Observations on the structure and functions of the spinal cord / by R. D. Grainger.

  • Grainger, R. D. (Richard Dugard), 1801-1865.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the structure and functions of the spinal cord / by R. D. Grainger. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    26/190 (page 8)
    The only authors, in fact, who have clearly announced that what have been designated the excito-motory pheno- mena are totally independent of sensation and volition, are Dr. M. Hall and Professor Miiller. But previously to considering the important discovery of these distinguished physiologists, it will be proper to allude to the views at present entertained, respecting the functions of that por- tion of the cord which is lodged within the cranium, or of the medulla oblongata. The opinions on this subject are principally founded on the observation of anencephalous foetuses, that have lived for a time after birth, and on vivisections practised on the different parts of the encephalon; for, as to the evidence afforded by disease, it is so far from corrobora- ting these opinions, that physiologists have experienced an insurmountable difficulty, in reconciling the effects pro- duced by morbid states of the brain in man, with the results obtained by experiments performed on the lower animals. The phenomena observed in the few intances of anencephalous infants, which will subsequently be con- sidered ; joined to the very striking facts noticed in the well known experiments of Flourens,* Magendie and Desmoulins, seemed distinctly to demonstrate, both by the negative effects resulting from the ablation of the cere- brum and cerebellum, and the positive evidence afforded by the preservation of the medulla oblongata, that sensa- tion and volition are attributes of the latter organ. This * As I shall hereafter have occasion to refer to these very interesting re- searches, it will suffice in this place to state, that although the highest author- ities, among whom may be mentioned Cuvier and Professor Miiller, con- clude from the experiments of Flourens, that sensation and volition are pro- perties of the medulla oblongata; that physiologist himself with much greater reason contends, that those faculties are the peculiar endowment of the cerebal hemispheres. Recher. Experiment, sur les Prop, et les Fonct. du Syst.Nerv. p, 121.