312 Broughton on the Influence 



the functions of life ; and, in some cases, it appears that the 

 food has remained in the stomach altogether undigested. 



Hence, then, does not the opinion of Le Gallois appear to be 

 correct ; that the lungs are the primary seat of the striking 

 effects observed after the division of the eighth pair of nerves, 

 and that it is through this organ that the functions of the sto- 

 mach suffer, and death is finally produced ? 



Mr. Brodie, in his lectures at the College of Surgeons, put 

 this also in a very clear light, by observing that the lungs are 

 endowed with sensation through the influence of the par vagum, 

 and that being deprived of sensation from the division of the 

 nerve on both sides of the neck, they gradually cease to act, and 

 the muscles of respiration in vain strive to effect the proper cir- 

 culation of air. The consequences must be apparent ; the blood 

 is prevented from imbibing the wholesome influence of the at- 

 mosphere ; it becomes dark, discoloured, and unfit for the proper 

 secretions of the stomach, and by degrees ceases to circulate 

 altogether; the lungs become collapsed and turgid, and th^ 

 heart loaded with coagulum. Such are the appearances usually 

 observed, and which in their progress and their influence over 

 the functions of the stomach exert themselves in different de- 

 grees, varying in time and severity according to the species, 

 age, and other ciroumstances of the animal ; and (as is strongly 

 demonstrated in the cases of the dog and the second horse in 

 experiments 8 and 14), a suspension of all symptoms will 

 sometimes occur, during which no impediment is put to diges- 

 tion, or any of the functions of life. 



It is to the retardation and the interval of a suspension of 

 symptoms that I am induced to ascribe the continuance of di- 

 gestion after the nerves have been divided. In the case of the 

 rabbits, time was allowed for a certain progress in digestion 

 to be made before the symptoms assumed a severe character ; 

 but, in the case of the last horse, (communicated by Mr. Field), 

 wherein the symptoms came on immediately, and continued for 

 about sixty nours, no opportunity seemed to be allowed for 

 digestion to be performed. These circumstances, I think, tend 



