750 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



m 



ness accompanies all nerve-actions, while still others assert that certain 

 organs below the cerebrum — viz., the pons Varolii, cerebellum, optic 

 lobes — form a sensorium commune where consciousness in some form 

 appears. It is my opinion that this last conclusion has not, as yet, 

 been established or refuted. I regard it as the most rational of the 

 three in the present state of knowledge. If we accept it, we must 

 recognize at the same time a distinction between elementary conscious- 

 ness and the full consciousness of an intellectual operation. Many 

 facts in every one's experience bear out such a distinction. We are 

 often conscious without knowing the object or occasion of conscious- 

 ness ; being half -aroused, we feel rather than perceive. It is possible, 

 and from the evidence it is even probable, that provision for this rudi- 

 mentary consciousness is made by the nerve-masses between the me- 

 dulla and cerebrum. 



Whatever conclusion we adopt respecting this matter, the signifi- 

 cant fact remains that consciousness is certain to appear in connection 

 with nerve-matter ; sooner or later the question of a strictly mate- 

 rialistic interpretation must be faced. After ascertaining the present 

 state of the case with regard to localization of functions in the cere- 

 brum, the induction must be drawoi as to the nature of the relation 

 between nerve-matter and consciousness. Grant that this induction 

 shall be more or less a speculation, we need, I think, to remember that 

 all reasoning is sj)eculative, from the nature of the case speculative, 

 and that, the only distinction between credulity and reasoning is this, 

 that credulity is both beyond the facts and contrary to the facts, while 

 reasoning is beyond the facts but according to the facts. 



♦«» 



CHOLERA. 



By De. max von PETTENKOFEK.* 

 III. — MODES or PROPAGATION {continued). 



THE same considerations hold good in India. The famous places 

 of pilgrimage, whose sanctuaries are annually visited by many 

 millions of individuals, always have some cases of cholera among them ; 

 but it is only occasionally that an epidemic breaks out, and then it is 

 only at those times when the predisposition to cholera exists — periods, 

 be it noted, which do not for the most part coincide with the time when 

 the number of pilgrims is at its greatest, nor when the principal feasts 

 are in progress. For instance, Bryden has drawn up tables showing 

 the number of admissions into the hospital at Puri in the neighbor- 

 hood of the sanctuary called Jagganath for the years 1842 to 1866, 

 and these statistics show the number of receptions of cases of cholera 

 * Reprint of a special translation made for the London " Lancet." 



