papilla of the retina is supposed to be the terminal head of the fibre. Noav a papilla is many times lar- ger than the ' minimum visibile.' A hundred different colored objects, (more or less,) may therefore impinge on a single papilla, and the question is, AA-hich one Avill be returned to the mind as a sensation ? When Ave compare this fact, with that of single vision, Avith two eyes, and with that of erect vision Avith an invert- ed ima°-e, we shall find rcneAved evidence that the part Avhich the organ plays in seeing compared Avith that AA'hich the mind takes, is of small moment. ed so far as to enable us to distinguish the special nerves or organs. In those of a higher degree, it has not as yet become completely disassociated from the com- mon sensitive nerve of the face. While in the highest, we see it driA'en, as it Avere, from its strong hold, by the invasion of disease, retrograding on the line alon>* which it originallv progressed, and rallying on the next point d' appui; a mode of operation of the* " vis medicatrix natura," of which abundant examples might be adduced. These facts, while they declare a generality of uniformity in the phenomena, such as Avould naturally spring from the associating process, Avith its results preserved by instinct, exhibit a want of that universitality, of it, which belongs to inherent properties. 41 BEA'IEAV OP THE POSITIVE PACTS IN SUPPORT OP THE THEOV.V. A degree of internal evidence is afforded by the structure and development of the organs of the senses, and their relations to the nerA'es on the one hand, and to external agents on the other, that they arc successive adaptations to the physical laAVs of those agents, and intended to bring them into relation with the same physical property of nerve. If Ave compare the organ of taste Avith that of touch, Ave observe as the only difference, a denudation of the nerves in the former organ, just sufficient to enable substances held in solution, to penetrate to them. AN e can therefore readily conceive of such substances agitating the nerves, and fixing the attention of the mind on the qualities from which these agitations originate, Avith- out any necessity for any iicav property of the nerve. A little farther denudation of the nerve, and perhaps a greater isolation from disturbing agents, Avould enable the same nenre to be thrown into agitation by bodies floating in the atmosphere. Here, again, the mind Avould attend, and, in knowing the causes of these agita- tions, experience smell. The same property, Avhich, under the conditions of touch, could only respond to the grosser impressions of bodies, is thus brought into relation Avith the more refined impulses of smell and taste. But if all has been done that can be done, by denudation of the nerve, to bring it into relation Avith the feeble impressions of external objects, and it is requisite to excite agita- tions Avithin it, by feebler impressions still, the next step would be the construc- tion of an organ Avhich shall magnify and intensify the impressions themselves. It is, hence, that occasion is given for the construction of the ear and eye. They are magnifiers and intensifiers of undulations, Avhich, falling on the nerves of touch, Avould be incapable of throwing them into agitation, but AA'hich, by this means, are brought into relation Avith the same property. In general, it may be said, that the organs of the specific senses are successive removes from that of touch, on the principle of bringing successively Aveaker and weaker physical impressions into relation Avith the same physical property. This is confirmed, not only by the structure of the organs themselves, but by the greater distances from Avhich the sensitive impressions come, the more remote the organ from that of touch. The disposition of the nerves in the organs of smell and taste, is, as they Avould naturally arrange themselves, were they originally of the same function, and the mind had gradually associated its powers of taste and smell Avith them. Thus, taste being experienced in connexion with bodies in a state of solution, the fluid medium, as the most obtrusive, hist calls touch into exercise; the mind Avould therefore associate touch Avith the nerves Avhich first receive these impulses, viz : those of the tip of the tongue. Subsequently, as touch palls, it Avould fix its atten- tion on other impressions Avhich are strong enough to disturb the physical status of the same nerA-e, and hence the nerves of taste Avould ba more withdraAvn to- wards the back part of the tongue and mouth, as Ave find them. In the organ of smell, the mind would naturally employ its faculty of touch in connexion Avith the agitations of those nerves Avhich are more exposed to the impulses ofthe air, for they Avould first elicit attention, and Avould mask, as it were, the others. And it Avould engage its faculty of smell Avith those, Avhich, being a little removed from the direct current, alloAV themselves to be agitated by feebler impulses, which in turn excite attention. By the continued repetition of these exercises, these faculties become associated with those nervous extremities which, from their position, favor them lespectively. Hence, it is, that the up- REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SCPPOP.T OF THE THEORY. 4fi per portions of the nostrils are occupied by the nerve of smell chiefly, Avhile the nerve of touch is distributed mostly on their lower thirds. The absence of a gus- tatory nerve, exhibits, in man, the sense of taste as the transition state between general and special sensation : While in the invertebrata, the absence of an ol- factory, or auditory, distinct in its origin and termination, shows, likeAvise, that the senses to Avhich they belong, are in the same condition. In like manner, as the illusory specific sensations, arising from irritating the trunks of certain nerves, are held to prove that those nerA-es haA'e specific sensible endowments, so, the muscular contractions which arise, when certain other nerves are irritated, are held to prove that these nerves have motor endowments. That this inference, like the last, has arisen from overlooking the insensible facts of the case, and that there can be no such motor poAver either in the nerA-e itself, or in the centre Avith which it is connected, I shall endeavor to show, by adducing facts, which prove, 1st. A variation in the results witnessed, accordmg as the exact physiological process is imitated, or as a muscle is habitually contracted through the interven- tion of a nerve. 2d. By pointing out some of the absurd consequences involved in the supposi- tion of our voluntary motions being caused by impulses, or other influences, gen- e-rated in the brain and transmitted through the nerves to the muscles. 3d. By proving that all muscular contraction springs directly from mental ac- tion. And that the facts Avitnessed, are deduciblc, according to acknoAvlcdged mental laAvs, from the mind's activity, associated Avith external impressions on nerves. They, being, in short, facts of precisely the same character as those which have been just examined. 1st. It was noticed that the nerves of sensation were less likely to give rise to their specific sensations when their trunks avctc irritated, than Avhen the surfac- es, on Avhich then extremities were spread out, arc slightly stimulated. 1 he same is true of the nerves of motion. No mode of irritating their trunks will oc- casion reflex motions so surely and perfectly, as impressions made on parts to A\-hich they are distributed. Here, then, also, we must make an approach to the physiological process, to devclope the physiologicakresult. In the mixed nerves, so called, there is good reason to suppose that erroneous conclusions have been drawn, by this inconstancy of the irritation of the trunks to produce contractions, even when important motions are performed through them. The interminable disputes hi regard to the functions of the p;ir vagum, glosso-pharyngcal, superior-laryngeal, and other nerves, have been oAving, in a great measure, to the oversight of this fact, and the expectation that irritations Avould as readily exhibit the functions of a nerve, when several are associated Avith it, as when there is but one. An expectation reasonable enough, if the function springs from an endowment, but vain, if from association. As, also, Ave found that the nerves of those senses which were insulated by their organs from all impressions but the specific, were the only ones Avhich inva- riably reproduced the specific sensations when irritated, so, iioaa-, Ave find that irri- tations of the anterior cords of the spinal nerves are alone invariably followed by contractions. And they are the only nerves Avhose functional activity, on the supposition, is coexistent always Avith muscular motion. With regard to the posterior, some affirm, others deny that they can be excited. There can be no 46 REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. doubt, howeA-er, that they are instrumental in the performance of motions, and in the experiencing of sensations as we have before shown. It has been found so difficult to excite these muscular contractions in the ali- mentary canal, by stimulating the sympathetic nerve, that some physiologists have denied that it could be done at all. In this instance,, the muscular coat, though occasionally contracted under the influence of the sympathetic, is habitu- ally contracted by direct stimuli. Here, then, are four concurrent sources of proof, that the power, Avhichacts in connection with the nerve in contracting muscles, is an associated one, instead of a fixed endoAvment. For, in each case, the poAver varies according to habit. It A-aries in the individual nerve, according to the part to which the cause is habit- ually applied,—in different nerves, according as they are wholly or piartially em- ployed in contraction—and even with regard to the muscles, as they are habitual- ly contracted through nerves or by direct impressions. Whereas, were it a mo- tor poAver inherent in the nerve, irritation of the trunks should contract them as Avell as irritation of the extremities. One nerve possessing this power, should contract the muscles with which it is connected, as Avell as another, and all mus- cles should be contracted equally by the nerves terminating in them. The last instance referred to, affords in another point of view, one of the strong- est objections to the doctrine in question, that can be conceived of. There can be no doubt that the peristaltic contractions of the alimentary canal, and of the heart, take place by the influence of direct impressions. If we admit a motor poAver in nerves to produce the voluntary contractions of muscles, then we introduce tAvo causes in operation in the human body to account for the same effect, viz : mus- cular contraction. A proceeding so unwarrantable as, in the opinion of eminent logicians, to justify, at once, the rejection of the hypothesis that entertains it, in favor of one that has but a single cause. But we are not limited to these peristaltic contractions, nor even to the con- tractions of individual muscles, when separated from nervous influence, to proA'e the independence of contraction on the nerves. It has been ascertain- ed by Dr. Bennet DoAvler^ of NeAv Orleans, and by M. Brown Sequard, that under peculiar circumstances, rhythmical and combined moA-ements of the volun- tary muscles take place in parts completely insulated from the nerA-es. These mo- tions have been referred, by Carpenter and others, to the vis insita of Ilaller or the contractility of the muscles themselves. But this power, while it Avill ac- count for the contractions of the single muscles, cannot explain the combined ac- tion of several, necessary to produce a given motion. It cannot pass over from one muscle to another, and unite them in harmonious concert. A transcendental power is evidently in operation here, in which the bond of union lies. And if so, have we not good reason to infer that the same transcendental poAver cannot be absent, but must be in operation, Avhere the nervous connexions still exist • and that the apparent nervous influence is a deceptive appearance altogether' founded on the associations of the activity of the one with the other ? It is also natural to suppose, that if the power by which a muscle is throAvn ' to contraction, is in any Avay derivable from a nervous centre, we should fi A some correspondence between the size of that centre, and the de°Tee of force "fh which the muscles connected with it, habitually, or occasionally, contract N such connexion, however, can be traced between them. The size of the ere t REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. 47 centres, appears rather to bear a relation to the number of the nerves, and minor centres, with Avhich they are connected, and whose actions they seem to control. Among the lower animals, the serpent tribe for example, the muscular contrac- tions are extremely forcible, often crushing the bones of the most powerful beaste of prey. The salmon has been said to leap to the height of fourteen feet perpen- dicularly, to overcome the obstacles in his way, while ascending rivers for the purpose of spaAvning. We cannot conceive of such motor power coming from the brain, or spinal marrow of these animals, on any principle we are cognizant of. Cramps of individual muscles, and the spasms of tetanus, which take place by virtue of the connection of the muscles with the seat of morbid irritation through the spinal cord, are many fold stronger than any voluntary contractions which we can make. Is, therefore, the spinal cord a greater generator of nervous pow- er than the brain ? The ganglionic centre of the respiratory motions is extreme- ly small. Could Ave conceive that it Avas capable of furnishing the steam for the ordinary movement of respiration, we should still be at a loss to imagine where the supply would be found, for the sudden and extra calls of coughing, and Biieezing. Although there can be no relation between the force with which muscles con- tract, and the generating power of the respective centres, there can be no doubt that some relation exists between the size of these centres and the office they per- form, in the minds of the advocates of vital endoAvments. It is therefore with a strange inconsistency, that they OA'erlook this consideration altogether, Avhen they assign the most complicated motions in the higher animals, to parte which have rather dAvindled than increased from the conditions in which they existed in the lower animals, and were instrumental in them in the performance of the simplest movements. It is in this way that Dr. Carpenter arrives at his strongest argu- ment in favor of the cerebrum being the organ of the intellectual faculties. Hav- ing attributed to the cerebellum the task of co-ordinating and combining the muscular movements in general, and to the sensory ganglia the task of perform- ing all the movements which take place under the direction of the senses, including touch, and those which are the result of the mind's determination, he infers, that there is nothing left for the brain to do, but to think. The " nen-ous power " for the infinitely A'aried motions of the hand of man, on which all the arts of life de- pend, and of his organs of voice, and, in fact, for all that has been superadded to the simple Avavelike motions of the fish, springs from three or four ganglia, relatiA-ely not larger than they are found in the loAvest of this class. To this inconsistencv, he is forced, by the doctrine that every organ must have its endowment, and that that endoAvment must remain the same in all the gradations of animals. A con- clusion which, for its absurd disregard of the most prominent facts, can only be paralleled by another, which the same author draAA-s, from what may be regarded as a corollary from the same doctrine. It is not only necessary that eA-ery organ should have ite endowment, but that eA-ery endowment should have its organ. Having, by the above method of exclusion, discoA-ered that the cerebrum has no endoAvment, unless that of intelligence is accorded to it, he next reverses the process, and finds that none of the invertebrate possess intelligence, because they have no brain. By a parity of reasoning, having attributed, in common with the phrenologists, the sexual instinct to the cerebellum, he denies this feeling to all animals of this class, because this organ also is not found in them. It is need-. 48 REVIEAV OF THE rOSITIVB FACTS IN STTPORT OP THE THEORY. less to say that a theory, which deprives half of the living Avorld of that Avhich makes the beginning of their existence possible, and of that Avithout Avhich, the continuation of their existence for a day is impossible, Is hardly worthy of a seri- ous refutation. The manner hi Avhich muscles are made to contract, to produce combined mo- tion, is such as to utterly preclude the idea that they receive their stimulus through the nerves and the brain. The frequent changes in the force and rapidity of contraction, the sudden alternation of contraction and relaxation in a number of muscles, Avithin a giA'en time, can only be accounted for by the immediate pres- ence of the mind to the muscles, and its direct and active superintendence of their motions. Witness the performances of the rope dancer, the Avrestler, the pugilist, or the expert swordsman folioAving the moA'ements of his antagonist so closely that he almost seems to anticipate them. Can any one for a moment suppose that the Psyche of either of these athletes generates little messengers in the brain, and, as a boy fits his paper messengers to the string of his kite, affixes them to the nervous fibres, and thus dispatches them to the several muscles, to tell each one of them Avhen, Avith Iioav much force, and with hoAV much velocity to contract, when to relax, how quick, and hoAV far, Avhen, perhaps, a score or more of these muscles are active in accomplishing a motion, required to be done in less than the tAvo hundreth part of a second ? Or is it more philosophical to imagine the Arch- eus of Van Helmont, sitting enthroned in his snug little office of the pineal gland, and telegraphing through the nervous Avires, to the muscles of articulation, after being himself telegraphed by them of their exact condition, receiving and trans- mitting the messages Avith such rapidity, as to make them pronounce sixteen hundred letters in a minute r We look in vain among the operations of mechanical causes, or among the dy- namics of chemistry, electricity, light, heat, or any known physical poAver, for an analogy to such rapidity, not merely of motion, but of adaptation.* It is in men- tal action that the true analogy lies. The power which associates our muscles, is like none other than the poAver AA'hich associates our thoughts. The poAA-er Avhich retains them in regular combinations is like none other than that which calls up oxu- thoughts in separate trains. The poAver of the Avrestler, or fencer, to vary and adapt his movements Avith such rapidity, depends on the intimate pres- ence to his mind of the muscles, individually and collectively. It is precisely like that of the orator, Avho, on the spur of the moment, passes in revieAV spon- taneous trains of thought, singles out those that relate to his purpose, selects the Avords to clothe them in, arranges them grammatically and rhetorically, and enun- ciates them in a breath. There is the same consciousness of nisus or effort, Avhen a neAv combination of muscular contractions has to be made, as Avhen a new ar- rangement of thoughts has to be impressed on the memory. When we begin to * The author of " Vestiges of Creation," reasoning from light, electricity, &c, estimates the velocity of mental action at 192,000 miles a second. Since he has condescended to give us one of the physical characteristics of mind, may Ave not reasonably expect more from his able pen ? Will he not tell us about the size, and figure of mental action:—Avhat is its Aveight, momentum, &c. r Or, since he is so expert hi establishing his premises in one department of nature, and draAving his conclusions in another, cannot he give the solution of some of those perplexing problems with which the ingenuity of the youthful mind is often ex- ercised to no purpose, such as " if a bushel of Avheat costs a dollar, what Avill a yard of broadcloth amount to? " REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. 49 learn to dance, or to play on a musical instrument, we dissever the muscles from their old combinations and recombine them, as in a w,,rk of imaginatioii, we dis- sever thoughts from their old associations and form them into neAv ones. By the aid of memory avc again c;ul up these thoughts in the same train, and again con- tract these muscles in the same order and combination. And the oftener we do this, in each case, the less difficult the succession of both thoughts and muscular contractions becomes, until, in a continually diminishing consciousness of effort, they appear to take place spontaneously. In fact, Ave have the same reason to re- gard the muscles as present to the mind, as we have to regard the thoughts pres- ent to it. We recognise ite principal faculties, memory, judgment, association, in operation in movements, and Ave recognise them operating where an interven- ing medium is inconceivable. This analogy extends even to paralysis. When in consequence of disease, or section of a nerve, a class of muscles is separated from the rest, the Avant of power in the nand to contract them in harmony with those from which they are dissevered, is like its inability to call up a particular tram of thought. There are no means of suggesting them to the mind, held in ite activity by the remaining muscles through then- nerves. The final confirmation of the conclusion Avhich these facts' force upon us, is derived from our consciousncs.i that a volition, accompanied with a nisus or ef- fort, is the immediate antecedent of the contraction of the muscles in our ordi- nary moAcments. This nisus or effort, Avhich is regarded as the mind energiz- ing, Ave are therefore constrained to look upon as the true cause of the motion. And no intervening medium, except the contractions of the muscles, seems called - for. If iioav, avc take an example of the simplest form of motion knoAvn in connec- tion Avith muscle and ncn c, that, for instance, AA'hich takes place in a single segment of the loAve.st invcrtebrated animal, and folloAv out the natural interpre- tation, by explaining the physical facte according to the laAvs of physics, and the mental facts by the Lows of mind, aa'c shall find them fully adequate to account for the Avhole process, Avithout any resort to occult causes. When a physical im- pression of a tactile order is made on the surface of such a se>gment or member, provided that surface is connected by nerve with the muscles that moA-e it, a mo- tion folloAvs. What then is the character of that motion ? Is it compounded on any principle of mechanics, of the forces Avhich produced the physical impression? Or can it be conceived of as the result of any chemical, or other known force, generated in the ganglion, and transmitted to the muscles ? All that Ave see and knoAv to be necessary, is the nerve connexion. Nothing can be traced passing up to the ganglion—no pioduct of the ganglion passing doAvn to the muscles. We may, indeed, infer, from the knoAvn tendency of the impressing cause to produce physical agitation, and from the knoAvn adaptation of the structure of the nerve to transmit such agitations, that the external impulses have been as it were, continued on to the muscles. But hero, sensible observation, and infer- ence from sensible observation, ceases for a time. When it reappears, it mforms us that muscular contraction has taken place, followed by a movement which partakes not of the character of physical necessity, but one which is optional, which springs from a motive ; one of adaptation, of design ; one, in which the elements of sensibility, intellect, and will, are plainly cognizable. The member is withdrawn if the impression is calculated to give rise to a painful sensation ; it 50 REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IS SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. is protruded, as if to grasp, if it comes from an object of desire. Every one wit- nessing it, instinctively says, that the animal feels, and moves accordingly ; and yet not altogether instinctively, for he reasons from himself. He is conscious that when he has made such a motion, after such an impression, he has always had an intervening sensation and volition. In the light of consciousness, he recognizes this sensation as the remote incen- tive and guide, and the volition as the immediate cause. Obser-Aation reveals the contractions of the muscles as the intermediate physical steps in accomplishing the motion. And inference from this, and mental phenomena, discloses the as- sociative principle and judgment, employed in combining and regulating the muscular contractions to produce the given effect; and no other intervening facts, is there a shadow of reason for believing, can ever be proved to exist be- tween the volition and the motion. He transfers this reasoning to the animal; and under the influence of the philosophical principle, that like effects spring from like causes, he concludes that the simplest adapted motion of the loAvest mollusk is through the same mechanism. The absence of consciousness of sensation, or of volition, Avhen a motion of adaptation takes place in a part separated from the great nervous centres, is no disproof of the conclusion at Avhich avc have thus arrived. When the mind is conscious of a sensation, it accomplishes a double act; or, as perhaps it may be better expressed, there are two phases to its activity—one looking towards the object, the other looking tOAA-ards the subject : by the one, it recognises the feel- ing ; by the other, it recognises itself in the act of feeling, affixes the feeling to itself, and thus is enabled to remember it. So, Avhen it is conscious of a volition, it determines toAvards the object to be accomplished, and it recognises itself in that determination and thus remembers its volitions. In each case, the mind may perform the first of these operations and omit the second. In such an eA'ent, the operations arc performed avit!t much more rapidity, but are not recol- lected. Those philosophers Avho assert that the act of the mind for the moment, is the consciousness of the moment, do not express the Avhole truth. They con- found the witness of the act, with the act itself. And Ave have abundant evi- dence that the mind, as in the formation of habits, Avhere motions, at first diffi- cult, become easily and quickly accomplished, accustoms itself frequently to go through the first part of the operation, Avithout stopping for the second. Consciousness must therefore be regarded, not as the poAver which experiences the sensation, or effects the motion, but the Avitness of the act of the mind Avhich is the immediate antecedent. It is a Avitness Avhich, though its testimony is di- rect and conclusive Avhen it can be obtained, can only be brought to the stand to testify, in the integrity of the highest animal dcvelopement; and not even then in all ca-cs. When, therefore, in the absence of this leading Avitness, we ob- serve the external causes operating, knoAving their tendencies to excite sensations— when, aLso, we notice them folloAved by movements of adaptation, implying sen- sation, volition, and judgment, we have circumstantial evidence enough to Avar- rant the conclusion that they have taken place. In the former case, Ave reason from the known hnvs of the causes to their effects ; and in the latter, from the effects to the causes. The simple and natural inference which we have already made (page 49) from the structure of the nerve, and the nature of the cause acting on its peripheral ex- REVIEW OF TnB POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. 51 tremities, enables us to account for the interposition of this tissue between the muscles and the surface of external impressions ; and opens the Avay for an ex- planation of the fact, that irritation of the cut extremity produces contraction of the muscle Avith Avhich it is connected. It is not mind, as possessed of the ab- stract power of perception, &c—which poAA-er is called into exercise by virtue of external physical impressions, enabling it to be acted on by objects in the world around it; but mind, as having added to this and ite other intellectual powers, the power of muscular contraction, by Avhich it reacts on those external objects, that is capable of fulfilling the purposes of its incarnation. It, therefore, having as it unfolds itself in the life of the body, constructed each organ with mechani- cal adaptations for its special offices, and among them, the muscles, holds iteelf in union with these last, as the contractile power, the « vis insita ' of Haller. It is there, in this union, that it receives the external impressions, directly in the peristaltic muscles, and mediately through the nerves in the voluntary, and con- tracts them according to the nature of the sensations experienced.* As it is frequently experiencing sensations in this way, especially in that class of animals from Avhich Ave have taken the illustration, a habit of action is formed, and it cannot but feel similar sensations and contract the muscles, though un- consciously, on any physical agitation of the nerve. The fact of the contraction of the muscle, AA'hen the branch of the nerve leading to it is irritated, is, therefore, one of precisely the same character, when fully analyzed, as that of the specific sensation being felt, Avhen the specific nerve is stimulated. They are both the results of association. "To conclude. We haA'e specific sensations in the mind on physical agitations pf a nerve, not because the sensation was originally associated Avith the physical agitation, but because the agitation has become associated Avith the sensation. That is to say, the sensation is the real and the primal, and the agitation is the contingent and the secondary. In other Avords, the miud, having its attention called to the object by the physical impression, intuitively perceives it. It notes the agitation constantly recurring in the nerve, AA-hile it attends, and associates it Avith the sensation. Subsequently, a similar agitation arising, it spontaneously calls up the same sensation. So, in muscular contraction, the mind, holding it- self in union Avith the muscle, as the contractile force, is roused by the physical agitation propagated from the surface along the nerve ; it attends, and feels the sensation, and contracts the muscle accordingly. Subsequently, a similar agita- tion arising, though from a cut extremity irritated, it reproduces a similar sensa- tion spontaneously, and contracts the muscle. The disordered sensations and perceptions are thus incidental to the laAv by Avhich Ave experience true sensa- tions. The disordered muscular contractions are also incidental to the laAv of regular muscular moA-ements. Unless it be so, if our sensations be not based on the true external stimulus, if they spring from a mere subjective property of a nerve, capable of being excited by any stimulus Avaatever, and if our muscular contraction spring from * similar property, then, indeed, have we no reason to * There is no more reason to regard the nerves possessed of a motor power, be- cause impressions made on them are followed by contractions of the muscles in which thev terminate, than there is to regard the lining membrane of the heart, or of the alimentary canal, possessed of a motor power, because the muscular ctructure in contiguity Avith them contracts Avhen they are subjected to like im- pressions. 52 REA1EAV Or THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. believe hi the existence of a world Avithout us, and our movements must be pur- poseless and aimless. The skeptic, driven from the field of psychology, may transfer bis battle ground to physiology, and barricading himself behind these vital properties of nerves, rencAv the contest; yet nothing can be more surprising, than the eagerness Avith AA'hich distinguished philosophers, and professed realists, have exhibited to fortify him on this vantage ground, by acknoAvledging the theory AA'hich rests on them. It Avill be readily seen from the remarks aboA'e made on consciousness, Avhence has ai'isen the idea so generally prevalent, that the brain is the seat or organ of the mind. It is the uniting medium between all the organs of sense, and all the muscles. It is therefore indispensible to all the sensations and to all the volun- tary movements of which Ave are conscious. Sensation can only be Avhen the mind is in an intellectual state, and motion must be preceded by judgment as well as volition, implying also an intellectual state and exercise. Hence, this state must coincide with the activity of the brain, because the brain must always be active when sensation and volition are experienced. And as the intellectual faculties improA'e by exercise, the greater the number and variety of the sensations, the greater the number and complication of the motions; and the oftener they are repeated, the more poAverful the mind becomes ; and the greater the number of nervous fibres from the organs of the senses, and from the muscles, and the long- er they are required to be kept in a state of tension from the same point, the more poAverful the central organ must be. Hence, among animals, the mind of man appears the most expanded, and his brain the largest, correlative!}' to this multi- plication of mental exercises, and this increase of nervous action, Avithout the one being necessarily dependent oil the other. And rince the greater or less degree of the intellectual state called into existence by sensation, &c, is habitual Avith a greater or less degree of brain activity, (the nutrition of this organ being more active, the more it is exercised,) Ave find another correspondence betAveen the size of the brain, and the mental power of individuals.* As to delirium, Ave have no reason to regard that symptomatic of disorder of the brain, more than of other important organs. In fever, erysipelas, traumatic gangrene, pneumonia, pericarditis, and many other diseases, AA-here the brain is not affected, it is a common symptom. While it is absent, or rarely present, in hydrocephalus, apoplexy, and in the early stages of some decided inflammatory diseases of the brain. The integrity of the brain within certain limits, is un- doubtedly necessary to those operations Avhich the mind performs Avith conscious- ness. It is therefore necessary in man to distinct sensation and volition, and also to memory, because memory is dependent on consciousness. But no one has a right to say, that Av-hen consciousness is lost, all the powers of the mind are gone, for that Avouldbe confounding the mind Avith consciousness. The imperfections of this theory appear no where more strikingly, than Avhen ite advocates come to explain sympathy and shock. 5f the vital actions depend on the vital properties of each individual part, there can'be no more of them ev- er Avititcssed hi the system, than what naturally flow from the sum of the vital properties in all the parts. When death takes place from the loss of a limb, or from any injury of an important organ, how happens it that this produces the 'The idea that there must be a specific change hi the nutrition ofthebrahi7for every thought or act of the mind, is one of the grossest absurdities ever conceived. REVIEAV OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. -53 loss of the vital properties of other limbs and organs ? Why, in certain animals, can the brain and spinal cord be slowly anu carefully removed without destroying the contractions of the heart, Avhile the sudden destruction of it annihilates them at once ? When vital properties are gone from the system, they arc gone ; and it can make no difference to those that remain, Avhether they are taken away sudden- ly or sloAvly. When death takes place, as it ordinarily does, gradually, there is coagulation of the blood and rigidity of the muscles of longer or shorter continuance ; but Avhen it tikes place suddenly, as by a stroke of lightning or by a violent blow over the stomach, these phenomena manifest themselves imperfectly, or not at all. What is the medium by AA'hich the influence of the impression made on one part, reach- es distant parts ? Can avc conceive of it, as other than a vital principle, which energizing in all the organs, in some cases, experiences such a sudden interrup- tion to its activity at one point, as to paralyze it every where ? It has been found convenient, by some of the leading physiologists of the day, to ignore as much as is possible the phenomena of sympathy, and when their consideration is forced upon them, it urges them into the inconsistency of calling to their aid the word vitality, or some ecruivalent, which they drop as soon as they surmount the diffi- culty. Dr. Carpenter gives us no chapter on sympathy ; the Avord indeed, does not find a place in his index of subjects. His system, without it, is complete as a system of vital properties ; but Avill it be admitted as a system complete of the laAvs of life ? In a chapter " on the influence of the nervous system on the or- ganic functions," however, he details instances of the effects of the emotions, and other states of the mind, in disturbing the processes of secretions and nutrition ; and having proved the independence of these processes on the nervous system, in a former part of his AA'ork, he iioav, Avithout a shoAV of reasoning, and in oppo- sition to the a priori probability, that the cause that produces a change in a se- cretive or nutritive action, is a modification of the cause that maintains such ac- tion, attributes them to different states of the nervous poAver. This inconsistency is paralleled only by the admission on his part, of the influence of the imagina- tion of the mother on the fa'tus in utero ; and, as there is no nervous connection in utero between the tAA'o, making the blood the medium by AA'hich it passes from one to the other. Here avc have not merely a transmutation of mind force into nerve force, and a transportation of said nerve force to the terminus of nerve con- duction, but a change of carriages, and an embarkation on a new element, before the traveller reaches his final destination. Chameleon like, as are the properties claimed for this unique energy, it was hardly to be supposed that this adaptation to circumstances Avas one of them. I shall close this essay by subjoining some of the most important conclusions to AA'hich I have been led, and which will seiwe to assist the reader to fix in his mind the chief points in the argument. All but two of the folloAving proposi- tions are illustrated in this essay. The sixth is proA-ed in the first, and the tenth Avill be found discussed hi the third and last of the series. The doctrine of vital endoAvments is, 1st. Opposed to the general analogy of nature. 2d. It is opposed to the analogy of the other organs and organic systems in the body. 3d. It is contradicted by the structure of the nervous system, by the median- 54 REVIEW OF THE POSITIVE FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THB THEORY. ical relations of its seA-eral parts to each other and to other organs, and by the nature of the causes operating physiologically to excite ite functional activity, or pathologically to disturb it. 4th. It violates the laAv of proportion betAveen the size of the nervous centres, and the complexity of then functions, by assigning A-ery complicated functions in higher animals, to parte, in Avhich the same size is preserved, as in the corres- ponding parte of loAver animals, in Avhich the analogous function is extremely simple. 5th. In order to preserve its consistency, it denies to the invertebrated class of animals mental qualities Avhich they most certainly possess. Thus, Carpenter, while he alloAvs intelligence to beasts, bhds, and fishes, denies it to ants, bees, and spiders, because they have no brain. 6th. The persistence of a function after the destruction of the organ on Avhose vital endoAA'ment that function depended, as the continuance of the poAver of vol- untary motion after the destruction of the whole anterior part of the spinal mar- row, a fact admitted, and of a positive character, is a decided refutation of the whole theory. 7th. The mechanism of voluntary motion, Avhich it sets forth, is absurd. 8th. The distribution it makes of the sensitive properties throughout the nerves, is unphilosophical. 9th. It fails to account for all the phenomena Avhich take place in the human body, and AA-hich are usually referred to the nervous system; such events as shock, sudden loss of vitality, and many of the phenomena of sympathy remain- ing unaccounted for, by it. 10th. The inconsistencies and contradictions of those who undertake to in- vestigate and fix these vital endoAvments of nerves and nervous centres by means of physiological experiments, and pathological obsen'ations, are such as could not take place, did they possess the true key to the explanation of the facts which they Avitness. 11th. A comparison of the phenomena of association Avith those of instinct, Avill show that the apparent fixedness of the sensibilities of the specific and other nerves, can be explained as well by regarding them as mental faculties instinct- iA-ely associated Avith physical excitements of nerves, as by supposhig them due to inherent properties of the nerA-es themselves ; and if so, the supposition of the existence of such properties is a gratuitous assumption. 12th. And Avith regard to the well-known fact that when the cut end of a motor nerve (so called) is irritated, the muscle with Avhich it is connected con- tracts,—by far the strongest argument in faA-or of the doctrine of vital endoAvments, if Ave adopt a vieAv of the nature of the union of the mind with the body, which has been held by many of the most distinguished ancient as well as modern phil- osophers, viz., " that the mind is all in the whole body, and all in every of its parts," instead of locating it in the brain or any other part; we can then con- ceive of a mental act intervening betAveen the excitement of the cut end of the nerve, and the contraction of the connected muscle, on Avhich, and not on any property of the nerve, the effect is due. 13th. Finally, of those facts Avhich have loosely been held to prove that the brain is the organ of the mind—such as the correspondence between the size of the brain and the intellect of the species, or of the individual; the sense of fati»ue REVIEW OF THE P08ITIV1 FACTS IX SUPPORT OF THE THEORY. 66 in the head that follows long-continued exercise of the mind ; delirium, attend- ing an excited condition of the nervous system ; impahment of the memory in disease of the brain ; loss of the poAvers of sensation, volition and consciousness, in concussion and compression of the brain ; they only serve to show a connec- tion, perhaps fortuitous, between the functional activity of the brain and the ex- ercise of the mind. Sensation and volitional guidance of the contractions of the muscles are both intellectual operations ; and as the activity of the brain is neces- sary to those, so it becomes associated with, and is favorable to, the activity of all the intellectual faculties. ESSAY III. This essay Avas read before the Massachusetts Medical Society at its annual meeting, May 27, 185G, and is here given Avithout alteration. G cntlemen,—I suppose that it is not unknown to some of your number, that I have ventured to call in question the prevailing doctrines of the physiology of the nervous system, and have advanced a different one of my oaaii, relative to this most important branch of medical science. Having been for some time, de- sirous of drawing the attention of this body, as a society, to the subject, in the hope that it will see enough of probability, if not of truth, in Avhat may be of- fered, to Avarrant some action, on its part, calculated to give it currency, it was Avith feelings of gratification that I accepted an invitation from your committee, to prepare a paper to be read at this meeting. It cannot be expected that, in the limited time allotted to me on this occasion, I shall be ableto present a full view of the arguments on either side of the question. I must therefore refer to the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal for the years 1851 and 18.">o ■, for a por- tion of them. And I hope soon to add a second part in the form of an Essay.t Avhich, along with the first, will furnish a body of evidence so complete, as (in my opinion at least,) to leave any man Avithout excuse, aaIio continues to adhere to the vieAvs, which, hitherto, Ave have passively received from abroad, particu- larly from the school of Bell and Marshall Hall. I propose, therefore, to-day, to show by a superficial glance at the origin and results of the mode of inquiry now pursued, that if this great mystery of the ner- A-ous system is ever penetrated, it must be by a channel altogether new. This, if time is permitted, will be folloAved by an outline of my oavii vieAvs, in Avhich, by the aid of the diagram,% I shall endeaA'or to illustrate that portion of the proof, AA'hich is derived from the correspondence between the principles, and the mecha- nism of the nervous system, and which may be denominated the anatomical proof. And after this, I shall endeaA'or to point out some of the inconseciuences of those experiments of Bell, Muller, Kronenburgh, &c., which have been relied on as proofs of the sensitive and motor functions of the spinal nerves. * The first of these Essays. t The second. X A large Diagram, painted on canvass, was exhibited to the society, of Avhich the one inserted tOAA'ards the close of this Essay, is a copy. SENSITIVE AND MOTOR ENDOWMENTS AN ASSUMPTION. 57 The idea that a part of the nerves were destined for motion and a part for sen- sation, originated at an tarly period in the history of medicine. The terms neu- roy aisthetikoi, and neuroy kinetikoi, invented to express these relations, indi- cate its preAaleucc among the ancient Creeks. It seems, hoAvever, to haA'e arisen rather from conjecture, than from a direct process of reasoning founded on facts ; and from the Avant of a clear discrimination of what pertained to the mind, and what belonged to the nerves, in the process of sensation, and in the accomplish- ment of motion, to have been held in a vague and often inconsistent manner. I;t the absence of all positive knowledge on the subject, it was the most simple and natural Avay of accounting for the occasional loss of sensation Avithout the loss of motion, and the reverse : facte, which must have forced themselves on the atten- tion of the earliest physicians. There appears to be this difference in the manner, in which this opinion has been entertained by the ancients and the moderns, respectively. By the former, it Avas held under, and subordinate to, the doctrine, that the soul or spiritual principle was the chief agent in the formation of the body, and the active recipi- ent of all the sensations received through its medium, as Avell as the efficient cause of all the movements which take place Avithin it, Avhether voluntary or in- voluntary. They therefore believed that it AA'as some modification of physical structure, or mechanical condition, by which one nerve was adapted to one office and another to the other. Thus, it Avas the opinion of Galen, that the relative degrees of hardness or soft- ness of a nerve, determined ite function in this respect. And he even went so far as to suppose that the same nerve, in one part of ite course, may harden so as to giA-e rise to motion, and in another, may soften so as, by its greater impressi- bility, to giA-e rise to sensation. The moderns, on the contrary, maintain that there is a peculiar power or en- doAvment inherent in the nerA-e, over and above, and independent of its struc- ture, and Avhich may be essentially different in tAvo nerves of' the same structure. The dividing line betAveen these two sets of opinions, may be truly said to be the writings of 1 laller. This distinguished author, while he belieA'ed neither Avith those Avho AAent before, nor Avith those who Avere to come after him, and Avhile he expressly declared that he " cannot admit a distinction between the two systems of motory and sensitive nerves," laid the foundation, by his doctrine of irritability, or vis insita, in Avhich he first gave prominence to the idea of a pow- er in a part, AA'hich had no conceivable connection Avith the structure of that part, of the very doctrine in question. It Avas but a step, when the limits which circumscribed our reasoning on these subjects, Avere once transcended, to pass to the modern platform of vital endoAvments. If there is a vis insita in a muscle, Avhich bears no conceivable relation to the structure of that muscle, then why maA' there not be another vis insita hi a nerA-e, which bears no conceivable rela- tion to the structure of that nerve ? If in the nerve, so in the fibre ; if in one fibre, so in another ; if in the nerve or muscle, so in the ganglion ; if in one ganglion, so in another. It avus reserved to Sir ("lurries Bell to take this step. According to him every nervous fibre has its peculiar vis insita, or vital endowment, by Avhich its func- tion is effected, and Avhich it is the end and aim of physiology to discover. This belief has been entertained hi conjunction with another of analogous ori- 8 58 SENSITIVE AND MOTOR ENDOWMENTS AN ASSUMPTION. gin, and the conjoined influence of the tAvo on the fortunes of the physiology of the nen-ous system, it is impossible to overestimate. This second idea is sub- stantially as folloAvs. It is universally supposed—at least, in the modern sys- tems—that the influence of external impressions on the organs of the senses, is transmitted to, and exhausted on, the centres, Avith Avhich these nerves arc con- nected. And that in these centres a neAv agency is called forth, Avhich either acts on the motor nerves, and is by them communicated to the muscles, in case a motion is called forth, or excites an idea in the mind, if no motion ensues. These tAvo fundamental ideas have entered as a priori conceptions into the minds of all physiologists, and lnue given shape and coloring to then explana- tions of experiments, and of the facts Avhich haA'e been witnessed in connection Avith the disorders of the nervous system. Every experimenter starts Avith the belief, that one of the nerves he experiments on, is either motive or sensitive, and that eAery ganglion is an originator, and interprets his experiments accord- ingly. They therefore constitute, as it aaere, the mould in Avhich modern neu- rology is run. Noav one issue that I make Avith physiologists, is, that they have assumed these principles Avithout proof—that while there is extant no train of reasoning grounded on facts to prove either of them, reasoning I mean, in which the successive steps from premise to conclusion are intuitively seen, they have universally proposed to themselves as questions to answer, not Avhether there are any sensitive nerves and whether there are any motor nerves, but which nerves arc motor and which are sensitive ; not whether there are any oc- cult powers of motion or of thought in the ganglions, but AA'hich of them has this, or that poAver of motion, or of thought. Further ; in carrying on these investigations, they have been partial in then selection of facts. They have confined themselves entirely to the consideration of the sensible phenomena, while that large class which reveal the existence of a spiritual principle Avithin the body, have been OA'erlooked. These facts, again, they have attempted to arrange and explain, Avith a single eye to the mere rela- tions of antecedence and consequence, and Avithout any reference to the known laAvs by which physical causes act. The consequence has been, that, in no case, have Ave any assurance that the real cause hi the production of a given phenome- na, is not a mental one, instead of the physical fact assigned. These are great and important errors, which, as I conceive, in a logical point of vieAv, lie at the foundation of the system. It is now nearly a half century since physiologists have been engaged in the path of hiquiry marked out by Bell, which they have pursued chiefly by means of experiments performed on living animals. If there is one department of physi- ological science AA'hich has been cultivated Avith more assiduity than another, it is this. In England, and on the continent of Europe, it has been the field on which the aspirant for fame has indulged his fondest anticipations, and where even na- tional rivalry has condescended to intermix with the jealousies of Avould be dis- coverers. It isjair, therefore, to presume that if this is the true philosophical principle, and the method by vivisections the true method of develop hi"- it, suffi- cient time has elapsed for important results to have been attained. Indeed it would not have been considered unreasonable, thirty years ago, in view of the zeal and ardor then beginning to be manifested, to have anticipated, before now the complete solution of the problem. The expectation might then have been THE OFFICE OP NO PART OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM NOW KNOAW. 59 reasonably indulged, that long ere this, if the question was put to us, what is the office of the brain, cerebellum or spinal cord, or any particular ganglion or nerve, we could have ansAvered as promptly as, in the days of boyhood, we Avere wont to ansAver the questions in the Assembly's shorter Catechism ; and that candidates for Medical degrees, would now be done writing theses on the subject. A true physiology of the Nervous System, shoidd, 1st. Give a reason for every anatomical point in its structure. 2d. It should give a good account of physiological experiments, and pathologi- cal facte connected with this system. 3d. It should tlrrow light on the treatment of nervous diseases generally. Hoav far these indications have been fulfilled by the system noAv believed in, I propose to incpuire as briefly as the state of the case Avill alloAv me. And Avith regard to the first of these points, the proposition that I lay down, is, that while there is not a single part, the structure and relations of Avhich are so definite and constant as to entitle it, from ite external appearance, to the char- acter of an organ, whose function may be said to be knoAvn Avith completeness and accuracy; some, which have the appearance of being fundamental and im- portant, are hoav the subjects of vague speculation, or of the most crude conjec- ture, as to then- object and end in the economy. When the physiologist asserts that the brain is the organ of the mind, he neith- er attaches a definite meanmg to the phrase he uses, nor is he able to give a rea- son for the faith that is in him. By a r.pecies of scientific license, it is allowed for one to say, hi order to e-cape the imputation of materialism, that, by the term organ, he only means the instrument through which the mind is able to mani- fest itself, although he gives no reason Avhy the mind needs an instrument to think Avith, and although he points out no connection betAveen the mind, as mo- tive power, and the properties of the brain, as adapted to the manifestation of that power, but, on the contrary, submerges the former in the latter. For anoth- er, Avho despises such hypocritical meanness, it is laAvful to say that the brain secretes mind as the liver secretes bile, Avithout filling up the analogy by point- ing out the gall ducts through which thought Hoavs, or the gall bladder, in which it is held as in a reservoir, hi its quiescent state. For each of these views, it is a sufficient proof that pressure on the brain destroys intellectual manifestation, or an inflammatory state of that organ gives rise to delirium, notwithstanding a volume of metaphysics might be written betAveen these premises and the conclu- sion. Nor is there any incompatibility Avith either doctrine, in carrying on men- tal culture in a continuous field over the superficial area of the convolutions, or in variegating the surface by dividing it into small patches, and raising diverse crops of intellectual faculties. In a word, there can be no better proof that the physiology of the brain is as yet in the embryotic state, than the fact, that a scheme like phrenology, can obtain countenance and support from scientific men, and that itinerant mountebanks may be seen daily scouring our country villages, and supporting a worthless life, by Belling good intellectual and moral -charac- ters at the rate of fifty cents a head. Such systems, like the ancient astrology that preceded the knowledge of the laws of the motions of the heavenly bodies, are the fungi and mushrooms that sprout up under the shade of general igno- rance, out of the semi-vitalized materials of thought, that accumulate and lie mouldering until some general principle is discovered, to comprehend and cover 60 THE OFFICE OF NO PART OF THE NERVOUS 8VSTEM NOAV KNOWN. them. Nor have Ave any more fixed principles in regard to the cerebellum, than in reference to the cerebrum. Whether it is the organ of sensation, or the organ that combhies and co-ordinates the muscles, in all the bodily movements,—Avheth- er it is the organ that effects the rotation of the body on its oavii axis,—Avhether it is the abode of the blind God,—or Avhether it is all or none of these, are as much questions noAV as when they were first propounded. After all the microscopical researches of Stilling, Wallack, and others, on the course and termination of the fibres in the spinal cord, I am bold to say, that not one who hears me to-day is prepared to state Avhich of the three doctrines of ite mechanism, as detailed by Carpenter, in the last edition of his physiology, he is Avilling to endorse, even if he is not skeptical as to the truth being scattered among them. More wary still Avould each of us be in expressing an opinion founded on the experimental researches of Bell, Marshall Hall, &c, respecting the functional office of either one of its tlvree great divisions. But there are no organs, perhaps, in regard to the functions of Avhich the im- agination takes so Avide and Avild a range, as it does in regard to those of the ganglions at the base of the brain, and on the posterior cords of the spinal nerves. From the absence of any a priori principle, or fundamental laAv, to reg-ulate the assignment of these A'ital endoAvments, functions the most heterogeneous, and in some instances hicongruous, haA'e been attributed to them. From the connexion of the former of these classes of ganglions Avith the organs of the senses, they have been denominated the sensory ganglia; and from their connection Avith the muscles through the anterior columns of the spinal cord' they are supposed to furnish the motor power by which all the voluntary move- ments are effected. They are also supposed to be the seats of instinct, because they are found in animals which exhibit the phenomena of instinct, and which yet have no brain ; and, inasmuch as it has been ascertained that muscles, par- alyzed to the influence of the brain, sometimes contract under the influence of violent emotion, therefore they are the seats of emotion. By Dr. Draper, of Ncav York, in a treatise on physiology not yet published, they are thought to be the reservoirs in which the objects of memory are treasured up, and are thence called the registering ganglia. All these different offices are found to harmonize, and to dAvell together Avithin very circumscribed limits. Nor haA'e they been thought to violate the laAv of proportionateness of means to ends, or of the relation of size to power. For when imaginary seats are assigned to powers bulky in importance, Ave are not obliged to stretch these seats to accommodate any increase of such bulk to Avhich they may attain, but only to stretch the imagination. The same organs which furnish the motor power for the simple movements of the fish, are thus enabled to provide for the complicated movements of the hands and arms of man, and to find room for a half dozen other offices which have groAvn in the same proportion. The mutations of function Avhich the spinal ganglions have undergone, form an interesting subject for historical inquiry. About the first opinion recorded of their use, was, that they were intended to cut off sensation in our involuntary movements. This Avas denied by Monro, who discovered their location on the posterior roots, and who supposed them to belong to both sensitive and motor nerves. He again was contradicted by Sir Charles Bell, who seems to have re- garded them as a series of labels affixed to thej sensitive nerves, to distinguish THE OFFICE OF NO PART OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEAt NOW KNOWN. 61 them from the motor. In the invertebrate, they are regarded as the seats of the reflex power-; but, as in the vertebrate that poAver is transferred to the centre of the spinal marrow, they become here supernumeraries. By Marshall Hall, and Carpenter, they are summarily disposed of, by being referred to the ganglionic system. Although such an assignment giA-es no explanation of then function, it ansAvers the purpose of thrusting them aside, standing, as they did, directly in the track of their reasoning. The last supposition made in reference to these ganglions, may be found in one of the late numbers of Braithwaite, and is to this effect. The ganglion is to be viewed in the light of a solder to solder the two parts of the nerve together. This I consider the most plausible hypothesis yet offered ; for although it supposes the workmanship of a tinker necessary to the fabrication of the human body, it presents some analogy and correspondence Avith the structure as it is. Such, it appears, is the unsettled state of the princi- ples which direct inquirers into the functions of these centres, that no hypothesis, however absurd, relative to them, Avill not find a place in some of our leading periodicals. A poAver of sensation, a power of 'motion or emotion, a poAver of calculation, a mechanical poAver, a chemical poAver, or a metaphysical power, may be predicated of each or all of them, Avith about an equal degree of proba- bility. Passing from the great centres and ganglions to the individual nerves, it Avill doubtless be deemed a bold assertion, to say that we knoAv no more of their func- tions iioav, than Avas known in the time of Willis. Yet, I confidently believe that the future will bear me out, not only in making this assertion, but in im- proving on it a little by declaring, Avithout meaning to say that he Avas right in every point, that just in proportion as later physiologists haA'e deviated from him, whenever he has assigned a function to a nerve, they have gone wrong. When, for instance, as I have already proved in another place, Sir Charles Bell took the important step of limiting to sensation the fifth nerve, Avhich the elder author held to minister to both sensation and motion, he simply paralyzed about one half pf its fibres. When, again, the seventh Avas transformed from the nerA-e " designed to bring the various organs into co-operative action with the auditory sense," in- to the general motor nerve of the face,—and Avhen also, the hypoglossal met with a similar metamorphosis, from the " nerA-e of the motions of articulation," into the motor nerve of the tongue, the indefinite was substituted for the definite, and both of these nerves bad more labor, by half, assigned to them, than they have ever performed. So, in the late attempts of Carpenter and Keid, to remove the su- perior and inferior laryngeals from their old positions, as the constrictors and di- lators of the larynx, and force them into line with the sensitive and motor theory, Ave haA-e another instance of the progress of physiology in the retrograde direction. It is somcAvhat remarkable, if all the nerves are either sensitive or motor, that some one of respectable size and standing cannot be found to range iteelf naturally and unequivocally, under one banner or the other. The waAerings of opinion among physiologists, and the shifts and expedients resorted to by writers, to make them train Avell in these tAvo companies, would be amusing, Avere the sub- ject less serious. I cannot take up your time by going into the consideration of such questions as hoAV the celebrated experiments of Magendie, which came near unspecializing the olfactory, and threw suspicion on the integrity of the auditory, and even the optic nerves, were condemned, by a vote of the majority, to lie on 62 EXPERIMENTAt CONTRADICTIONS. the table. How Sir Charles Bell found himself obliged to retract the first, and therefore the most natural inference which he dreAV from his operations on the fifth, viz : that it AA'as a nerve of motion, and to adopt the opposite conclusion, to Avhich he Avas driven by his preconceived opinion, that it must be either the one or the other;—Iioav the fifth finally is made exclusively sensitive by borrowing a feAv motor fibres from the seventh ;—and hoAV it repays this obligation, by contri- buting a feAv fibres to the seventh, to save its character, and render it just a bit sensitive;—hoAV the glosso-pharyngeal is afferent Avholly, only it sends a twig to the stylo-pharyngeous, and palato-glossal muscles ;—how the superior laryngeal would be altogether sensitive, did it not send a twig to the crico-thyroid muscle, and inosculate with the inferior laryngeal. In short, how there is not a single nerve of any importance, to which either of the words sensitive or motor, apply in its completeness and totality. An if or a but, a proA'ision or an exception, must qualify every such assertion. If there are such poAvers or endoAvments in the nerA-es or centres, as we arc called upon to believe, the method by A'ivisections is doubtless the true method of attaining a knowledge of them ; and if so, then the conclusions drawn from these experiments, should harmonize, and not contradict each other. It is fair, therefore, to presume that the measure of agreement or disagreement, Avhichhb- tains among different experimenters, is a good test of the soundness of the theory. The history of these experiments is too familiar to my audience, to render it necessary that I should go into extensive detail in regard to them. Suffice it to say, that they are an eA-er recurring series of inconsistencies and contradictions. Does a man Avish to arrive at the summit of human knoAA'ledge, " that nothing can be known," let him study these experiments ; for if he is so fortunate as to have any connected ideas relative to the office of the nervous sj'stem previously, the reading of these will plunge them into chaos. If he keeps up Avith what is called the progress of the enquiry,—that is, if he changes his opinions accordmg to the results of the latest and most approA-ed experiments, he Avill, in the end, be surprised at his oavii ficklemindedness. It is impossible for a physiological Avriter, in giving a systematic account of these vivisections, to tell a straight story, and arrive at any apparently legitimate conclusion, without adopting some favo- rite experimenter, and discrediting the labors of others, perhaps equally worthy of respect, base all his inferences on the researches of his protege. It requires the talents of a lawyer, rather than those of a philosopher, to make anything of the evidence which they afford. The witnesses must be cross ques- tioned,—doubts must be thrown on the capacity for observing of one, on the ca- pability of another to perform the operations which he reports himself to have done,—on the credibility of a third; until the testimony of a sufficient number is ruled out of court. Then must commence a long course of special pleading to harmonize the remaining facts. These remarks are amply confirmed, and illustrated, by the manner in which * was established the very doctrine which has been regarded as the great physiolo- gical achievement of our day, and which has given the chief impetus to this mode of investigation. In 1821, Sir Charles Bell publishes experiments, from Avhich he deduces the functions of the anterior and posterior columns of the spinal cord. A year after - Avards, Magendie publishes, and attaches a qualifying adA-erb to each of Bell's EXPERIMENTAL CONTRADICTIONS. 63 positiA'e affirmations. Some time after this, Muller and Kronenburg, uneasy at the state of indecision and doubt in AA'hich the subject is left, again repeat these experiments, and the Avish being parent to the thought, succeed Avith great diffi- culty and labor, in forcing out a plausible case for Bell. In the mean whfle, Bellingeri undertakes, independently, similar experiments, and runs counter to them all. It is found, therefore, on summing up, that the Aveight of evidence is in favor of England and Germany ; France and Italy are but two against three. Magendie, in order that the question may be decided, must be discredited, and Bellingeri overlooked. This is accordingly done ; and the sensitive and motor functions go on then Avay, a little halt indeed, but still rejoicing. Instead of re- garding these discrepancies as proof that some of the elements necessary for the decision of the question, were yet Avanting, the weight of authority, and num- bers is invoked to press down and stifle further enquiry. Magendie, in return for his stubbornness in reporting facts instead of theories, is gravely told by the British Journalists, that he is free from the first qualification of a philosopher. The Italian experimentalist is treated Avith hardly less respect, and physiologists generally, eager to be relieved from the uncomfortable state of suspense in which they were previously held, acquiesce in the charge. Such, I conscientiously believe, is a fair representation of the mode in Avhich this celebrated theory Avas foisted on the scientific world. Lest, however, its apt- ness to illustrate the point which I had in view, may be contested, on the ground that vivisections being then comparatively a neAv method of enquiry, the rules to be observed, and the precautions to be taken, in conducting them, to insure accu- racy in results, were little known, I would call to mind a more recent example. " The boldness and apparent exactitude of the experiments, as Avell as the im- portant conclusions to Avhich Yan-Dccn had arrived in 1841," (says the British and Foreign Beview,) " led Stilling to repeat them on the folloAving year. With vci A' feAv exceptions, this latter author declares the experiments of his predecessor to be false, and consequently his conclusions to be erroneous." These tAAO experimenters are regarded as of high authority, and they pride themselves particularly on then accuracy and dexterity in such operations. It is not a single and casual experiment on which they happen to disagree, but a great number, performed nearly at the same time, and under similar circumstan- ces. Is it probable that it is the fault of the men, or of the system, that they dis- agree so cordially ? Of like import, is the testimony of Mr. Noble, a AA-riter of great ability on the phrenological side of the question, who presents the subject so clearly, and so much to the point, that I am tempted to quote a paragraph enthe. Speaking of the experiments made on the cerebellum, he says, " It Avill thus be seen that no tAvo of the above instances presented any thmg like coincidence hi the result; but that on the contrary, direct contradictions occur. Kolando's Paralysis is met by Bouillaud's no Parah sis ; Flourens' inability to regulate movement is counter- poised by Magendie's capability, confirmed by Fodera's experience; and the same contradiction is seen throughout the entire history of these vivisections.. There is not a single fact recorded by one operator, which is not counteracted in its tendency to any conclusion by the experience of some of the others." These contradictions are admitted by the eminent writers and philosophers of this school, not onlv virtually, by the precautionary rules, that they are continu- 64 EXPERIMENTAL CONTRADICTIONS. ally suggesthig to the experimenters, and by theh labored attempts to reconcile the experiments themselves, but by then direct confession. " The results ob- tained by different experimenters on the glosso-pharyngeal nerve," observes Carpenter, "arc so strangely at A-ariance, as to lead to the belief, that they had operated on different nerves." Nearly equally contradictory, are the reports, as to the functions of the spinal accessory, according to the same author. "The experimental history of the par A-agum," says Dr. John Re id, "furnishes an excellent illustration of the numerous difficulties, Avith Avhich the physiologist has to contend, from the impossibility of insulating an organ from ite mutual ac- tions and reactions." Quotations of a similar character might be multiplied to an indefinite extent. Such writers shoAV by theh frequent excuses and devices to account for these discrepancies, that they begin to feel the awkAvardness of theh position. All sorts of reasons are given for theh failures to arrive at fixed and certain results. The blame is laid iioav on the experimenter, iioav on the inherent difficulty of deter- mining the question. They are evidently becoming conscious that theh search after truth, is, to use a familiar simile, something like the seeking of him, Avho looks for a needle in a hay-stack. Still, they console themselves Avith believing that theh labor, though arduous, is yet not Avholly desperate. They yet hope that by carefully taking up each straAV of hay singly and laying it aside by itself, such perseverance Avill finally be reAvarded Avith success. But there is a different reason from any that they have yet offered, Avhy they have not found it. The needle is not there. If it had been, they Avould have felt it prick before this time. There are no motor nerves. There are no sensi- tive nerA-es, in the sense in Avhich these terms arc commonly understood. And all search after AA-hat does not exist, however laborious, must always result in fail- ure and disappointment. A feAv months since, my attention Avas drawn to an article in a Avell knoAvn Med- ical and Surgical Journal, entitled, " Discovery of the functions of the spinal mar- row by M. Brown Sequard." As a matter of course, I felt interested to know Avhat this discovery Avas. On examining the article, I found that this gentleman had ascertained, that section of the anterior column did not prevent motion,* and that section of the posterior did not prevent sensation. The inference therefore was, that the anterior column Avas not for motion, and the posterior not for sensation. Hoav could this be the discovery of the functions of the spinal cord ? He had found out Avhat the spinal marroAv did not do. Not Avhat it did ! The public care little for such negative knoAA'ledge. It wishes to knoAv Avhat the spinal mar- roAv does ! What it does not, it is well content, should it remain untold. Had the editors of the Journal referred to, turned back their oavh pages a year or tAvo, they Avould have found a complete explanation of the experiments of M. Sequard, in the true exposition of the functions of the spinal cord, along with * I find on consulting my copy of the Journal Avhich was mislaid at the time of writing the above, that I AA'as guilty of misrepresenting the conclusion of M. ■ Sequard under this head. M. Sequard does not say, that, section of the anterior column did not prevent motion, but that, ite integrity did not prevent loss of motion. He could not, indeed, assert the former Avithout denying established facts. The experiments of this gentleman, when collated AAith others, and inter- preted by the dominant logic, prove that the anterior column is both for motion and not for it. EXPERIMENTAL CONTRADICTIONS. G5 that of the rest of the nervous system. I would not be understood, however, in claiming what belongs to me, as Avishing to imply any censure on the gentleman- ly editors of the Boston Medical and Sargical Journal. They had not charge of that periodical Avhen the articles referred to Avere published ; and few think of looking into our home made medical literature for a new idea. They erred from an excess of generosity, in bestowing on the French Physiologist a title to which he had no claim. The experiments of M. Sequard were chiefly interesting as proving, that, after a lapse of thirty five years, vivisections had come round to the point from A\-hence they had started. As they first stood, they contradicted the anatomical relations betAveen the columns and the cerebellum. As they iioav stand, they contradict that relation between the rorve roots, and the columns, or eLse they are a com- plete contradiction of Sir Charles Bell's first experiments. They also furnish an apt illustration of the nature and value of A'ivisections in general. They confirm the fact that these last can never be made an instrument of discoA-ery. So long as they are used for this purpose, they will only serve to set up men of straw, to be knocked doAvn again. The most that they can do, is to confirm, or perhaps to correct inferences draAvn from other sources ; but in- ferences, based wholly on them, must ever revolve and double on each other, in endless circles. But aside from these experimental contradictions, there are facts in pathology, which cannot be comprehended by the sensitive and motor theory, but Avhich de- mand a broader general principle for theh explanation. If the function of a nerA-e depend on a poAver inhering in itself, then it can make no difference to that func- tion, in what manner the nerve is destroyed. When the continuity of the nerve is once broken, the function is gone, no matter whether it is the sIoav work of disease, or of sudden hij ury. But if the nerves are placed in the foreground, and the real actor is behind the scenes, the supposed functions of the nerves being quasi functions merely, then avc may expect a difference according to the at- tending circumstances. The principle of Bell may serve to explain hoAV motion is lost, when the anterior column is accidentally severed in man. But when, as in the case reported by Stanley, (in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,) there is loss of poAA-er of moving the inferior extremities, coincident Avith disease of the posterior columns throughout theh whole extent, it fails altogether. So, also, it ansAvcrs to account for the complete loss of both sensation and motion, beloAV the part, Avhen the Avhole cord is divided with a sharp instrument. But its inade- quacy is again illustrated, Avhen, as in the case reported by Dr. Nairnc, where the spinal cord becoming softened by a slow process of disease through its whole thickness, a degree of motion and sensation remained beloAV. The consequences of lesions of the nervous system vary, not only according to the seat and manner in which the injury takes place, but also in theh recupera- tive tendency ; and Ave Avant a theory that is able to explain the generalities among these consequences. AVe Avant a theory of paralysis, for instance, that Avill explain why motion is lost much oftener than sensation ; and why, Avhen both are lost at the same time, sensation is oftener and sooner recovered than mo- tion. We cannot rest satisfied with the amount of knowledge afforded by one, that'limits itself to telling us that either or both may be lost at the same time. We want a theory that will afford a reason for the fact, that in a very large pro- 9 66 EXPERIMENTAL CONTRADICTIONS. portion of cases of partial or complete recovery from palsy, the leg acquires the poAver of motion first, while the hand either acquires it sloAvly and imperfectly, or remains completely paralytic. We Avant a theory by which Ave can under- stand how, Avhile disease of the cerebrum, or cerebellum singly, is accompanied by palsy on the opposite side, should they both become diseased, in theh alter- nate or diagonal halves, the palsy, (if it be true as Andral asserts,") is opposite to the diseased hemisphere of the cerebrum. A theory thus comprehensive, Avould not extend the domain of speculative physiology merely, but Avould have an im- portant practical bearing. But no such theory can be based on vital endoAvments. The facts just referred to, indicate a Avant of fixedness in the nature of the poAV- ers producing them, such as is incompatible Avith the idea of theh being inherent in any organic structure. There is, hoAvever, one conclusion, of a less scientific character, Avhich the im- partial reader may found on these experiments. It is, that they are more perti- nent as a matter of discussion to the " Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals," than to the Royal Society, or to the French Academy. In the eye of humanity, if the frogs appear as a nation of croakers, it is not without sufficient reason. One might almost belieA'c, Avhen he contemplates the merciless cruelties that have been perpetrated on this unoffending little animal, that the peculiar plaintive note, Avith Avhich he chants his morning and evening song, Avas given to it, that it may eke out by anticipation the measure of its just complaint agahist the authors of these outrages. The dog too, may urge in his plea, not only the charge of bootless inhumanity, but that of black ingratitude. From the day Avhen he folioAved Adam out of E den, to the day Avhen he alone of the household of Ullyses, recognised and Avelcomed the long absent warrior, and from that day to the day when he folloAved, as a solitary mourner, the last pauper to his long home, he has been the deA'oted friend of man. While modern human philan- thropy stands aloof, and barks at ca il from a distance—while it ebbs and floAVs Avith the tide of fashion, canhie philanthropy is self-sacrificing and always con- stant. To avert danger from man, for the protection of his person or property, the generous dog offers limb or life. He Avill lay his life at the feet of his master if thereby he can be of benefit to him, but he has a right to demand, that the sacri- fice should not be a A'ain one. The dog, who dies a victim to hydrophobic fear, has the consolation to think that among the remote possibilities of the future, his death may be of benefit to man and the craving of his instinct is satisfied. But no such consoling thought cheers the unhappy victim, amidst these scientific tortures. He feels not only that he is a martyr, but that he is a martyr to a false religion. His sagacity has already taught him, if human sagacity cannot teach his persecutor, that he is put on the Avrong scent, or is barking up the AA'rong tree ; and it especi- ally regrets him, that in yielding up his life amid excruciating agony, he is able to give testimony to no great truth, Avhich is to redound to the benefit of mankind. Although it is presumable that correct ideas of the physiology of the nervous system Avould be felt, in ite influence on the treatment of nearly every disease in the catalogue, it is in the class attended Avith disordered motions and sensations that ite greatest triumphs would be Avitnessed. Here, therefore, in the practical superiority of the physicians of our time, over those A\'ho dealt Avith the animal spirits, as they moved over the nerves, should we look for an experimentum cru- cis in favor of this theory. Yet, Avere Ave called upon to pohit out the improve- TREATMENT OP NERVOUS DISEASES. 67 mcnts Avhich modern discoA-eries have contributed to the treatment of disease, we certainly should not seek among the neuroses for examples. Hydrophobia still maintains it old position as the great opprobrium. Tetanus to this day, as in the days of Hippocrates, is declared by some of the most eminent among physi- cians and surgeons, incurable. Chorea is treated on the same principles, as in the time of Sydenham, and with no better success. Epilepsy has no hope as yet, but in a blind empiricism. And the word hysteria has not grown out of fashion as a cloak to cover not only the sin which is to be winked at, but a multitude of practical errors more serious in theh consequences. Even the section of the nerve in neuralgia, from which so much was once hoped for, is fast becoming obsolete. >, If some little advance has been made in the application of anesthetics and nar- cotics to these diseases, it has resulted from experiments made empirically, and in no Avay from a knoAA-ledge of theh operation on the supposed vital properties of the nerves. Nor, as I conceive, is it difficult to divine the reason why the therapeutics of spasmodic diseases have not kept pace with progress in other departments of the healing art. It is generally conceded that diseases are but aberrations of the Avorkings of the causes which give rise to the normal phenomena, oAving to some excited or perverted condition of theh action, and that they still obey the same laAvs. Noav, as the muscles are supposed to be contracted physiologically by means of some power generated in the nervous centres, and propagated thence to them, it folloAvs, that all disordered contraction must arise from some disturbance in this poAver, either in the mode in which it is generated there, or in the manner in AA-hich it is distributed, more especially in the former. Hence, Ave have as the cause of the muscular movements necessary to the act of SAvalloAving, something generated in the medulla oblongata ; and as a consequence, the pathognomonic sympton of hydrophobia, spasmodic sAvalioAving, results from some disturbance in the process by Avhich this something is generated. The seat of this disease is therefore said to be in that part. In like manner the seat of tetanus is the spine ; > and hysteria and chorea are also found to depend on spinal irritation. And men who reason and talk thus, flatter themselves that they have some connected ideas as to the nature of these disorders. The doctrine Avhich avc have referred to, has been held as the immediate or direct cause of spasmodic contraction of the muscles, Avhile the proximate cause, or that Avhich gives rise to the disordered action of the centres, has been made a subject of discussion. It has been an open question, Avhether the disturbance in one centre sprung from a sympathetic affection Avith another centre, from irritation trans- mitted through afferrent nerves, or from some poison in the blood. But a codi- cil is about to be attached to the doctrine, which promises to reduce these second- ary causes Avithin very narrow limits. Formerlv, it AA-as extremely fashionable to refer not only diseases, but healthy vital processes to the nervous system. Nervous irritation Avas a prominent char- acter not only in the play of many local, but even constitutional disorders, while nutrition, secretion, calorification, as well as muscular contraction, must stop Avithout the presence of the well known nervous influence. The spinal marrow, in order to furnish the varied powers for the duties dependent on it at this period, must, however homogeneous it appears to the natural, or microscopic eye, have exhibited on a transcendental analysis, as many meats as a turtle. But the real 68 TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. progress that has been made in physiology, that AA-hicb, in fact confers on it the chief claim it has to the character of a progressive science, is the detaching, one by one, these processes from the nervous system, and the continual approach to- Avards the limitation of its office to a mere secondary role in sensation and mo- tion. But in proportion as the nervous system has lost in this respect, the vas- cular has gained. If a medical student Avere to coir mence his studies on the properties of the blood, by reading the most popular authors of the day, in order to attain the latest and most approved ideas on the suliject, and to save himself the trouble of unlearning the errors he might imbibe from such Avorn out au- thors as old Hunter, A\'ould he come to the conclusion that the veins and arteries circulate a bland and healthy pabulum for the nutrition of the tissues, and for the excitation of the functional activity of the brain ? Would he not, rather, regard them as parts of a grand system of seAverage, in Avhich float all sorts of miasms, and corruptions, morbid poisons generated from Avithin, or introduced from Avithout, atmospheric poisons, the dank exhalations from Mother Earth, the exuvia of secreting organs, and filthy things generally, moving onward, not as though directed by some instinctive foresight towards the external outlets, but impelled by some new and unheard of error-loci, to discharge theh accumulated lentor on the most delicate organs, and to derange the nicest A'ital processes and functions ? It is not enough, that small pox, measles, scarlatina, and zymotic diseases generally, should be attributed to some poison circulating in the blood. But ep- ilepsy, which has been often traced to tumors on the nerves, to small substances, as a pebble in the meatus, and to tubercles, or other deposits beneath the skull, pressing on the brain,—hysteria, in Avhich the deranged state of the uterine organs is often obvious,—traumatic tetanus, Avhere the irritation somethnes begins in the part nearest the seat of the Avound, and extends from thence to more remote parts, and AA-here a local cause is always palpable,—hydrophobia, Avhere, after forty days or upwards of quiescence, the bitten part is the first to feel the symptons, and where a consecutive affection of the mouth and throat is clearly indicated, fhst, by the pathognomonic symptom, being plainly a reflex irritation from that sur- face, and secondly, by the virus being reproduced from that part,—and, finally, chorea, Avhere an undeveloped vital action, as a suppressed eruption, or the healing of a sore, appears on the face of things often as a probable cause ; all these, it is the humor of the day to ascribe to some specific humor circulating in the blood, which, reaching Avithit the nervous centres, where the power of contracting the muscles is generated, disturbs, in its very initial being, the nature of that poAver, and thus gives rise to spasm instead of normal contraction. The grand thera- peutical indication that springs out of this pathology is, therefore, to find out a counter-poison to each of these morbid humors, and by introducing it into the circulation also, start it on a wild-goose-chase after the noxious agent to which it bears affinity, that it may neutralize it either in its course through the vascu- lar system, or wrestle with it in the ganglion ; an indication which we cannot look to be fulfilled, before the retort and crucible have made known the chemical qualities of all these acrid humors respectively. Having gone over the ground marked out at the commencement of this c -ay, however imperfectly and cursorily, the lesson which such a review inculcates! appears to me, to be a plain one, viz : that there is little encouragement for phy- REASON FOR THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 69 Biologists to continue longer in the same path of inquhy. If, after fifty years of laborious investigation, Ave are unable to lay a finger on a single point of the ner- vous system, and declare respecting it, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ; if experiments turn up contradiction, and nothing but contradiction continually ; if we knoAv no better how to cure nervous diseases, than the gen- eration that preceded the oldest living inhabitant of the medical profession, then, we haA'e gained nothing by departing from the principles of Galen and Aristotle. The tree of neurology, planted on the doctrine of irritability of Haller, after the groAvth of half a century, presents, in anatomy, but a bare and naked skele- ton, in which we are permitted to see no end in ite structure, no comeliness in ite outline. In physiology, it puts forth no green leaves, to cover as with a man- tle the nakedness of ite branches and to elaborate the a ital juices dravm from its roots. In pathology, it blossoms not with promise, nor does it bring forth fruit in therapeutics. P The view, Avhich I would present to your consideration, to-day, is founded on the simple and natural properties, that spring from the structure of the ner- vous system; and on the plain and obvious powers of the mind, as reA'ealed by consciousness. It supposes the nervous system to be employed as an instrument of sensation and motion exclusively, Avhile, at the same time, the powers of sensa- tion and motion inhere hi the mind iteelf. And we shall have reason to see fur- ther, that ite instrumentality in sensation is subsidiary to its instrumentality in motion. Being incidental to the great laAv, that all muscular motion in the bod}-, whether voluntary or involuntary, is the result of the mind's immediate action, but directed by sensations conscious or unconscious arising from physical im- pressions. Instead of any occult power being transmitted from the external sur- face to the centre, and instead of anything neAv being generated in that centre and transmitted to the muf clcs, the physical impression alone is what is trans- mitted. According to a doctrine which has been maintained both in ancient and modern times, and which, if authority is to be invoked, numbers among its advocates, not some of the greatest, but the greatest names that the world has as yet seen, comprising those of Plato, Aristotle, and Galen, among the ancients, and Kant, and Sir Wm. Hamilton, among the moderns: that the mind forms the body, and in some mysterious manner is present to all the organs, and actuates each in the performance of its function. According to this doctrine, I say, that the mind, having formed the muscle, holds itself in union with it as the poAver of contrac- tion. It is here, in this vital union, that it receives the impressions of external physical objects, and contracts the muscle, according to the movement to be made. adapted to the end it has in view, and guided by the sensations arising from those external impressions. Now, if we examine the modes in which muscular con- traction takes place in the human body, Ave shall find that the simplest, viz : the peristaltic, Avhich seems indeed to have come up into animal, from A-egetable life— beiii" nothing more than the circulatory motions of the latter, with the improA-e- ment that the addition of muscular tissue confers—we shall find, I say, that these contractions folloAV impressions made immediately on the muscles themselves. The impression of the food on the lining membrane of the alimentary canal, of the blood on the internal surface of the heart, of the foetus on the corresponding * Compare with what folloAvs, the outline commencing at page 8. 70 REASON FOR THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. surface of the uterus, excite movements of adaptation in the muscles in contigui- ty with those surfaces. But it is evident that such an arrangement could not be made for all the move- ments that take place in animals. The locomotion of the body, and the motions of parts independent of the rest of the body, reeiuire that the muscles should be so placed, that theh poAver, when contracting, should be applied to a system of levers. And this will not allow of theh being in contiguity Avith any one sur- face of sensation, much less Avith a number of specifically different organs, the impressions on which, are to give rise to the sensations Avhich excite and direct theh contractions. Since, then, the muscle cannot be brought into proximity Avith the surfaces of sensibility, some contrivance seems necessary to bring these organs hito proximity with the muscles. This want is supplied by nerve. The nervous fibre is adapted, by its structure, to conduct, or continue on, the physical impression made on the sensitive organ to the muscles. But some farther pro- vision is still necessary. If there were but one sensitive point, and one muscle to be contracted by the sensations arising from impressions made on it, a single nerve fibre, running direct from that point to the muscle, would be all that Avould be requhed. But inasmuch, as there are a number of sensitive points, and a number of muscles to be contracted and dhected by .the sensations so arising, fibres must run from each point to each muscle. Yet if they should run directly from pohit to muscle, so many Avould be requhed, and the crossings and inter- lacings with other muscles than theh oavii, would so interfere with the lengthen- ing and shortening of the muscles, that it is obvious that the machinery Avould Avork badly. It is evident, then, that a great adA'antage would arise from all the fibres arising from all the points on a given surface, being made to run to some convenient spot, and there to unite Avith fibres leading to the muscles Avhose com- bined action gives rise to the motion of a part, or to a series of motions. Hence we deduce the ganglion. The ganglion, (and I mean to include under this term all the centres,) is neither more nor less than a portion of space in Avhich, by the vibratory impulses of arterial blood, as it passes into the A'cnous state, a certain number of nerve fibres, coming from a sensitive surface, are made to unite Avith a certain number coming from muscles ; and a state of tension is kept up, so that a physical impression made on one fibre, is disseminated throughout the whole. Thus, the ganglion is made to unite the nerA-e fibres, just as the fibres unite the sensitive and motor organs. The ganglion, and fibres terminating in it, form therefore a complete whole.* They constitute the only true nervous circle, uniting, as they do, the sensitive surface with the muscles to be contracted in con- sequence of sensations arising from impressions made on that surface. Now, the *When a certain number of these individual parts, lying hi proximity, are ha- bitually moved in concert with each other, occasion is given for the formation of a plexus. Thus, Avhen the anterior and posterior Avhigs of insects act together, or alternately, one becomes a surface of sensation to the other, and a plexus is formed between the ganglions of the one and the nerves leading to the muscles of the other, to connect them. Just so the brachial plexus relates to the fingers, and the ischiatic to the toes. In the plexus, the power of the fibre to transmit its OAvn impressions independently of those united with it, is retained. In the ganglion it is lost. In other words, it sinks its individuality in the ganglion, but preserves it in the plexus. The plexus is merely a shorter route by Avhich the sensitive surface of one segment, is made to unite Avith the muscles of another more direct- ly than to send nerA-es round through the neighboring ganglions. HOW IT IS COMPOSED. 71 Avhole ncrA-ous system is but an aggregate of these circles, or apparatuses of un- ion. And the study of ite physiology consists, not in torturing animals, and in- ferring, from theh sufferings, the properties of nerves, but in interrogating con- sciousness to find out AAhat sensations govern the several classes of motions, and in tracing, by observation, the nervous connections between the organs of those sensations and the muscles that accomplish those motions. So, to ascertain the office of a particular nerve or ganglion, we have to disentangle the nervous circle of which it forms a part, from the aggregate, and find out ite place in it. Now, there are three classes of sensations, by which the motions of animals are chiefly directed : the sensations of touch, smell, and sight. With regard to the influence of touch and sight, in this respect, we are made aAvare of the fact, by consciousness ; and Avith regard to smell, by observation of the lower animals, particularly insects, many of AA'hich are directed to theh food by this sense, and dogs, which folloAv it, Avhen in pursuit of game. It might be thought by some, that hearing has as important an influence as the other senses ; but except as a guide to the voice, any one AA-ho attends closely to the agency of this sense, will discover that when he undertakes to direct his steps by sounds, he has to make a great mental effort, and is very willing to substitute for it the sense of sight. If he hears the cars coming, or a horse galloping up behind him, he is sure to turn his head to see, before he avoids the danger. Connected with each of these three classes of sensations, are two orders of mo- tions, viz : the motions of the individual part on which the sensitive impression is made—as when the eye is moved from the impression of light upon it, or the segment or member of the inferior animal from an impression of touch on its sur- face—and the motion of distant parte, or of the body generally. If we touch the claAV of a lobster, avc commonly notice that the claw alone is moved, the main body of the animal continuing at rest. Many animals, still loAver in the scale, are only capable of moving parte Avith reference to the whole body, being fixed by some portion of it, and thus rendered incapable of locomotion. Others, Avhile they lie free, still move only parts. In fact, motion in animal life commences at the extreme parts, which arc first acted on by the contact of substances floating in the medium surrounding them. These three classes of sensations, with their two orders of motions for each class, give rise to six nervous circles, or, (to convey the idea better,) three double nervous circles, or apparatuses of union betAveen the scnsitiAe surfaces, and the muscles which accomplish the movements, directed by the sensations arising from the impressions made on those surfaces respectively. These six nervous circles, Avhen joined together, constitute by far the greater part of the nervous system, and determine its general form and structure. 72 EXPLANATION OF THE DIAGRAM. v. <• >-- \VV iu- A .--^ ./ _ A, the cerebrum ; B, the cerebellum; C, the spinal cord ; C, the central por- tion ; AC, the anterior column ; PC, the posterior column ; SGM, the general nerve of touch ; 01, the olfactory; Opt, the optic nerve. EXPLANATION OF THE DIAGRAM. 7? It is the object of the diagram to represent these circles apart from the nerves and minor apparatuses of union that complicate it, and thus enable one to see clearly Iioav they concur in building up the nervous system. It Avill be at once seen, that I have taken some liberties with the location of the integral parts, and have not been psrrticularjy careful as to their relative size. But the connections are Avhat, after careful study and examination, I believe to be the correct ones. A is the cerebrum. Immediately beneath it, is 01, the olfactory nerve, termi- nating first in the olfactory lobe, and secondly by commissure in the corpus stri- atum. Next, is Opt, the optic nerve, ending first in the optic tubercle, and sec- ondly, by commissure also, in the optic thalamus. B, is the cerebellum. C, the spi- nal cord, Avith the three great divisions separated from each other, in order to shoAV more distinctly their connections Avith the centres above, and Avith the spinal nerves beloAV. SGM, is a spinal nerve, Aviththe posterior nerve root, Avhich is properly a commissure, divided into tAvo parts : one running directly to the centre of the spinal cord, the other losing itself in the posterior column, and establishing through it a commissural connexion Aviththe cerebellum. The anterior nerve root loses itself in the anterior column, and forms Avith it a similar connexion Avith the cer- ebrum. This arrangement differs from the one lately proposed by Mr. Grainger, Avho, in order to make the reflex function of Hall consist Avith Bell's doctrine, that the anterior nerve roots are alone concerned in motion, has undertaken to demonstrate their connexion Avith the posterior through the central portion of the spinal cord. It correspond-;, hoAvever, Avith the observations of Bellingeri, who, Avithout any theory to support, endeaA'ored to trace these nerve roots to their final termination in the cord, and who succeeded in folioAving the posterior fibres to the gray matter of the centre, but Avas unable to do the same Avith the anterior fibres. The theory of Grainger, more particularly as regards the termination of the an- terior roots, is, moreover, opposed by eminent anatomists of Germany, and is ad- mitted to be questionable by Dr. Todd, of Loudon. Until, therefore, English and German microscopes agree in reporting the same facts, 1 shall consider my- self free to sketch the connexions as they are found in the figure. I have also taken the liberty of representing the cerebellum as in connection Avith the posterior columns and central portion alone, through the rcstiform bodies. A Icav fibres undoubtedly pass to the anterior columns, viz : the superfi- cial cerebellar fibres of Solly, for Avhich a reason may be given hereafter. But that portion, called by him the deep cerebellar fibres, Avhich, he says, constitute one fourth of the corpora restiformia, and Avhich lie along the cord immediately anterior to the groove made by tire entrance of the posterior roots, belong to the posterior columns. It is si eer assumption to limit the posterior columns by this groove, and not the most ingenious one either ; for the groove Avould be formed, let them enter on AvhateA er line, Avhile a more central termination, admitting fibres to surround the roots, Avould be much better adapted for the communica- tion of ibrcc. and is, in all probability, the true relation of the root to the posterior column. Why should the line of insertion of the posterior roots form the ante- rior boundary of the posterior column, more than the line of insertion of the an- terior roots form the posterior boundary of the anterior column r There is good reason to believe that the ganglionic root of the fifth nerve terminates in this part, instead of losing itself among the fibres immediately in front of it, which pass up to the optic thalamus and which have been called the sensitive tract, from 10 74 EXPLANATION OP THE DIAGRAM. their supposed connexion with this nerve. Of course, I regard the supposition of this sensitive tract, as a work of pure fiction. I shall now endeavor to evolve these six chclcs and show how they constitute the fundamental elements of the nervous system. Following the order in which the mind acquhes the poAver of moving the limbs and members of the body, and associates these motions with the sensations, Ave begin with the general nerve of touch, SGM. S, represents the fibres arising from the sensitive surface of the single segment or member corresponding to the cIbav of a lobster, the analogue of the finger or toe in man. These fibres pass to G, the ganglion, and there, by the action of the arterial blood which it meets, is made to unite with the fibres passing to M, the muscles that move that segment or member. litre, then, Ave have established the first nervous circle, through the nerve of SGM, betAveen the sensitive sur- face and the muscles that move that surface. In this Avay provision is made for the moving of every distinct member or segment, which comes into relation Avith tactile impressions on the body as the centre of motion. But it is necessary that the mind should move not only that particular segment as directed by sensations arising from the tactile impressions made at S, but other segments, and recipro- cally, this segment from impressions made on other points. If therefore it re- quires so much arterial blood or vesicular matter as is expressed by the ganglion G, to unite the fibres from S, with the fibres from M, an additional quantity of the same Avill be required to connect S Avith the fibres corresponding to M in other segments, and also to connect the sensitive fibres of other segments with the muscular fibres of this segment. This additional quantity of ganglionic mat- ter is placed adjacent to the ganglion in the invertebrate and confounded Avith it, just as the sensori ganglia, at the base of the brain, are confused in the supra- cesophageal ganglion. In the vertebrate, it is transferred to a more convenient point as a centre, viz : the centre of the spinal marrow,—in the same manner that the above mentioned ganglia come out distinct and separate in this class of animals. '■ The centre of the spinal marroAV then, by connecting the nerves of the several seg- ments together, enables the mind to move any one segment as directed by sensa- tions from impressions on any other. It is thus we eliminate the two first ner- vous chclcs, or the double circle for touch. SGM, the circle for the part, and SC'M2, SC'M", SCOP1, S-C'M, etc., for all the parts. In like manner, the fibres from the surface of smell pass to the olfactory lobe and are there made to unite Avith fibres passing to the muscles that move the or- gan of smell. This function, Avhich is an important one in some of the loAver animals, has, in consequence of the fixedness of the organ, become obsolete in man : hence, there is a corresponding diminution of the size of the olfactory lobes in man, and an absence of vesicular matter in them. But the mind not only is requhed to move the organ of smell by sensations arising from impressions made on it, but distant parts of the whole body : fibres therefore, are continued on from the lobe to the corpus striatum, and there, are made to unite Avith the muscles below, through the anterior columns and nerve roots. Thus is completed the * The optic tubercles Avould be placed in the same relative position to the optic thalami, and the olfactory lobes Avould stand relatively to the corpora striata, as the ganglions on the posterior nerve roots are situated Avith reference to the centre of the spinal cord, were the eye and nose at right angles to the axis of the body. EXPLANATION OF THE DIAGRAM. 76 second pair of nervous chclcs, or the double nervous circle for the sense of smell. Finally, the fibres from the retina pass to the optic tubercle, and there unite with fibres Avhich pass to the muscles that move the eye. And it may be men- tioned, as a strong confirmation of the theory, that the third nerve, according to Carpenter, can be traced into the optic tubercle. A still more striking confirma- tion, though a little out of place, may be alluded to here. I mean the fact that the brachial plexus and the ischiatic plexus, which send nerves to the five fin- gers and five toes respectively, come off each from five ganglions of the spinal cord. It is requisite, hoAvever, as in the cases of smell and touch, that the whole body, the hands, and the feet, as Avell as the eye, should be moA'ed under the direction of sight. t!y, in nothing, but in the one being possessed of a ganglion, and the other not. To this difference 78 EXPERIMENTS OF MULLER, ETC. in circumstance, therefore, according to the second canon of Mill, is to be attributed the difference of result, in the experiments hi question. This objection to Mid- ler's sAveeping conclusion Avould be sufficient to overthrow it, Avere there no posi- tive facte to prove the hifluence of the ganglion in hindering the transmission of physical irritations through them. The fact, however, is beginning to be recognized, as the folioAving quotation from Paget's Ileport on Physiology, for the year 1816, Avill prove : " The absence of contraction of the palato-muscles Avhen the nerve is irritated, may be connected, as M. Longct suggests, with the filaments having to pass through a ganglion ; in the same manner as irritation of the third pah often fails to produce contraction of the iris." All this is AA'hat might be inferred from our A'ieAV of the structure of the nerve. The ganglion is the natural terminus of the fibres beloAV it. Care is therefore taken that the anterior root should enter beyond it. Tension must be exertcel through it, OA'ercoming as it Avere, from the spinal cord, its oavu force, or physical impulses can be made Avith great difficulty to extend to the nerve below. Hence, the powerful battery of Magendie could rarely excite these contractions, Avhile the mechanical irritations, and single pair of plates of Muller, failed altogether. Finally, the experiments of Kronenburg, instituted to account for the occasion- al appearances of sensation Avhen the anterior nerves Avere irritated, border on the ludicrous. They serve, hoAvever, to illustrate the shifts and expedients that men Avill resort to, to prop a theory Avhich they hope to be the true one, and must therefore be noticed. This experimenter made a crochet cut at the junction of the anterior root Avith the nerve, about half a line in depth, as he tells us, to the effect of silencing all signs of sensibility AA-hen the anterior root awis irritated. Hence, he concluded, that he had cut off a loop of fibres AA'hich entered this root, from the posterior, and Avere therefore sensitive fibres. If such fibres exist and lie so near the surface, it Avould be an easy matter to demonstrate them. There can be no doubt that the signs of sensation witnessed in the subjects of these ex- periments, Avere due to the spasmodic or cramp-like contractions of the muscles excited, and the pain consequent thereon ; * Avhich, as they Avere only occasional Avhen the nerA-e Avas in its integrity, might obviously cease to be manifested when it was thus Avounded. In concluding this outline of a neAv vie-.v of the physiology of the nervous sys- tem, I Avould add, by Avay of bespeaking for it your favorable consideration, that it docs not, like the present system, account for one class of motions by one cause, and another by a different one, but reduces all the forms of muscular mo- tion to the same fundamental laAv. It does not assign different, and discordant functions, to the same organic structures, but to the ganglionic substance Avhcrcv- er it is found, and to the medullary substance wherever that in found, it attributes to each a single office, and one corresponding to its mechanism. It neither mul- tiplies secondary, nor calls into existence occult causes, but blends the natural inferences from mental phenomena, with the natural inferences from sensible facts, regarding them as of equal authority. It builds up the nervous system in its natural order, and finds a reason, and a necessity, for every one of ite constitu- ent parts, and binds them together in a systematic unity and fullness of propor- tion. * This is also the opinion of M. Sequard. APPENDIX OX HYDROPHOBIA. What I have to say on Hydrophobia Avill consist mainly of two short papers originally published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Avith a feAv ad- ditional remarks Avhich haA'e been suggested to me since the publication of the last one. Although Avhat is peculiar to myself in the mode of viewing this disease, may be considered as springing in .a great measure from the ideas in regard to the nervous system expressed in the foregoing pages, I am not so sanguine as to stake their claim to general acceptance on the presumption that they vvill prove the in- strument to cure this formidable disease. They are already proA-ed by the reason- ings with AA'hich they are accompanied; but so desirable a practical result Avould set the seal of confirmation to them in the most gratifying manner, furnishing as it eloes a renewed instance of the general fact that all truth is for the benefit of mankind. I therefore feel myself justified in my pertinacity, when, for the third time, I endeavor to call the attention of practitioners to a pathology and mode of treatment of hydrophobia never as yet acted on. The first article is extracted from the Journal of February 21, 1819, as folioavs : To the Editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Dear Sih,—In reading the account of the late case of hydrophobia in your Journal, my attention Avas most forcibly arrested by the quotation in the last par- agraph, from Dr. James Johnson ; so much to, that I have thought fit to tran- scribe it again, Avith a a ;cav of making it serve as a text or preface for a feAv re- marks on the pathology and treatment of this intractable disease. '• We must conclude," he says, " that it cannot be denied, but that the most evident indications of inflammatory action attend the symptons, and distinguish the pathology of hydrophobia ; that we have often inflamation of the te.-ophagus, pharynx and larynx, and occasionally of the brain and spinal cord ; yet it is generally admitted that these appearances arc more the consequence than the cause of the disorder, and that although frequently present with, they are by no means essential to, the existence of hydrophobic action." When avc consider the frequency of traces of inflammation of the mucous sur- face of the throat, and the prominence of spasmodic action in those muscles, whose normal actions arc excited by implosions on that surface, the que th n 80 HYDROPHOBIA. naturally arises, Avhether, supposing it to be a consequence and not the cause of the disease, it may not still be oAving to this complication that the disease acquires that habit of intense spasmodic action Avhich constitutes its danger and intracta- bility. The inflammation of the skin in confluent small pox, is not the cause of the disease ; yet it is that AA'hich, in nine cases out of ten, renders the disease fatal. Nor can we see any reason for the assertion of Dr. Johnson that this inflamma- tion is not essential to the disease AA-hen fvdly developed. That distinct traces of inflammation in these parts have not been discovered in every case of hydropho- bia, may be accounted for, in some instances, by the disease baA'ing proved fatal before the anatomical characters of inflammation were dcA'eloped ; in others, mis- takes may have been made as to the identity of the disease ; and doubtless in some instances, they may have been overlooked—the examinations having been conducted by persons unaccustomed to detect the nicer shades of inflammation. I question Avhether every one could detect evident marks of inflammation in the larynx, in hooping cough, at an early period ; yet that the violent spasmodic ac- tion of the respiratory muscles in this disease, is OAving to an inflammatory condi- tion of that organ, hardly admits of a doubt. The analogy AAhich exists betAveen this and other specific diseases that have a stage of incubation, confirms this opinion. They all exhibit a tendency to the same parte, Avhether they are communicated by animals of the same or different species to one another. Noav in the dog, there can scarcely exist a doubt that the parts about the throat are primarily diseased in cases where it arises spontaneous- ly, and secondarily AA'herc it arises from the bite of another dog. And it Avere natural to suppose that the same parts in man Avould be affected in the same Avay. If the disease Avere a general, instead of a local one, it Avould be impossible to account for the appearance of inflammation in the bitten part, AA'hich takes place so often and after so long a period of time. In this respect the virus acts A'ery much like the virus of smallpox AA'hcn inoculated into the system. Here Ave haA-e, in the first place, a period of incubation ; secondly, a period of local inflamma- tion ; thirdly, a period of reflected irritation or constitutional excitement; then a second period of local inflammation ; and lastly, the constitutional effects of this. Noav in hydrophobia Ave, have the same series, only they seem more to run into each other—that is to say, the constitutional follow much sooner on the local symptoms. On the other hand, Ave see in vaccination the first mentioned A'irus, by a very slight modification, blunted in its action, and the constitution success- fully resisting the tAvo last terms of the series. And if this difference of results, viz., the abortion of the secondary inflammation, foliows from this morbid poison being a little sloAvcr in its operation in the last case, that of rabies being confess- edly more active, it is easy to conceive that a slight increase of its activity mi«*ht produce effects the very reverse, and give rise to a secondary, Avithout any obvi- ous primary inflammation, and thus account for the comparatively feAv cases where no preliminary -symptons are complained of in the bitten part. Perhaps the strongest evidence of its being a general disease, is the extreme irritability of the Avhole surface of the body. But, AA-hen it is considered that this is later in appearance than the affection of the throat, that it must naturally arise from an irritation of the :-pinal marrow, and that dissection rcA-eals traces of inflammation in the spinal marrow less frequently than hi the mucous surface of the throat and that, too, in that portion of the cord where the nerves of deglutition and res- HYDROPHOBIA. 81 piration terminate, ite occurrence, as one of the consequences, is almost demon- strated. Having been impressed Avith these views for some time, I Avould respectfully suggest to physicians who may be called to treat hydrophobia, that it is a disease of a mixed local and general nature, having two foci of inflammation and consti- tutional hritation, a primary and a secondary one ; and that, while the constitu- tional symptons should not be neglected, the main hope of arresting ite dreadful fatality consists in applying remedies to these seate of hiflammation : and I would farther suggest, from the known efficacy of nitrate of silver hi various diseases- such, for instance, as erysipelas, a local disease Avith severe constitutional symp- toms ; in small pox, the pustules of which it stops Avhen early applied ; and hi gonorrhoea, Avhich it likeAvise aborts (the tAvo last .being diseases Avhich, like rabies, arise from specific animal poisons)—that ite application in a strong solu- tion, to the Avhole surface of the pharynx, fauces and mouth, as far as practica- ble, at an early period, (that of commencing spasm,) affords a hope of successful, Avhile it can be productive of no injurious, results. I am not aAvare that anything of the kind has ever been attempted. Two ca- ses of recovery, spoken of in Druitt's Surgery—one by the administration of acetate of lead, the other by profuse salivation—may haA-e been the result inci- dentally of the local effects of the lead and the mercury on the mouth, while be- ing exhibited. With the exception of cauterizing the Avound immediately after the bite, and some imaginary vesicles under the tongue, this disease has been uni- formly treated as a general one, the symptons having been attacked, while the cause has been oA'erlookcd. And Avith respect to the general treatment, the substitution of chloroform for the old and approved methods of allaying' spasmodic diseases, Avill hardly, I think, be found to be an improvement. And in this disease the difficulty of using it, and the rapid subsidence of its effects, will form an effectual bar to its long-con- tinued employment. In the case referred to, it evidently occasioned the death of the patient. A tonic instead of a lowering plan is indicated. If any medicine is administered by the mouth, quinine, in large doses, would be worth trying. The act of swalloAving should not be excited without a sufficient reason ; and the stomach should be let alone as much as possible, that it may be able to digest light nourishment, AA'hich should be administered from time to time if the dis- ease is protracted. The muscles of deglutition Avould be excited less to action, if the stomach tube could be introduced for the purpose of injecting liquids. The surface to which remedies should be applied, is the mucous membrane of the large intestines, and care should be had that this membrane be kept in a state to be favorably affected by these remedies. Laudanum injections, in teaspoonful doses, at intervals so as to keep the patient in a state approaching to narcotism, and if these fail, tobacco, in the form of smoke, which I have found to be a safe and efficient antispasmodic, more slow and persistent in ite action than the infu- sion, and not so prostrating. Some slight advantage might follow from an opium, belladonna, or snuff plaster, to the throat or nape of the neck. It may be regarded as somewhat obtrusive, for one to propose a plan of treat- ment for a disease, a case of which he has never seen. But from the compara- tive riritv of hydrophobia, the opportunities to witness it that happen to the most favored will rarely give them a title to claim anything more than a negative ex- 11 82 HYDROPHOBIA. perience. In a disease so uniformly fatal, any experiment that affords a faint prospect of success is justifiable. And I would add that the increase of rabies of late in New England, renders it obligatory on those physicians who may meet Avith it, to give an account of their cases as soon as convenient; and instead of publishing them at the South, or at the far-off West, communicate them to the Journal most extensively read by their Ncav England brethren. Second article, from the Journal of Jan. 25, 1854 : The remarks of Dr. Coxe, of New Orleans, in a late number of the Journal, recall to mind some observations published several years ago on the same subject. Hydrophobia, frightful as is ite aspect, is fortunately so rare, that few physicians may expect to see, much more to have an opportunity to treat it. If any one, therefore, is in possession of vieAvs in regard to it, differing from those of the pro- fession at large, he is not likely to have an opportunity of bringing them to the test of observation or experiment himself; and is justified in recommending them to his professional brethren, even in a crude state, so long as universal fatality at- tends the recognized mode of treatment. In vol. 40 of this Journal, pages 55— 58, I endeavored to call attention to the mucous membrane of the mouth and throat as the chief source of the morbid phenomena in this disease. Since that time, several cases have been published, but in no one, is there reason to believe, Avere the suggestions put forth by me, thought sufficiently worthy of notice, to influence the treatment in the least. It Avas always found best to pilot the pa- tient over the road to sure destruction, rather than to deviate from the beaten track. To my mind, the evidence that there is specific inflammatory irritation in the mucous membrane of the mouth and pharynx in this disease, stops little short of certainty. The poison, in the first place, comes from the mouth of the dog, and, following the general law of morbid poisons, especially of those that have a period of incubation, it is most likely to locate itself in a similar part in man, as Avell as in other animals. Secondly, appearances of inflammation after death, though not constant, are much oftener found here than anywhere else. Thirdly, the spas- modic symptoms commence in those muscles, whose nerves are in immediate connection with the surface in question ; and are such as would naturally arise from reflex irritation of those nerves. This fact has so impressed the minds of some pathologists that they have fixed upon " the nervous arcs that pertain to the throat" as the seat of the disorder.* And it is remarkable, that all attempts to locate the disease have reA'olved about this point as a centre. Fourthly, if the di- sease is communicable by the saliva of man, as there is reason to believe, then there must be a perverted action of the salivary glands themseh-es, or of the sur- faces on which theh secretions are poured out; and this action must be a speci- fic one, inasmuch as the secreted product, when inoculated anew, uniformly gives rise to the same set of symptoms. Convulsive disorders can be oftener traced to irritating impressions on mem- * Watson. HYDROPHOBIA. 83 branous surfaces, than to other sources ; and it^s worthy of remark, that thc-e impressions are slight in degree, compared Avith thosejyhich attend Avell-marked inflammations. Tims, tickling the skin produces uncontrollable laughter ; itch- ing of the trachea, cough ; of the nose, sneezing ; all of which are of a convul- sive character. Dentition, as Avell as indigestible substances in the 'alimentary canal, excite convulsions in children, and the latter cause often brings on the ep- ileptic attack in adults. Tetanus, when arising from a wound, is most likely to occur Avhen healthy inflammation 1'aiL to take place, or after the wound is healed. It often appears to be OAving to a Avant of concentration of the inflammation on the part. That which takes place from strychnia, is owing to the impression which this substance makes on the alimentary canal. The idea that it arises from ite being absorbed in the blood, has no foundation, except in the imagination of professed pathologists. Chorea, even, may be noticed to folioav upon the disap- pearance of a chronic cutaneous eruption, or the healing up of a scrofulous ulcer. In many cases it undoubtedly depends on some irritation of the mucous mem- brane of the stomach and boAvels. And the application of the cold bath to the skin, or of zinc to the internal surface, are the chief means relied on in this dis- ease. The strongest reflex actions arc excited by applications to the skin. It is doubtful, Avhether a single unequivocal instance of convulsions being caused by a poison circulating in the blood, and acting directly on the nervous centres, can be produced. The several poisons of measles, of small pox, and of hydropho- bia, lie in close contact Avith the blood during the Avhole period of incubation of each of these diseases. But neither febrile nor convulsive symptoms show them- selves, until they begin to modify the vitality of the tissue in Avhich they are .';•.- posited. The physiological tew is, that muscular contractions folio av iinprc-sions made on surfaces, and convulsive or spasmodic movements are aberrations, not contradictions, of this laAv. The affections of the nerves and neiwous centres arc secondary. < The disease Avhich presents the closest analogy to hydrophobia, all things con- sidered, is hooping cough. Although in thnes past, there has been much dis- pute and speculation in regard to the seat of this disease, the weight of authority is iioav in favor of its being a specific inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx and trachea. To this inflammation, or to the peculiar viscid secretion AA'hich is its product, the violent spasmodic cough is oAving. What hydrophobia is to the nerAes of deglutition, hooping cough is to the nerves of respiration. The chief point of difference is, that in the former the spasms extend beyond the the sphere in Avhich they originate, Avhile, ordinarily, in the latter, they are confined to it. Noav if in the one case they arise from the condition of the mu- cous surface, Avhy not in the other ?—especially as there is equal proof of inflam- mation in each. The appearances of inflammation in the trachea, in those who die in the early stage of hooping cough, are scarcely if any greater than in the mouth and pharynx of those Avho die in hydrophobia. If this is the true pathology of hydrophobia, the want of success in its treat- ment may be easily accounted for, Avithout supposhig that the disease is neces- sarily from its very nature, incurable. Remedies haA-e been applied to symp- toms universally, (alAvays excepting those cases Avhere the radical cure was at- tempted by smothering the patient,) Avhile the cause of those symptoms has been overlooked. It is manifest that the first indication is, to modify the diseased sur- 84 HYDROPHOBIA. face by some agent Avhich Avill break up the specific irritation ; and the nitrate of silver, in the absence of direct experiment, seems the agent most likely to ef- fect that object. Its poAver to neutralize the poison, Avhen inserted into the Avound occasioned by the bite; its poAver oa cr other specific inflammations, such as gonorrhoea, erysipelas, and the pustules of small pox ; its power over membra- nous hiflammation in general; and, finally, its lately-ascertained poAver to arrest the spasmodic action in hooping cough, Avhen applied to the glottis, afford ground to hope for a successful result, could it be brought to bear on this disease. A strong solution brushed over the AA-hole surface of the mouth and throat, at the commencement of the spasmodic, or, perhaps, of the constitutional symptoms, and repeated daily, as long as they continue, would seem at present the best mode of applying it. At the same time the state of the avouuc! should not be OA-erlooked, nor that of the constitution. The former should be cauterized, also the skin, Avherever it is red, and to some extent around. A poultice made Avith infusion of tobacco, should be applied, and the tobacco, or some other narcotic ointment, freely rubbed over the Avhole limb in Avhich it is situated. With regard to the constitutional treatment, the most important measure is to husband the strength of the patient.* And this is best done by avoiding all de- bilitating remedies, and all causes of ex citement. Bloodletting and drastic pur- gatives can be of no use except to weaken, and increase irritability. With all due deference for chloroform and kindred agents, I suspect that some old-fashioned antispasmodic remedy, AA'hich is sloAver and more permanent in its effects, Avill be found better adapted to calm the parox ysros, Avith less danger of collapse. The smoke of tobacco introduced through the rectum, I am satisfied, from repeated trials, is one of the safest and most efficient allayers of excited muscular contrac- tions Ave possess. In ileus, in strangulated hernia, and in the artificial tetanus arising from strychnia, I haA'e used it after other remedies have been found pow- erless, and haA-e never knoAvn it to fail. If the apparatus is not too perfect, say, nothing better than a gum elastic tube, and a common tobacco pipe, the boAvl of which burns your fingers, or your lips if you blow too fiercely, there is no dan- ger in persevering until a manifest impression is made on the symptoms. At least, I have exhausted the third pipe many times, while operating on adults, Avithout any untOAvard event. The effects of tobacco, administered in this Avay, are very different from those of the infusi .n. While the one is suddenly and se- A-erely prostrating, producing vomiting, cold sweats, and almost extinguishing the pulse, the other is remarkably seething, and will seldom give rise, unless grossly mismanaged, to an alarming symptom. '1 he action of the one, is that of an agent of great intensity on a small surface ; the action of the other, is that of a similar ageiit, of less poAver, on a much larger extent. While the former burns, the latter warms. Soon after the publication of this last extract, it occurred to me, that if my ideas Avere correct, I might find among cfc.es of poisoning by those acrid narcotics Avhich develope muscular spasms, and which, as they are sav alio Ave d must leave a * See BraitliAvaite's Retrospect, No. xxi., Art. 53. HYDROPHOBIA. 85 powerful local impression on the throat, symptoms somewhat analogous to these reflex spasms AA'hich I attribute to the diseased state of this surface. Passing ov- er the great constriction of the throat and inability to swallow, Avhich folloAved the taking of strychnia, in several instances, I was surprised to read, from the article on poisons, in Copland, an account of a case published by Dr. Golding Bird, in AA'hich the symptoms were so near akin to those of hydrophobia as to give occasion to its being called false hydrophobia. In this instance, the patient took 2£ grains of aconitiiii'., AA'hich Avas almost immediately returned by vomiting, bo that the drug passed over the surface of the throat tAvice within a short time, leaving undoubtedly as strong an impression there as on any part. Another par- allel is afforded by the fact that aconitina, when sAvalloAved, produces tingling and numbness hi the throat, while it developcs the sensible signs of inflammation there no more than the rabid disease itself. In this case the hydrophobic symptoms persisted after the decline of the seda- tive effects of the agent. Such an occurence cannot be regarded as a coincidence. It proves conclusively, Avhen vicAvcd in connection with the facts referred to a- bove, that the spasmodic SAvalloAving, in the true disea.se, arises from the state of the throat. Some eight or ten years since, I had a female patient who had been taking strychnia for paralysis of the inferior extremities, AA'hich had lasted five months. Tavo grains of the alkaloid aactc dissolved in tAvo ounces of alcohol, and ten drops Avere taken, at first three times daily, AA'ith directions to increase the dose tAvo drops every second day. When she had thus got up to fifty chops, I thought I could perceive some slight indications of the operation of the medicine, and directed her to reduce the dose to forty drops. She continued on in this Avay until she had finished the third bottle, having taken in the course of about six weeks, six grains. On visiting her three days after this, I found that she Avas making up her mind that the medicine Avas doing her no good, and I had some difficulty hi persuading her to try another bottle. Having at length overcome her objections, I returned home and sent her another tAvo grains dissolved in tincture of camphor, instead of alcohol as before. No sooner had she sAA-allowed the first dose, Avhich Avas the same as that Avith which she had left off three days before, than she Avas taken Avith severe tetanic spasms. I AA-as immediately sent for, and after admin- istering an emetic, Avhich operated quickly and favorably, gave her about three •rains of opium, and left another similar powder to be given in tAvo hours after - • wards, if there was no abatement of the spasms. This happened about 9, A. M. Being engaged in an obstetric case in another ptut of the toAvn, tAvo miles distant, it may be imagined that I left her with some dc"-rce of anxietv. At 3, P. M., I found thne again to pay her a hurried visit. There AA-as no change in the symptoms. She had taken six grains of opium with- out the least effect; and if I had not previously apprised her of the consequences she might expect to take place from the treatment; and had not, moreover, pos- sessed the full confidence of my patient, I should have found my situation an un- pleasant one. There Avas no plan of treatment laid doAvn in the books for such cases, nor an- tidote, at least, that I was aware of. Here, as in hydrophobia, empiricism was at fault.' The lir*t case could not be cured, because n. i.e had been cured before. I must either look on as a passive spectator, in the hope that the spasms would wear 86 HYDROPHOBIA. themselves out, and run the risk of seeing my patient succumb to them, or invent a treatment for the occasion. My reasoning, which I mention for the benefit of those Avho contend that practical medicine never advances, except empirically, was in this Avise : strychnine is the most poAA'erful excitor of muscular spasms noAv known; tobacco is the most poAverful allaycr of spasmodic action also known,—and I resolved to meet Greek Avith Greek. But I was afraid then to leave my obstetric case long enough to carry the plan into effect. The double prescription of the morning was therefore rcneAved, and I again left. At half past ten in the evening, I found myself at liberty, and having procured some to- bacco and a pipe, with a gum elastic tube, lost no time in returning to my patient. The spasms appeared as frequent and severe as in the morning. She had taken in the course of the day, as nearly as I could judge, twelve grains of opium Avith- out effect. The tube Avas now introduced into the rectum and passed through the sigmoid flexure into the colon. With the assistance of women, tAvo pipes of tobacco smoke, making considerable alloAvance for Avaste, Avere passed through it. We had commenced on the thud, when she expressed herself as feeling easier ; after AA-aiting some minutes and finding no return of the spasms, the tube AA-as withdraAvn. She soon fell asleep, and I went home Avithout any feeling of un- easiness respecting the quantity of opium that she had taken, or the prostrating effects of the tobacco. On my return hi the morning, I found that she had had a comfortable night, having been entirely free from spasm, and that the great ob- ject for Avhich the strychnine Avas given Avas fully accomplished ; every symptom of palsy havhig left her. There was, ho Avever, remaining a great irritability of the system to all sensitive impressions. Any sudden sound, a bright light, a flaAV of wind such as Avould be made by the opening of the door, or the least touch, Avould occasion slight muscular contractions over the AA'hole body. This state, so strikingly like the general condition of the system in hydrophobia, continued, though gradually subsiding, more than a week. The case Avas interesting in seA'eral points of vieAv. Was there a cumulative ef- fect from the quantity preA'iously taken ? Wras it the three days' interval, or the addition of the camphor, that made a smaller dose than that Avhich she had been in the habit of taking, so suddenly active ? Camphor has lately been -proposed as an antidote to this poison. Could not such an operation be reconciled with the idea of its increasing its activity in the manner prescribed ? I have thought, in giving camphor Avith opium and other agents, that it seemed to make an addition, in some instances, to their peculiar operation. But I do not feel competent to speak decisively. Others may be in possession of facts which AA'ill enable them to throAV light on these questions. The object that I have had in vIcav in giving publicity to the case, is to illustrate the fact, that symptoms precisely of the character of hydrophobia, can be relieved by tobacco smoke. There is also considerable evi- dence to show that they have been relieved by lobelia, which, from its affinity to tobacco, is not improbable.* In striking contrast with the mild, anti-spasmodic effects of the smoke, here witnessed, Avere the consequences of administering the infusion in a case of teta- nus, which came under my charge, a few years afterAvards. A small sized, but *See an article in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 40, p. 101, on a method of treatment of Hydrophobia with lobelia by Dr. Benaiah Sanborn, of Sanbornton, N. H. HYDROPROBIA. t 57 very muscular man, while partially intoxicated, crushed a glass tumbler with his hand, and wounded the space between the thumb and fore-finger. This piece of fool-hardiness occurred in the forenoon. During the greater part of the day afterAvards, he stood nearly up to his knees, in the tide-Avater, scrubbing the bottom of his fishing smack. Towards night, he complained of pain in the wound, and stiffness of the arm. At 10, P. M., I was called and found the spasms ex- tending up the arm to the shoulder, and soon across the breast to the other should- er and arm. On examining the wound, it was found dry and ragged, and evi- dently without action. It was touched with lunar caustic, and a warm tobacco poultice was directed to be applied. Opium was given internally freely, and ef- forts Avere made to induce perspiration. By morning, the spasms had extended over the A\hole body, and Avere very violent, giving rise to complete opisthotonos. A scruple of dry tobacco Avas now infused in about a half pint of water, and giv- en in enema. This produced total relaxation of the muscular system, Avith vom- iting and purging, attended with a feeble pulse and cold perspiration. As he re- covered from this state, the spasms returned, and the same enema was repeated Avith the same effects. After some four or five such repetitions, I began to feel anxious about the prostrating effects of the remedy, and lessened the dose about one third ; but this did not control the spasms. We Avere therefore obliged to return to the former quantity ; and I soon found them lessening in frequency, and by the third day from theh commencement, he Avas decidedly convalescent. I uoav looked at the Avound, and found it suppurating kindly. For the last twen- ty-four hours, a common emollient poultice had been applied, instead of the to- bacco one, he having complained that this last gave him pain. In these two cases, Ave see illustrated the different effects of the same remedy, according to its mode of administration. Were I to have another case like the last, I should use the smoke in preference to the infusion. In all the cases of severe colic, strangulated hernia, &c, that I have had for the past twelve years, I have made this the last resort. And I belicA-e, that Avere it adopted Avithin any reasonable time, not a case of strangulated hernia Avould ever require an opera- tion. And, hi not a single instance, haA'e I seen anything like the prostrating effects which Avere witnessed in the above case of tetanus. The application of the nitrate of silver was made to the wound on the principle of concentrating action on the part. Tetanus occurs, when a certain degree of irritation exists, AA'hich fails to induce a sufficient restorative action in the part, and Avhich appears, hr consequence, to be reflected, as it Avere, on the nerves. Quite an amount of evidence might be collected from the journals and other sources, tending to shoAV the power of the nitrate to allay, AA-hen applied to an ir- ritated surface, the spasmodic action which appears to be a reflex of that irrita- tion. During the present season, I have applied it twice to punctured wounds ; one penetrating to the knee pan, from the iron tooth of a rake, and the other from a rusty nail, in the foot; in both of which premonitory symptoms of tetanus were urgent; and, although other means were also used at the same time, yet the quick subsidence of the symptoms after the application, gaA'e reason to sup- pose that it had the chief share in bringing about this result. The nitrate of silver is the best application to the wound immediately after the bite. It is far superior to suction, not only in this class of cases, but also in the bites of venomous animals generally. The bite of the rattlesnake gives rise to a malignant erysipelas, a local disease, and should be attacked by local means. Errata. P^ge 40, eleventh line from the bottom, read " circumlocution " for " chcumA'olution." Page 57, thhd line from the top, for "neuroy aisthetikoi, and neuroy kineti- koi," read " neuroi aisthetikoi, and neuroi kinetikoi." (i <->" ; fsJ4**?~^$/su/^ ■p^-^vt^c ESSAYS On thb HpiobgD af % ferturas ^nsiem, AVITH AN APPENDIX ON HYDROPHOBIA, BY BENJAMIN HASKELL, M. D., Of Rockport, Mass. " .Mind is one, be it causal or ideal ; but it is shown in these, The creature is constructed individual, for trial of his reasonable will, (lay mid soul commingled wisely, mim.lkd, not confused : As poAver is not in the Spring, till somewhat give it action, So until spirit be infused, the organism lieth inergetic." GLOUCESTER : JOUX S. E. EOOERS, PRINTER, 1856. rLr= ■' c*^ cc "S» v^ *■ ... «« « 5 c c< < cC cc CC c <-c O CC cc C 5_c ^ <- *-c t Cc c C ^ uac ^^^ t<\m «. « • c C C 1 c c C, «■« 'C > ,vf . cV c < <£ >^c'. >c c < (CC <7_v,; c a cc