80 



the spinal cord Itself. Ho had two troubles at 

 time. One was that h-- could not make u-e of hi- brain 

 at all. lie could not read a new-inner; cou'. 1 not write 

 a letter. He wa- in a iriglittul slat'- a- regards tli.-ac- 

 tivif. o; the mind, as every effort tin-re was mo-t p-nn- 

 Jul to him. It seemed to him at times as if m- o-ead 

 would burst ; tln-r.- -eemed to be -om,- great force within 

 pu.-him,' tin- i way from on.- another. Any emo- 



tion wae painliil to him. i:\-eiiineoii\er-ation, anv- 

 thin.' tb.it railed for depth of thought or feeling caused 

 him saui-ring. M> that we hid to b very careful wit h 

 him. il.- h id another trouble resulting from tbe sprain 

 Which wa- at the level of the lowest dorsal vertebra. 

 The irritation pm luc.-.l was intense and tho result very 

 painful. \Vhen he tried to m-ive forward he was com- 

 pelled to |.ii-h one ii ot >low:y and gently forward but a 

 Lnohi s. and th-ii di.i4 tin- other f oot to a level with 

 tin flret, holding Ms back at the same time to dimiMsh 

 the piin that In- h.ul th.-n-. It had been thought that he 

 |. n.il'. zed in the lower limbs, and that he had di>- 

 of til.- i rain, and tin- disease of tho brain was con- 

 .stn;. ,u v of this paralysis of the lower 



limb-. 



lortiinatel. ..very made of what we call the 



Ta-.i-n.oti.r in i \"ii- -y.-ti-m, led uie at once to the con- 

 clusion ih.it he h ol no disea.-e of the brain and had no 

 lysis. I!.- h-id only an irritation of those vasa- 

 : n. i " -, resulting from the upper sprain in the 

 aplne. That iiri; ation was the cause of the whole mis- 

 chief as regard.-, the function of the brain. The other 

 (pram cau-eii th" pain which gave tho appearance of 

 p.ir.il v-i-i. \Vhi-n I a-li d him if he was conscious of any 

 \\. ikne-.s in ins lower limbs, ho said, " Certainly not ; I 

 have never nniii r.stood that my physicians considered 

 me paralyzed. I only cannot walk on account of the 



; 



What- ilo-ip was to apply counter-irritants to 



th..-. two -pi. mi-. Tint was dune. I told him that the 

 lie-t pi. in ol i real incut would consist in the application 

 of nioxa-, an. i that they produced the most painful kind 

 of irritation of tli .-km that we knew. I urged him then 

 to allow UK- to i;ive hiai chloroform to diminish the pain, 

 if not take j- awav aliogetiier. I well remember his im- 

 ! he replied: "If you can say posi- 

 ts. 1) ti. at I si. ill d live as much benefit If I take chlo- 

 roform a- ir 1 do no', then of course I will take It; but if 

 there i.s to be any de K reo whatever of amelioration in 

 I do n..' take it, then I shall not tnke it." 



[ did not find courage enough to deceive him. I told 

 bun tin- tnrli 'hat there would bo more effect, as I 

 thou.'fit. if h did not take chloroform. And so I bad to 

 cuibmit him to tue martyrdom of the greatest suffering 

 that can b.- . tin -led on mortal man. I burned him with 

 the 11. tn i id the hope that after tbe first appli- 



cation be ibiuit to thn use of chloroform ; but for 



he was burned In the same way, and 

 i ' i \-- chloroform. I have never seen a patient 



who submiite I in Mich treatment In that way. 



1 .-., nnot eoneeive thai it was from mere heroism that 



he did It. Tie- leil explanation WiW tills: Heaps of 

 alm.se had be n thrown upon him. lie was considered 

 a- an, H-. i.. himself in ]'.ii;s; an pretending to bo 111. 

 I M-I, in- wanted to net well and go home us quickly 

 11- po--:ble. A few il o' e: eat Importance to 



hjin. And so In- ILI-SI d through that terrible suffering, 

 the).- tliat I ll.i\e i:Vi-r li.lla |i .1 uiion liny belUi,', 



n. in .-r animal. 



I mi-Hi Ln tin , only to show what the man was. and I 

 Shall only ad I l l.at M nre t li.it I h ave al \\ a\ < found In m 

 r .id -init to anythni),- fur tin: Hake of what he 



Tribune Extras Lecture and Letter Series. 



thought to bo ri.L'ht; and in otlrr spheres you know that 

 siieli was his eharaefer. [Apnlause.j 



At this point Dr. Browu-Srqnnrd was so rnnch 

 .iliertcd that ho found himself unable to proceed, 

 and so shipped t lie lecture, after having spoken one- 

 half of the usual time. 



WHAT NERVES MAY DO Sixxn AXI LAST 

 LECTURE. 



fNITY OF TIIK NKUVorS SYS 1 KM f;n.\I "ft \(V A CAT'S 

 TAIL ON" A CiK'K's COMB TIIFOIIV OF CATCHING 

 COLD INSTANCES OF I'lAVI K oK IMAGINATION 

 LIMITS OF NERVK FolICK Iiri.l S |n|: IIFALTH. 



r.iisroN, March 19. Dr. Bro\vn-St : 4'i:ird delivered 

 on March 18. the liual lectnn- in his course before the 

 Lowell Institute. The audience was lartrc, and 

 alihoiiyh t!io lecturer, having a half hour duo him 

 from the last lecture, ventured to :idd about 20 

 minutes of it to tho regulation hour of the Institute, 

 yet attention oriuten-.-t did not llatr from licirinnitic 

 to end. and there were not a few rcm-eis expressed 

 at tho close that the course of lectures was termi- 

 nated. 



LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I besrnn in tho 



last lecture to speak of the vaso-motor nervous system. 

 That nervous S3>tem supplies the blood vessels and 

 keeps them in a state of activity. When paralvzed, tho 

 blood vessels, not having any stimulus to contract, yield 

 to the power of the heait and become very much larger. 

 That nervous system exists in all parts of the body 

 \vhero blood Is present, so that a direct influence can bo 

 exerted by the central organs of tin- nervous system OB 

 all parts of the hody. But the question i-, whether this 

 nervous system is the ouly..oue that acts on circulation. 

 My friend 1'rof. Bernard has insisted upon the 

 view th.it there is another nervous system 

 acting on circulation and M-i-vinc to dilate blood 

 vessels. This view, however, you will see in a 

 uiomsnt, has no real foundation. Tae facts on which 

 it has been grounded can be explain <l hv quite another 

 supposition. The second nervous -ystein. which Bernard, 

 and Sell iff a nd others suppose lo exist, has In -entires" mcd 

 to act on peculiar nius.-nlar lili.-rs in tin- Mood vessels, 

 so as to produce their dilatation. The ground for the 

 view is, that bv irritating certain parts of the nervous 

 system wo find hlood vessels dilating instead of con- 

 tracting 1 . But it is clear, from many facts indeed, that 

 the dilatation comes from Quito another mechanism 

 than that which is supposed by the physiologists I have 

 named. There Is evidently a number of nerve libers 

 transmitting nerve force to the cellular tissues, and In- 

 deed to the neighborhood of tissues, nor ^-oni^ into any 

 of them, but terminating between the elements of tissue; 

 the discharge of nerve force which these uiuis produce 

 S tran.sl'oi nied into chemical loivc ; and ov. in^ to tho 



activityof chemical phen cna following that discharge 



or transformation of force, tin re i, any attraction of 

 blond. 



THE I1EAVT NOT KSSKNTIAL TO Ctnt IT.ATIOW. 

 Ae you well know, tbe blood circulates l;..m the arto- 

 rtes to the veins, and I'm r. 1 >i \<, -i - ..t X.-\v Y.uk has per- 

 li cily well proved that tin- eheiiiical Changes oci-urring 



in tissues must be a oaoae of activity of t he circulation. 

 JHit there nro many other facts hesnlcs those ho 

 knew, which show that when w<: irritate a nerve, if 

 then- Is more blood in the part where that nervo pies, ic 

 IB not bccaubo that nerve t'*-'S to 'oloo i veribel.", and of- 



