D747 1843 j£* siln »& |[BC8Kjftffi;&-» *fj » *• ■H**^ ^. , 5*"% • IE: DQWLER BHYSl^fiv |P "";;_'■■' -.'.' fe» *;■.-■ *<• * .^^i . ,:<*" V. <•■* CONTRIBUTIONS BY s BENNET DOWLER, M. 1), CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF WITHAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, &c. A power to direct the operative faculties to motion or rest, in particular instan. »s is iliat which we call the vrill.—Locke. t>-fy6% \E\\ ORLKAAS: 1849. as it??. To SAMUEL CARTWRIGHT, M. D, Distinguished as a Philosopher, honored as a Physi- cian, admired as a Man, this essay is most respectfully inscribed, by THE AUTHOR. New Orleans, October; 1849. Contributions to Physiology, by Bennbt DowLbb, M. D. 5 III.—Contributions to Phijsiology. By Bennett Dowler, M. D., of New Orleans. The experimental researches now offered to the reader's attention, originated incidentally, during a course of anatomical examinations made uprn the great suurianof Loui.-iana; examinations-whuh have corrected numerous prevalent errors, and which have at the same time resulted in discoveries that are deemed important, if not fundamental, in their bearings upon the doctrines of physiology; none of which, however, are essential to the purposes of this paper, and, therefore, need not be given now. For anatomical, rather than for physiological reasons, my vivisections have been chiefly confined to the alligator; an animal whose anatomy, physiology, and psychology place it above frogs, turtles, and salamanders, which have been generally relied on by experimenters. How unlike soever the alligator is to man, these latter are more so. If frogs are good, alligators are better. Indeed, Dr. Carpenter, a distinguished physiologist, expressly declares that " experiments on the nature of this (the nervous) function, are best made upon the cold-blooded animals; as their general functions are less disturbed by the effects of severe injuries of the nervous system than those of birds and mammals."—Phys. $375. It will be borne in mind, that vivisections have been ever restricted to the inferior animals. Man never lias been subjected to physiological dissection, though this had been a merciful process compared to many methods of torture, which, in former times, were adopted by the State, but more particularly by the Church; times in which, unfortunately, physiology had no more an existence than liberty. Hence, the point of departure here taken, whether impregnable or otherwise, is, according to usage, the legitimate one. The method of determining function, by vivisection, is bad; yet, wmere can a better be found 1 °The biologist is reduced to the sad alternative of remaining in a great degree ignorant, if he reject all methods not directlv demon- strative. He reads in an artificial condition, a natural condition; in a part, the whole; in ana'ysis, synthesis; in decomposed forces, com- pound forces; in vital maelstroms, cataracts and crevasses, the smooth, noiseless, equable, and ever-flowing river of life; in concentrated agony, the concentration of animal happiness, that is, the laws, perfect health; in an incomplete death, he takes his lesson upon the complete science of life Like the tempest-tossed Columbus, in search of the new world, he finds here and there drifting fragments from the mysterious realm— now a light! land! land! and, like the enraptured mariner, chants Gloria in ezcelsis. As, then, the method of exploration, by vivisection, never has been, never will be extended to man, its processes must be restricted to the inferior animals, and its results must be applied on the principle of analog There can be no doubt that seeing, hearing, motion, pain, and the like, are similar in man and animals, though, from the imper- fection and the limited number of our senses, we are unable to appre- ciate fully any of these phenomena in either class. Perhaps, the great difficulty in physiological research, lie? in the Iwtted timber of tM 40 6 Contributions to Physiology, by Bknnet Dowleb, M. D. M,nu*-ten or more senses may be necessary, instead of Jive, or some- mtHour o Sree,as with the deaf and blind. The experimental favor^ Ws transcendental view. For example: is there not a need for Tdymmical sense? Say, O, groper in the dark! what do you know rf the number, nature, and substrata of the forces, as the muscular, capillary, voluntary, involuntary, vital, chemical, electrical, radical. calorific, eravitative, planetary, mental? It is highly probable that a sense of this nature would enable the physician to cognize disease as an entity' It is remarkable, that even those physicians who deny disease to be an entitv, nevertheless think, speak, and write of it, as if it were really such throughout pathology and morbid anatomy. Is frontal pain, red eyes, yellow skin, black vomit, or pale liver, yellow fever itself, or are these effects only ? If a physiological fact be many-sided, or have, say, eight links, all of which must be known in order to make it really valuable in practice; and if our cognition can reach only to four aspects or links, this half knowledge may be as useless as the odd half of a pair of scissors. It is here, if anywhere, that " a little learn- ing i"5 a dangerous thing." We have no sense by which to appreciate space in its entireity. The senses, and the experimental philosophy may reckon by inches, miles and leagues, but they never can reach, much less teach, the infinite ex- pansion, which pure reason cognizes, as an essential truth in relation to Sj>ace—an intuition seen in its own light, and as it were, in contrariety to experience, or antithetically. " The progress of Astronomy," said Laplace, " has been a constant triumph of philosophy over the illusions of the senses." The mind as an entity, connected with or separate from matter, cannot be identified, appreciated, or even conceived by the ex- isting senses of man, notwithstanding his irrepressible desires and efforts, hopes and fears in relation to this pait of his nature. The same want is obvious in what are called Final causes, including the essential conditions, connections, adaptations, and ends of physical, mental and vital phenomenology. The sense of Finality might enable us to apprehend the connection between quinine and the dissipation of an intermittent, between chloroform and insensibility, mind and body, gravitation and matter. The adaptations and the intentions of nature are, in a considerable degree, obvious in the osseous, muscular, dental and visual structures, while those of the brain, nerves, spleen, capillaries and other organs are beyond the grasp of the senses. Nor, is this all. Causes produce effects, apparently contrary to all analogy and synthesis. The muscular motion produced by the percussion of the dead body, is ex- actly contrary to every principle of dynamics known in the physics of inert matter. The percussed body does not move in a right line, nor in a direction opposite to that of the percussing force. In the following experiments, all the physical stimuli applied to decollated alligators, are answered, not in the language of physics, but in that of physiology. Ihe phrenologist, as well as the biologist, pursues this route, namely, comparative anatomy, throughout the entire realm of the animal king- dom, from the lowest type to the highest, in order to prove that the ?h?L!Li exclusive orSan of ^e mind-a theory, which some of the fcllowing experiments oppose; for the headless trunk of an alliga- Contributions to Physiology, by Bennkt Dowleb, M. D 7 tor, deprived of the supposed organ of combativeness, displays a goc* will to fight, using both its limbs, directing all its available means in telligentially, and, upon finding, after a fair trial, that these fail, it re- treats laterally, by rolling over from its enemy, never towards him, aa if guided by sight—all of which the sequel will prove. The clinical method of physiological research is of vast importance, but its results are less satisfactory than many suppose. It is less simple than vivisection. A lesion in a particular tissue or organ, may be— nay, often is—only the effect of composition of causes; the common product, to which several organs, tissues, and functions have contribu- ted equally. Hence, that vast accumulation of clinical facts, to which many appeal, in order to prove some of the prevailing doctrines of physiology, is, in this connection, often of doubtful import. Many of these facts admit of a different interpretation; or, at least, do not clearly warrant all the conclusions which have been drawn from them, particularly as to sensational, intelligential, motory, spasmodic, tetanic, convulsive, maniacal, inflammatory, adynamic, paralytic, and febrile phenomena. The nervous masses constituting the cerebro-spinal, and ganglionic systems, have been divided, subdivided, named, mapped, described, and gravely inaugurated into all the offices of the living economy, to the exclusion of the other tissues and organ-, whose roles are equally important in the system. The style and terms used by neurological wt iters, are startling. They talk of double filaments of- nerves throughout their entire course —the one set for sensation, the other for volition—as if these were anatomical facts; they affect to point out motory and sensory tracts, as if they themselves could see these in the very act, very plainly; they insist on what they call the true spinal marrow, which they claim as a discovery, though they do not pretend that any anatomist, of the material school, can either see it, or feel it, except in diagrams, in books. Mr. Solly discourses of "the neucleated dynamic vesicle connected with the motory and sensory tracts of the cerebellum,,'* and Professor Walshe, of the University of London, with due hesitation, speaks of " the mere dynamic cliange of the spinal cord."f The pedantry of some of these, and of many other terms recently introduced into the physiology of the nervous system, differs from the specimen invented by Coleridge, inasmuch as these terms are totally incomprehensible : A learned man, instead of asking his wife to make the tea, told her to add to quant, svff. of tliea chinensis, the oxyd of hydrogen saturated with caloric! Mr. Lamb, having been asked for a definition of what is called learning, replied, that it was a systematic arrangement of ignorance—a very good definition of innervation, reflex action, sensory tracts, motor tracts, afferent, efferent, exc.to-motory, not to mention those wonderful maps, charts, topographical surveys, and diagrams with arrows pointing out all the highways and by-ways, not of neurological lands, but of the reflex travellers themselves About three or four years ago, it will be recollected by the readers of the London Lancet^thatthere was a learned correspondence among * On th. Brain, 3ttT~ t f»*>» **"»> ™* 1W9 b Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowleb, M. D. Mme 0f the most eminent physiologists of Englandin which it was Susly aSeTted, that the human brain was arranged in strata and sub- s^ata 01 e stratum was devoted to politics, another to sciences, another to region while others performed less dignified duties, such as calling for medic-al' advice. It was. also, affirmed that these strata were very liable to dislocation! Such dissolvent scenes are wonderful, especially in the nervous system. It is not a littie surpiising to find so many physiologists charmed by a glittering word innervation, an ideal creation, an ideal alteration never vet discovered, never yet. explained even transcendent- allv and 'consequently, beyond the reach of verification by any material- izin'" test, beyond the scrutiny of Realism. This word, however, serves as the foundation of much in physiology, more in pathology and therapeu- tics, and, what is still more astounding, it is relied on by some morbid anatomists. The latter, finding that in almost all persons dying of what disease so ever, particularly of fever, that little or no appreciable altera- tion takes place in the nervous tissues or matter, concludes, against both reason and analogy, that their patients die of innervation, or an unknown change in that structure! Would an angler go into a rail road car to fish ?—a recruiting- officer into the dead house for soldiers ?—a gold dig- ger into a glacier ?—ran astronomer into the mammoth cave of Kentucky 1 The theoretical bias to centralization which prevails in modern physi- ology is not warranted either by the experimental, nor the transcendental philosophy. Why should not the sensorium be diffused, instead of being restricted to a single centre, or mere point in the cranial, spinal or abdominal cavity ? Why should all the lines of intellection, sensation, motion, and vitality meet in, or radiate from, one or three centres ? For example : take any organ associated with the sympathetic system, and compare it with any ganglion of that system, and it will appear from anatomy, analogy and teleology, that the organ is better adapted to do its own work than the ganglion, though both may be necessary to the or- igin and perpetuation of the organic function. The same bias prevails in pathology. Affections of the nervous centres are spoken of with as much confidence, as if they were cutaneous affections. What would be said of a diagnostician, who would pronounce a disease, itch, or erysi- pelas without any alteration whatever in the skin? " Ignorance is bliss," to such knowledge of organs, functions, diseases and morbid anatomy, How little is positively known of the anatomical characters of mental diseases? The celebrated Esquirol, in his elaborate work—I)es Mala, dies Mentales, concludes that post mortem examinations do not reveal the seats of mental diseases; and that these diseases do not always take their point of departure from the brain, but often from other parts. The pathological or clinical method of investigating the functions of the nervous system, is not only too difficult in itself, but too vast for the narrow scope of this inquiry. For example, many cases of the dis- organization of the brain, by disease and accident, might be given, where.n the psychological and motory functions persisted almost un- ZT^t ;ivlsection, thoughadifferent method, affords similar results, if att ibutit^if all,absuJrdities " physiology and pathology, is that ■f attributing all unexplained and incomprehensible facts and doctrine* Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler, M. D. 9 to the nervous system—that Hades of theory, "Where the wan sceptres walk eternal rounds." According to the testimony of experimentalists, favorable to the paramount claims of the nervous system, it Avouldseem, that the blood is equally potent with the nerves. Prof. Muller quotes and adopts the conclusions of vivisectors, namely, that " the muscles loose their power of motion when the current of art- erial blood towards them is obstructed. This phenomenon is sometimes observed when a ligature is applied to a large arterial trunk in the human subject; the power of moving the muscles under the influence of the will is either partially or wholly lost, until the collateral circulation is developed. This fact has been confirmed by Arnemann, Bichat and Ernest. Segalas has also observed that, when the abdominal aorta is tied in animals, the hind legs are rendered so weak, in eight or ten minutes they can scarcely be dragged along. Whether the principal influence of the blood consists in its maintaining the contractility of the muscles, or in its enabling the nerves to convey the influence of the will, has not been investigated." (Phys. 608.) In opposition to some of the doctrines of the present system of neuro- logy, including its absolutism, its supposed centralization, and its exclu- sive pretensions to psychical, phrenological, dynamical, sensational, volitional, pathological and vital domination, it might be urged and proved, synthetically and analytically, that often other systems or tissues contribute equally, sometimes surpassingly, to the economy, in health, and in disease: for example, observation, experiment, analogy, teleology and rationation prove that muscular motion is not the mere passive, but the direct act of the muscle—not a mere secondary, transmitted nervous force, but an inherent, ultimate phenomenon, which, in its simplest state is quite independent of the nervous centres and their connections. This is, irfdeed, remarkable ; for it maybe confidently predicted, from what is already known, or from what may be fairly deduced from data extant, that future researches, impartially conducted, will show, that each tis- sue, each organ contributes to the vitality or life of the whole; or, (to use an apt illustration, for which I am indebted to my distinguished friend, Dr. Cartwright.) as each State of the Union is, for certain pur- poses' sovereigu and independent in itselfrand, yet, contributes, at the same time, together with all the States to form one general government, so each organic tissue contributes to the formation of one vital whole. The constellation is fixed : No State revolves around another, or even around the general government. There is not one centre, and thirty satellites or organs in either the Federal, or in the physiological system. Admitting (what is indeed positively erroneous,) that the nerves form an essential condition of muscular contraction, still this would not prove them to be the instruments of motion, seeing that they have no adapta- tions to that end, while the muscles have. Moisture, a certain tem- perature and certain nervous influences might be necessary conditions, not direct agents adapted to flexion and extension. Amon- the forces or dynamics of the living body, I regard two as having been already established as independent and inherent »mely. the muscular and capillary, (including the venous, P0^1;1^^.^ Jacteal.) At least, there can be no longer any question a, to the reality, 10 Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler, M. D. independence and non-derivative nature of the former. Possibly, the latter may be only a modification of the same force—a force, that must serve, henceforth, as the type and point of departure for the science of Vital Dynamics. Can phyt-iology boast, as yet, of any other clearly developed and well estab ished dynamical principle ? The Forces, as Forces in their own essential nature, elude observa- tion, altogether, being accessible only in their phenomenal character, that is in their motions or laws, connected with material masses, time and space. The muscular force presents a lever, by which the physio- logical dynamise may work, namely, adaptation, which latter is in a great degree obscure or wanting in the capillary, venous and chylous organs. The motions attributed to the nerves, are not only gratuitous assumptions, but they are sometimes in absolute contrast to the princi- ples of adaptation. There is not a nerve, teleologically speaking, that can compare with the muscular organs, as in flexion, extension, prona- tion, supination, or with the dynamical finality of that great muscle, the heart. The physicist, who examines the levers and muscles of the arm, has but a short step to take towards vital dynamics; but it is impossible, even after taking for granted that there is a nervous fluid, to advance in any direction, without getting more into the dark than ever. Here the best physiologist cannot advance by anatomy, nor by vivisec- tion, nor by clinical observation. He may reject hypothetical fluids, and immaterial, dynamic alteration-; he may appeal to morbid changes, ana yet he shall make but little progress in explaining, even thoto di*. eases called nervous. Palsy, to take the strongest case in favor of the neurologists, may happen without any perceptible injury of the brain, cord or nerves. In sun-stroke, the only disease wherein there is no trace of either sensation, intelligence or voluntary motion, the nervous masses present no alteration, the lungs being the seat of the lesiom In the London Lancet for July, 1849, it is reported, that in nearly every case of death from the inhalation of chloroform, the insensibility and the extinction of life take place in less than one minute, and that the only lesion found, is in the lungs. Now, in nearly all cases of ap- oplexy of the gravest character, the patient lives one or two days, and is rarely, if ever, completely insensible. JS " from me {° ™uler-™te, because others have over-rated, the itvo^LZr m thvf Tmal eC°n0my- Both experiment and t leo. nfLtn^" TnCVhe,d°Ctnne that a11 mental ™* material forces, oram" oHn anv IT " ■ V°!Untary Phenom^a, originate solely in the and noi«:Zl^\Zo "urn ^ ""^ 8pinal ^ ^a^asses, matter n til, ^orium—a sensonum co-extensive with nervous ThTzsTwZnZ^T* T,y> theexPa^ons of the living mass. in sSf o producelhaT "V* GSSential COndUi°nS 0r adaPtation3 teleology fails to sunoorS ^ "P°n *" intellig*le plan, all fail; nineteenth centurcS ZZ'T m?8 nei'V°US SyStem durin*the I believe, thant^re^^S t^? ' ^ * * m&y Speak*hat of Whvtt, Prochaska™h «!t * la8t CentUry> as reve*led in the works th, deHrfeoV^^,^0^8; t A*nbe the great force rnanifeeted by *' and the teta™ to the nerves, instead of the mus- Contributions to Physiology, by Eekhet Dowler, M. D. 11 cles ; grant the cramps in cholera, to the nerves, and not to the m iscles; admit the sam« in the case mentioned by Haller, wherein a delicate girl affected with emprosthotonos sustained a weight of 8(J0poi>nds without straightening her body ; concede all, and what Avill be gained or explained by thus sacrificing to an assumption, the evidence of the senses, of anatomy, of analogy, and of adaptation ? That the cerebral, spinal and ganglia! masses are necessary to health and life, cannot be denied ; the same may be affirmed of the heart, and its blood vessels, of the lungs, of the blood, of the muscles, and of many other tissues. But it does not hence follow, nor is it at all probable, that the heart's action, muscular contraction, the capillary motion, calorification, and many other functions that might be named, are ex- clusively or even principally due to the nerves. Evidence might be given, proving quite the contrary. Before proceeding to the experimental portion of this paper, it is deemed necessary to give a brief outline of the principal doctrines, now received as fundamental in the physiology of the nervous system, so far as the following experiments may have a bearing on the same. This course is the more necessary, because some persons, particularly students, may desire to see these doctrines, and the experiments side by side for easy comparison. " Between the brain and the muscles, V says Sir Charles Bell, "there is a circle of nerves; one nerve conveys the influence from the brain to the muscle, another givo the stn.-e of the condition of the muscle to the brain ; if the circle be broken by division, there is no longer a sense of the condition of the muscle, and therefore no regulation of its activity."* In the dictionary of Natural History by the principal savansof Paris, the following summary is given: " La locomotion s'execute du mo* yen d'organes dont l'ensembie constitue l'appareil locomoteur. Cet appareil se compose des organes actils et des organes passifs du mouve- ment. Les premiers sont Yencephale ou reside la volition au la volonte d'executer tel ou tel mouvement, les nerfs qui la transmettent aux mus- cles qui l'executent sous leur influence."! Muller says, on the subject of " co-ordinate movements," that " the movements of locomotion are dependent on the will"; that "the cer- ebellum more especially rules over the combination of the muscular actions," and that "the removal of the cerebellum produces a loss of all harmony :n the action of the groups of muscles." \ Muller maintains that the associate or consensual movements, " all have their source in the brain itself. Irritation of a portion only of a great nervous trunk never influences the rest of the nerve, but is pro- pagated only to those brandies of it which are formed of the fibres ir- ritated. The associate movements cannot be ascribed to the sympa- thetic nerve."$ . , Professor H. Milne Edwards, says : "All parts of the spinal mar- row and medulla oblongata lose the faculty of determining voluntary movements, and of giving birth to sensations, as soon as they are se- parated from the brain."\\___________________ *Nerv.Sy8t,159. t^, 447. fp^M""- UK 536- » Amu-andPhys, 160 12 Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler, M. D. .. The action of the brain is indispensible to the perception of sens* turn> and manifestation of the will. The impressions received by the n^r^iist be conveyed to this organ, that the animal may be conscious °fMrmSoTlv in his late work on the brain, says that "the nerves are mere conductors, not originating the power of contraction in the muscles, conducting a something to a certain point [that is the brain,] where it i* converted into a sensation and perceived ; and that " the cerebellum is a regulator and co-ordinator of muscidar action, f All of which he affirms as true in comparative, as well as in human phv>iology. Drs. Kirkes and Paget, in their recent manual of Physiology, say* «that the cerebellum is the organ for the co-ordination of the voluntary movements, or for the excitement of the combined action of muscles" ; a view which they declare, " is confirmed by comparative anatomy," and, finally, "that no other office is manifest in the cerebellum than that of regulating and combining muscidar movements, so that the will be definitely and aptly directed to them."% Mr. Alex. Walker, in 1815, maintained "that the cerebellum is the or^an which gives impulse to all muscular motion, voluntary and involuntary"—(corrected in 1834, thus "to all voluntary motion.") " Sensation precedes, not only motion, but perception and intellect in conformity with the truth ' nihil in intellectu quod non prius in sen- su.' "The cerebellum is the organ of volition." " This or that con- volution [of the cerebellum] will give guidance to corresponding mus- cles.'^ In the system of Physiology written by Dr. E.oget, for the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it is laid down as an axiom, " that sensation does not take place, unless the part of the spinal cord to which the nerve is connected, communicates by an uninterrupted continuity of substance with the brain."\\ In a learned periodical, {Bibl'iotheca Sacra,) IT Professor Chace, of Brown University, maintains, in his elaborate paper " on the dependence of the mental powers upon the bodily organization," that the brain is the only part of man related to the mind, to perception, sensation, voluntary motion; the spinal marrow being only a medium of com- munication for the brain; that " the cerebellum is immediately concerned in the regulation and subordination of the different muscular contractions," and that the removal of the latter renders an animal in- capable of executing "with any precision, movements requiring the combined and harmonious action of several muscles" ; all of which, the the professor affirms, is at once true in man, and in the inferior animals. Dr. R. B. Todd, an eminent and learned author, in a recent lecture on the physiology of the nervous system, concludes that the " spinal cord is incapable of originating any nervous action except in virtue of some physical change in it; it cannot develop any mental action except in * Anat. and Phys., 170. f On the Brain, 259, 261- % 322,3- § Nerv. Syst, 2&4,286,400, 414. || xvii-, 673. J For Aug., 1849- Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler, M. D. 13 obedience to a stimulus from some of those centres, belonging to the encephalonP* As there will probably be an attempt to explain the experimental portion of this paper by words, such as instinct, automatic motion, etc., it may be proper to allude to these terms. The definition of instinct by the great Cuvier, and adopted by the eminent Muller, is subjoined—a cataract of assumptions it is. The natural history of Ossianic ghosts is less incomprehensible : " In order to have a clear idea of instinct, it is necessary to admit that animals have innate and perpetual images or sensations, which induce them to act as ordinary and incidental sensations commonly do. It is a sort of a dream or vision that ever haunts them, and may be considered, in all that relates to instinct, as a kind of somnambulism"! Professor Muller, srys "instinct is unknown to the animal," "present- ing to its sensorium the theme" ; " is identical with the creative force of the organization",—"first manifested in the sensorium."% This author designates automatic movements as "all those muscular actions which are not dependent on the mind, and which are either per- sistent or take place periodically, with a regular rythm, and are de- pendent on normal natural causes seated in the nerves or central organs of the nervous system. The cause of the rythmic movements may be either in the sympathetic nerve or the great nervous centres, but never in the mere cerebrospinal nerves."^ The popular or common defi- nition of this word is strictly mechanical;—the motion indicated is similar to that caused by a watch-spring, by a weight, by steam, by gunpowder, and the like. It can hardly be expected that psychologists will accept, with alacrity, the conclusions deducible from the following experiments, so hostile, to the prevailing doctrine of the mind. Indeed, Professor Carpenter of England, has°in advance, pronounced upon the facts to be offered—he has° in effect, declared against their possibility, because, they are in con- flict with psychology: He says, a frog can perform voluntary actions after the division of the spinal cord only in that part of the body above the division, that is, next the brain, the latter being uninjured; while, that part separated from the brain acts involuntarily. His argument is this • "To say that two or more distinct centres of sensation are present in -hi°ne severing most of the muscles motiL o^kR)vmamfestedu sens*tion, volition, and combined or complex taction* of a vigorous character. This was not all. For, the lateral Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler, M. D. 15 muscles of the body not divided, together with the hind legs were adapted so as to aid the forelegs in removing fire, or a prickino-' body above the part divided. In fact, the forelegs and hindlegs, mutually aided each other, notwithstanding the intermediate division of tlie cord. J After nearly two hours spent in this kind of experiment, it was found on dissecting the viscera, and sympathetic, the animal lying on its back, that it directed its limbs to the place where the knife was applied in dissection. The heart continued to act as long as it was observed, even after having been roughly handled, emptied, and removed from the body. For want of suitable instruments to divide the spine, the vertebra? were injured, and the muscles were extensively divided, which, of course, diminished the brilliancy of the results. Have not vivisectors vitiated the results of their experiments, when they have cut the muscles, and the great levers, the bones, without which the phenomena of motion cannot take place even in a physical point of view 1 In the longitudinal dissection of the spinal cord, to get at the roots of the nerves, the bones and muscles are cut and destroyed, which ought not to be done. I have seen a healthy woman who had, from a neglected fracture, a false joint, midway between the shoulder and elbow, the arm hung powerless, by her side, like a dead Weight. She could perform no voluntary motion with it, simply, for want of a lever or bone, as a. point d'appui. Vivisection, for the roots of the nerves— (and this is the great physiological passion of the age) is, cften, for these merely physical reasons, the fruitful source of false theory. If the spinal cord be viewed as a double organ, a longitudinal dis- section of its canal, in order to reach the roots of the nerves, must be regarded as a very equivocal mode of experimentation, both physiologi- cally and mechanically, since, it is, as already mentioned, destructive in its nature ; or, at least, it must completely derange the equilibrium of the osseous, muscular, and nervous tissues. A transverse section of the cord and of its soft and bony envelopes, is, both functionally and physi- cally, a simpler experiment than longitudinal dissections. The influence, lono-'attributed to the spinal serosity, in sustaining muscular motion, affords an example of erroneous experiment and rationation. By the proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, it now is admitted, as proved°by M. Longet's experiments, reported in 1845, that the dis- turbance, and the loss of muscular motion, are owing, not to the sub- traction of this spinal fluid, but to the antecedent destruction of the bones, muscles, and the like, in the opening of the spine. A violin with all its strings and frame work divided, and placed in the hands of a dead man, could hardly be expected to discourse in good music. October 30th 1847.—Experiments on an Alligator, nearly three feet Ions; by Dr. Young, Mr. Barbot, and myself:—Five grains of strychnine were dissolved—half of which was thrown into the gu let— a small portion was regurgitated; in twenty-five minutes several con- vulsive contractions took place in the general muscular system. The residue of the mixture was now given ;-a portion was again rejected -the convulsive contractions increased-tetamc rigidity followed-th- 16 Dr Lavjider on the Dis>ascs, Topography, SfC of Selma. dead—tnere was uuiy a v now Deo-an to dissect the ani- in the nictating membrane. Dr. Young now ne a mal with the view of preserving its head, and skin It e mDS "^ leased o be rihincters loose their circular form ; become lax> flaccid, shapeless, t^c."* As yet, I have not been able fully to elicit hi the alligator that variety Of post mortem contraction, which I have described as belonging to the human subject—contractions, functional, and appropriate to the muscles percussed, but, doubtlessly^ always without sensational or volitional. These forces, and their dynamical laws may differ greatly. Is it not probable* however, that man, soon after decapitation, would display phenomena similar to those in an alligator for a short period ? Historic- al accounts could be referred to, showing that the lips of decapitated, persons have uttered whispers, or manifested motion like that of a whisper. . Dr. M. Hall maintained with the greatest pertinacity, as the very foundation of his system, that sensation and volition belohg exclusively to the brain; that " the presence of the medulla oblongata a nd spinalis is necessary to the contractile function of the eyelids, the submaxillary textures- the larynx, the sphincters, the limbs, the tail," &c, and that decapitation prevents all voluntary motion; even in the heads of an- imal He insists that all motions after decapitation are reflex in- voluntary, and without sensation, and that the distinguishing test of this excitomory system is, that "the motions are always excited-^are never wontaneous," as if voluntary motions were not excited, too: » By ex- cfted motlm s " Dr. Hall means, motions excited by contact, pinching, &c and that contact is necessary in all cases. Now, I cannot answer for the Eno-lish turtles upon which Dr. Hall experimented chiefly, but I will say that the decapitated crocodiles of Louisiana can, tvithout /l o«n their mouths, and even leap towards their enemy, thT.li Zon^mul trunk cannot see how to do all this anterior ocon^t Indeed, under such circumstances, motions anterior to contacJ would bo regarded involuntary. The separated head displays contact wouki oe B , and invoiuntary action. Sight and *tihrZZTXSoLTo7eJtorsof volition, while the action of r^t^U^tLs, *c., are, as in the unmutilated animal, involuntary._______________________—----------- 42 * Lect. Nerv. Syst. passim* 338 Tht New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. Dr. Hall, and his followers, glory in this piece of logic, as the grand- est of the excitomory system, namely: that all excited muscular actions are involuntary! This system, discussed and entombed in the last century, disinterred and adopted in the present, rests upon this mon- strous assumption, which can only apply to motions wholly physical, as action and reaction, by contact. Dr. Hall, who grows more and more solemn in his meditations upon this supposed discovery, concludes, in a late number of the Lancet, his paper on "trachelismus, and its reflex action," and modestly upbraids the present, and hails the wiser, purer, and brighter Future, thus: "lam," says the Doctor, "quite aware that neither the professional nor the public mind—they are indeed nearly on a par—are raised sufficiently for views so rational. But, then, i" do not write for the present day ; and the day will come— and I shall promote its advent." Dr. Carpenter, an admired physiologist, is deeply imbued, not to say enamored, with the reflex logic, particularly that part of it relating to these excited actions. He says, that "the actions performed by the spinal cord, are of a purely reflex nature—consisting in the excitement of muscular movements, in respondence to external impressions, with- out the necessary intervention of sensation.* Dr. Carpenter is sorely puzzled by the movements in a decapitated frog, which retracts its limbs, &c, when irritated. He denies that there is any feeling' or voli- tion in this case, "because such an inference would be inconsistent with other facts"—he ought to have said, theories. "These movements," he says, "are all necessarily linked with the stimulus that excites them. An animal thus circumstanced, may be not unaptly compared to an automaton; in which particular movements adopted to- produce a given effect, are produced by touching certain springs."f Now, the phenomena which I have described are, in every particular, an abso- lute contrast to Dr. Carpenter's exposition—not "in respondence to external impressions"—not "necessarily linked with the stimulus that excites them"—not "automatic"—not such as "take place by touching certain springs" That logic has reached its utmost dilution, in assuming that there can be no volition in these phenomena, "because such an inference would be inconsistent with other facts." What law of merely automatic, or physical mechanics, or dynamics, is not palpa- bly opposed to these phenomena ? Is not physical motion uniform— rectilinear—opposite and in proportion to the stimulus or impressing torce Is the action and reaction equal in contrary directions7 lhe same author maintains, furthermore, that even these automatic movements, when the cord is divided, "do not exhibit any consenta- neous motions in the parts above and below the division, and that the same stimulus will always produce the same movement." The whole of this enumeration is, if I may judge, erroneous. Dr Car- abrtVsUIr0^^686^^3^^-0^ s«-> »o being stnf Mr! h°T f aCt excite^y a stimulus can be volun ary-I am b "d manP"rveebnree T k C°Uld be ™?thing else. Anew a ^Twhi™«S?CT1C^Vei78t0Ut'wh0 Was aVat bully, and segml^wh^^ but he^evertasjble to tell *phy$. *875 f lb. i876T~^ Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler, M. D. 339 his enemy by instinct, nor automatically, without a stimulus, as con- tact, or the sound of the voice. I adopt the method of reasoning directly opposite to that of Dr. Carpenter. If a decapitated frog act without a stimulus, the action is, probably, an involuntary, or a foolish one. What action of a rational man is not due to a stimulus of some kind—be it honor, wealth, pleasure, or pain ? A stimulus, is, according to Webster, "a goad; something that rouses the mind; as the hope of gain is a powerful stimulus to labor." Is it possible that any right thinking physiologist can assert that the application of a bit of ignited paper to the headless trunk, by which all the above described actions are elicited, must act automatically or physically, without the inter- vention of sensation and volition? Can the imagination conceive any stronger proofs of feeling and willing, especially in a deaf, dumb, and blind animal, that has, moreover, lost the power of rectilinear pro- gression ? As decapitation removes all the organs of the special senses, the trunk cannot see, hear, taste, nor smell. Stimuli adapted to these senses, must be inoperative, unless they are, at the same time, suited to the general sense, that is, to the touch of the sentient trunk. This latter cannot act so as to develop voluntary motion, without contact; but there is nothing whatever, in this sort of contact, which is suited to the gene- ration of mechanical or automatic motion. The force or stimulus of steam, or gunpowder, does not give boilers or guns, subsultus, cramps, convulsions, or lock-jaw, much less understanding, volition, or voluntary action. Dr. Fordyce, upon the subject of muscular contraction, says, "The original motions are produced by volition, ideas of the mind, or certain external applications, called stimuli."* Thus decapitation (I must repeat the statement) deprives the. trunk of four out of the five senses. The sense of touch only remains. How the reflex physiolo- gists, or, indeed, any but sciolists, could expect, what they call sponta- neous or voluntary motions in the trunk, without a stimulus or contact, is passing strange, not to mention the ineffable absurdity of construing the motions arising from a stimulus or touch, as involuntary. Blumen- bach has truly said, that "the touch which is affected by external objects, is less fallacious than the rest of the senses and by culture capable of such perfection as to supply the defects of others, particularly of vision." (Phys h xiii.) The blind require the stimulus of raised or salient letters, in order to read ; but are these excited actions, and all the mental phe- nomena hence arising automatic, involuntary, excito-motory ? The horny, scaly skin of an alligator, strange as it may seem, has an exqui- siteness of touch, but little short of that enjoyed by "the snowy hands of a delicate girl," to use Blumenbach's comparison. An infant has not the skill that a decapitated alligator has m remo- vine- a pain-ffivino- irritant. A child puts its finger into the flame of a cTnie-a cfazy man eats a glass bottle with fatal effect-a patient nikes many awkward attempts to reach the instrument while under the excess of trephining. In the alligator, after decapitation the same sdmu us does no allays produce the same identical, mechanical motion alTn in automTton, buJ^Jr*^^ * Elem- Pliy?-, 103. 940 The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal the animal n«es one leg, sometimes both; sometimes it recedes by curv- ine its body; sometimes by rolling over, and sometimes, by striking with its tail while the separated head watches its enemy, and bites in the usual manner, not automatically, but for good reason, or what is the same thino-, on account of a stimulus, as anger, contact, etc. Anterior to contact, no one could expect in a decapitated animal, in- telligent spontaneous action, upon either experimental, or transcendental principles. The stimulus of sound warns a blind man of danger, as on approaching the precipices of Niagara Falls—one blind and deaf, would step over the same fearlessly,—but, if conscious of the fact, he shall in his descent, lay hold of a limb, and remain air-hung and breeze- shaken, until his friends come to his relief, surely, his actions, stimulated by fear, must be regarded as voluntary. A headless animal performs actions essentially of the same kind. To call one class of phenomena spontaneous and voluntary and the other involuntary, or excitOrtnotory, is a palpable contradiction to all experience and reason. The Reflex school takes for granted that all excited motions are involuntary; whereas, the opposite proposition is true, namely, that nearly all volun- tary motions are excited, very few arising spontaneously, (to use a doubtful phrase)—few that do not arise from a present or prospective good—a present or prospective evil—a material want, or a material gratification. Why should adaptation, contrivance, design, consentaneity, simple and compound motions go for nothing, simply because the animal has been so unfortunate as to lose its head, and all of its senses but one ? Can a blind man see the rainbow?—a man without legs, dance the Polka ? I incline to think, that the headless trunk has memory ; for after the first irritations, like a burnt child, it dreads the fire, and makes increased efforts to remove the irritant, though it may be but a slight one. If a stone were to manifest feeling, willing, contrivance, design and voluntary motion, that is, the elementary manifestations of mind, it follows, unavoidably, that this stone has a mind, higher or lower, it maj be, than that of some other sentient beings. Now, if this stone be t'U vided, and if each division displays essentially the same phenomena, it follows, that each has a mind, though this conclusion may not be a phrenological one ; for the fundamental principle of the Gallian school is, that the brain is the exclusive organ of the mind ; and, consequently, it is essential to mental manifestation, sensation, intelligence, volition in both human and comparative organizations—in both human and com- parative psychology. Mr. Alex. Walker defines the mind wholly by the nervous matter : he says, "by mind, I mean the nervous functions common to man and animals."* While M. Victor Cousin defines the mind by one of its faculties, thus : " The will alone is the Person or the Me. lne Me is the centre of the intellectual sphere." Dr. Gall ex- claims, " God, and the Brain !" Mr. Solly defines the mind or its seat, as the cineritious portion of the hemispherical ganglion. _£^juchexpositions should be made with all'the confidence of * Nerv. Syst , 33-3- Contributions to Physiology, by Bennet Dowler. M. D. 311 demonstration, and be received with alacrity, is surprising. Even the monstrous technology of the reflex school, instead of retarding, seems to accelerate its progress, though history shows that neology, verbosity, pedantry, jargon and assumption, instead of being the characteristics of the era progression and discovery, choke up the pure stream of know- ledge, and as in the dark ages, even prevent us from knowing our ignor- ance, by substituting barbarism for philosophy. Even the love of truth may, and often does lead into errors. The human mind, wearied with uncertainty, clings to any plank that drifts along within its reach. To rely on mere words is less wise. The mind delights in symmetry and strength, and having made up its bundle of opinions, joined with the cord of theory, it cannot draw out one, without weakening and derang- ing the whole. Lest the first experiments in this series should appear " manifestly absurd," and too novel for belief, it may not be amiss to remind the reader, that Dr, Wigan, in 1844, published in London, an octavo, hav- ing for its title, «' The Duality of the Mind, proved by the structure, functions, and diseases of the Brain." Without going into the meta- physical arithmetic of the Duality, or Trinity of crocodilian minds— without affirming with the ancients that reptilians are types of wisdom, it may be asserted in a physiological point of view, that nothing is known of the mind, except through materialistic phenomena. Mind in itself, in its immaterialistic constitution, in its disembodied form, as a specific entity, distinct, and apart from matter, eludes physiological, phrenological and metaphysical research. The diffusion of sensation and intelligence, together with a multiform volition, may be called by the physiologist, "a manifest absurdity," by the phrenologist, a manifest impossibility, and by the psychologist a manifest blasphemy; but the experimenter may mutely point to a divided animal • one part on the right side of the table, manifesting intelligential motions while on the left side, the other part manifests identical phen- omena ;' both parts of the body, according to the exigencies of the case, acting voluntarily, but in different times, velocities, directions and modes. The "manifest absurdity" in this case, lies not in the multiform charac- ter of volition, but in the conclusion that all the manifestations of the head are mental, while the same manifestations m the trunk are only anatomical, physical, instinctive. But, even this distinction explains nothniT for fhere is as " manifest an absurdity" in two instincts as in Zo wills. The experimentalist may rest assured, that hard words, ™a?names, and dazzling syllogisms cannot destroy palpable facts, nor uroduce physiological outlawry at this enlightened day. P GaUleo to escape the toitures of the Inquisition, was forced to swear that all his splendid discoveries of the planets revolving around the sun, til so man? blasphemous heresies and lies, and that *e solar system did not move; but an observer who was present, saw him stamp Ins ?oot on SHarth. and heard him mutter, in a low tone : " It moves, ^ThTwhole it may be safely concluded, that voluntary motion is nent direct'y 'communicated from, nor regulated by the brain, or the cerebellum:that the muscles, in connection with the spinal marro,, 342 The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. perform voluntary motions for hours after having been severed from the brain that these motions are not only entirely independent of the brain ou may take place, though imperfectly, after the destruction of thecord ftseff Lt the trunk, as well as the brain, thinks, .feels and wills or displays psychological phenomena : that the sensorium is not restricted to a sin-le point, but is diffused, though unequally, or in a diminished decree, in the periphery of the body ; and that actions which take place after decapitation, as described above, are in absolute contrast to reflex actions, being sensational, consentaneous, voluntary, and in other res- pects, dissimilar. IV.—On the Topography, Climate, and Diseases of Selma, Alabama. Read before the Alabama Medical Association, on the 1th and 8th Marcli, 1849. ByC. E. Lavender, M. D. The town of Selma is situated on a high, sandy plain, on the north- west bank of the Alabama river, in lat. 32 deg. This plain, of a mile or more in extent, is much higher than the adjacent country that imme- diately surrounds it. On the west, Valley Creek, at the distance of one mile, makes its way through this plain, and finds its bed deep in the limestone formation, that underlies this whole plateau, at the depth of from 20 to 40 feet. On the north, at the distance of a miie from the river, the face of the country recedes and forms an extensive level of rich alluvial soil, interspersed with lagoons and marshes, till, at the distance of two miles, prairie soil, more undulating and diversified, sets in, and extends 3 or 4 miles to the low grounds of Valley Creek. On the east, the face of the country is almost a dead level, for 6 or 8 miles. Beech Creek, which comes down from the north-east, forks in its downward course, forms an island two miles wide and four long; this too, is covered, to considerable extent, with marshes. North and east of this swamp, the country is high and broken. It will be judged at once, that such a location as this cannot be remarkable for its health. The changes which the face of this country underwent at its first settlement, some 25 or 30 years ago, were such as to create a perfect laboratory of miasm; immense quantities of vegetable matter, in a state of decomposition, being exposed to the action of heat and moisture. Bilious fevers, of an open remittent and intermittent type, followed in abundance. A successful system of drainage and culture has been in operation for some years past, which has rendered most of the circumjacent grounds dry and arable—soil inured to the sun, vegetable matter in a measure consumed, sources of miasm removed, and it is confidently believed that Selma is now one of the healthiest locations on the river. Indeed, for the last few years, it is questionable if a like number of inhabitants can be found any where, who have enjoyed better health than the citizens of Selma; Dr. Lavesder, on the Diseases of Selma. 343 to such an extent is this true, that such a thing as the sickly season is hardly known among us. With regard to temperature, it is doubtful whether there is, any where on this continent, a more even tempered and salubrious clime for the invalid or weak lunged, than this valley of the Alabama, taking the year round. During the summer, the mercury very seldom rises to 90 deg. in the shade, and in the winter, as rarely sinks below 30 deg. Shut out, by distance and immense forests, from the damp sea breezes of the gulf, it is yet fanned by the wing of the trades, so as to be delight- fully pleasant during the summer. On the other hand, this valleylies so far to the South, and so distant from mountain ranges—those vast refrigerators of the north and west—as not to be visited in winter, with very great intensity, by those chilling blasts that prove s-o disastrous to weak lungs. Consequently, winter diseases—consumptions, pleurisies, &c, seldom prevail to any great extent here, and during the past winter have been almost unknown. True, pneumonia has prevailed to some extent here, in former years, but was not marked by high inflammatory symptoms, but assumed rather a typhoid type. There is a fact connected with location that is worthy of notice : that, during the whole year—but especially during the winter months—children sutler very much from croupy and bronchitic affections, whenever easterly winds prevail. These winds come dow>i the river, and may be loaded with moisture. This fact, however, appears to me inadequate to account for the prevalence of these affections. The observation of 18 years' practice in this valley and the neighboring highlands, has estab- lished, in my mind, the fact, that an easterly wind, or rather a south- easterly wind—for it seldom comes direct from the east—is an unwhole- some wind. In summer and autumn, it is freighted with fever, gener- erally of the prevailing type, though it often adds to its malignant character; in winter, with croups and bronchitis; in the spring months-, with exauthematae and influenzas. It is, all the year round, decidedly the most unwholesome wind that blows. In the treatment of these fevers that prevailed in the early settle- ment of the country, depletion was carried to considerable extent. The lancet, tartar, calomel, &c, were freely tolerated; and were re- garded, by many practitioners, as the most reliable and successful reme- dies. As the country grew older, morbific causes appeared to subside, or to assume a modified character. Change marked the features of the prevailing fevers, commensurate with the country's changes. From the year 1834, to the present time, fevers assumed and have maintained a lower or congestive type ; requiring a more stimulating and sustaining treatment. Although comparatively few cases of fever may properly be termed congestive, yet, there is a tendency in the type of fevers generally, to run into that form; consequently, now, the lancet is never'thought of, unless there exist some organic inflammation, m which case topical is, in our own autumnal fevers, preferred to general blood- lettino-.-and tartar emetic is very generally repudiated. Instead of theseDmeans, mild mercurial cathartics and quinine are now generally esorteTto ; and if there appear symptoms of congestion, camphor bran- dy, and other stimuli, internal and external, arc employed. Change in The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. the type of fevers, forced this change of treatment upon practitioners, of- ten against their will, for they repeatedly witnessed the most disastrous consequences from the use of those means, which had, in former years, proved most successful. In all this, our country has not been singular. The history of most countries, indeed, proves that a change, in the pre- vailing diseases, takes place with the changing features of the country, as civilization advances. Looking to these lights, we may very surely ex- pect to see still further changes present themselves, in the prevailing epidemics of coining years. An impo/tant pathological feature has, al- ready, begun to develop itself. During the past year, well marked cases of Ti/pJooid Fever have presented themselves. Some of these cases came under my own observation,.and left Ho doubt, on my mind, in relation to their true character. No case of this type, however, has, to my knowledge, originated in Selma. A number of cases were brought to the place, all of which recovered. In Summerfield, a small village 9 miles north of Selma, some 20 or more cases occurred. These cases were confined to a few families, and to a circumscribed part of the village, where certainly no local causes could be pointed out, to account for the prevalence of typhoid fever. I saw some of these cases, and hope the Association will be furnished with a full report of this unusual and inj teresting visitation, by some one of the attending physicians. Until within a few years past, this form of fever has been a stranger) or entirely unknown among us. Its existence has been acknowledged) however, in several places, in the great valley of the Alabama, within the last year or two, and, judging from its history, as it has presentedit= self in other countries and in other parts of the United States, little doubt can be entertained that it is destined, ere long, to be a frequent visiter among us, if, indeed, it should not be a prevailing form of dis^ ease. It is, therefore, a subject of vital interest to us at the present time. The eye of oar profes.-ion should be fixed upon it, that itsmove-^ ments may be carefully watched, its features, in our latitude, clearly developed, and its advances met with appropriate remedies. As regards the relative liability of races and sexes, to suffer from pre- vailing fevers, I beg to offer, as the result of my observation in this valley for the last 18 years, that whites are much more likely to be attacked, especially by fevers of a malignant character, than blacks; that mulattoes, in proportion to their number, suffer more and recover less promptly than either; and that males are more susceptible than females, and that deaths in males are at least two to one in females. The limits of a report, like this, will not allow me to offer many re; marks on the meteoric phenomena of the past year ; nor do I suppose that I would be able to interest the Association by showing to any very remarkable extent, their connexion with pathological developments. lhe last week in May and the first in June were very hot and dry, On the 25th of May, I .-aw a well marked case of congestive fever. No case had ever presented itself to me before, so early in the season, by seveial weeks. The patient was a young man of good constitution, who had been bathing, and remained too long in the water, and was, therefore, in some sense, a case of hydropathy, the bathing acting, doubtless, as an exciting cause on a constitution predisposed to fever.