The intra-cranial circulation and its relation to the physiology of the brain / by James Cappie.

Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The intra-cranial circulation and its relation to the physiology of the brain / by James Cappie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    189/200 (page 181)
    Compulsion not exercised by the parts which sleep and wake, but by a separate mechanism. Indeed, it may safely be asserted that no theory which leaves out of view the physical surroundings of the brain, and the almost self-evident deductions from these as to the peculiarities of its circulation, is likely to give more than a limited and unsatisfactory explanation of the more important workings of the brain, whether in the sleeping or in the waking state. E. DR MARSHALL HALL'S THEORY OF SLEEP. As a contrast to the views of Mr Durham, and going to the opposite extreme, I may simply allude to the theory of Dr Marshall Hall. According to this writer, sleep is allied to epilepsy, and has a like causation. I am of opinion that a state of contraction of certain muscles of the neck takes place, analogous to that of the orbicularis palpebral, as sleep comes on,—that certain veins are compressed,—that congestion of the brain takes place,— and, lastly, as a consequence of this last, sleep. ... In sleep, the entire encephalon is in a state of congestion, the medulla oblongata included. * This state of congestion included the capillary vessels (or blood channels, as Dr Hall preferred to call them). * Practical Observations and Suggestions in Medicine. Second series.