Experimental researches applied to physiology and pathology / By e. Brown-Séquard.

  • Brown-Séquard, Charles-Edouard, 1817-1894.
Date:
1853
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experimental researches applied to physiology and pathology / By e. Brown-Séquard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    Another kind of disturbance of nutrition occurred in these animals : they lost the hair of the leg, and of the other parts in which the sensibility was diminished. 6. It is known fiat erection is a frequent phenomenon in men after a fracture or a luxation of the vertebral column. It is known also, that in men hanged, erection and even ejaculation are not uncommon. Segalas says he has seen these phenomena produced by the excitation of the spinal cord. Longet (loco cit., p. 201,) declares that he has not seen the excitation of the cord producing such effects. It is very easy to ascertain, on male guinea-pigs, that Segalas is right. 1st. A transverse section of the spinal cord always produces an erection and an ejaculation. 2d. When one of these animals is asphyxiated, erection and ejaculation take place. 3d. If the spinal cord is galvanized, erection and ejaculation are produced. These facts prove the influence of the spinal marrow on the seminal vesicles. They empty themselves slowly when the cord is galvanized. In asphyxia, there are universal convulsions even in the mus- cles of organic life, as uterus, intestine, etc. These last organs are then put in contraction, and it is not astonishing, conse- quently, that the seminal vesicles become also contracted. The cause of these general contractions is the excitation of the spinal cord by venous blood, and very probably by a large amount of carbonic acid, as I will elsewhere try to demonstrate. IV.—ON THE REPARATIVE POWER OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. I have recently published in this journal* the results of my re- searches on the reparative power of the spinal cord. From these researches I have drawn the following conclusions:— 1st. That the spinal marrow, even in adult mammalia, may be exposed to the action of the air without danger to the life of the animal. 2d. That wounds of the spinal marrow may be repaired. * Med. Exam., No. vi., June, 1852, p. 379. 2*