On the science of easy chairs, reprinted from "Nature", Oct. 17, 1878 : On posture and its indications, reprinted from "The Lancet", July 2, 1892 / by T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., D.Sc.Edin., LL.D. (Hon) Aberd., F.R.S., &c., assistant-physician and lecturer on materia medica and therapeutics at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

  • Brunton, T. Lauder (Thomas Lauder), 1844-1916
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the science of easy chairs, reprinted from "Nature", Oct. 17, 1878 : On posture and its indications, reprinted from "The Lancet", July 2, 1892 / by T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., D.Sc.Edin., LL.D. (Hon) Aberd., F.R.S., &c., assistant-physician and lecturer on materia medica and therapeutics at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/24 (page 11)
    words whi flow from his lips to drive the thoughts which are rapidly evolved from his brain into his opponent’s mind. (Fig. 7.) In this position the flow of blood through the arterial system onwards to the brain as well as its return backwards through the veins seems to be particularly easy (Fig. 8). Fig. 8. ' V/--/VV¥vyv\r»/vihPAT'™ .: r.t.■ ■ ' YyV-./s / - - ' ! ' d v\r\f-v,-A Vv • A B C - Tracing from the brain, a, in upright position ; B, with head inclined for wards. This position is not only assumed during the heat of argu¬ ment, whether the speaker be sitting or standing, but when one is led to assume it unconsciously it seems to give rise to a rapid and sometimes almost uncontrollable flow of ideas. Thus it occasionally becomes a cause of remorse to devout souls, who during the attempt to pray in church in this atti¬ tude are sadly distracted by crowds of ideas which at once disappear on the assumption of an easy sitting posture. The circulation in the cerebral vessels and the current of ideas in the brain are very delicate things and may be modi¬ fied by very slight causes; thus an attitude with the head drooping slightly more than that indicated in Fig. 6, and with the chin supported upon the hand is the one frequently assumed in deep thought, with concentration of ideas upon a single subject and no desire for immediate expression (Fig. 9). The touch of the hand upon the head seems to have a directing power over the thoughts which one would formerly have been inclined to deny, but such experi¬ ments as those of Tesla and Crookes with electric currents of very high tension give a visible illustration of phenomena previously unknown and seemingly incredible. For in these experiments a person who has put himself into the electric field renders vacuum tubes containing various substances fluorescent