THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY 



43 



ist doctrine, rather than with observation I'rom dis- 

 section, du Petit's experiments came very close to 

 uncovering the action of vasomotor nerves, the suij- 

 ject that was to receive so much investigation in later 

 years from Claude Bernard (242, 243), from Clarl 

 Ludwig (244) and from Pavlov's other teacher, Cyon 

 (245). Bernard's experiments were mostly on skin 

 temperature changes due to vasomotor action, al- 

 though at no time would he relinquish entirely an 

 explanation on a metabolic basis. Ludwig had found 

 the secretory action of the lingual nerve but he did 

 not separate it from the chorda tympani as Bernard 

 did later. 



A marked advance in understanding the physiol- 

 ogy, not only of the cranial nerves but of the brain 

 itself, came when techniques were developed for 

 ablating and stimulating parts of the central nervous 

 system without the animal succumbing to the pro- 

 cedures. The surgery in the early attempts was fre- 

 quently so drastic that results were rarely specific. 

 For example, the experimental results of Willis that 

 confirmed his belief in the cerebelliun as a vital 

 center were probably due to his animal's having suc- 

 cumbed to injuries near the fourth ventricle. Other 

 early experimenters such as Duverney (246) with his 

 pigeons, Chirac (247) and Perrault (248) with their 

 dogs had to be satisfied with very brief durations of 

 survival. 



At the opening of the nineteenth century interest in 

 localization of cerebral function had been widely 

 stirred by the lectures of Franz Gall (249) in Vienna. 

 Unfortunately Gall's reputation as a phrenologist has 



242. Bernard, Claude (18 13-1878). InHucnce du Kiand 

 sympathique sur la sensibilite et sur la calorification. 

 Cnrnpt. rend. Soc. de biol. 3; 163, 1851. 



243. Bernard, C. De I'influence de deux oidies dc ncifs qui 

 determine les variations de couleur du sang veineux dans 

 les organes glandulaircs. Compt. rend. Acad, sc, Paris 47: 



^4.5. 393. 1858. 



244. Ludwig, Carl Friedrich VVilhelm (1816-1895). Mill, 

 naturjorsch. Gessellsch. ^urich 50, 1851. 



245. Cyon, Ilya (1842-1912) and C. F. \V. Ludwig. Die 

 Reflexe eincs der sensiblen Nerven des Hcizcns auf die 

 motorischen der Blutgefasse. Arb. Physiol. Insl., Leipzig 1 : 

 128, 1867. 



246. Duverney, Joseph Guichard (1648-1730). Phil. Trans. 

 Roy. Soc. 19; 226, 1697 (reported by Preston). 



247. Chirac, Pierre (1650-1732). Du niolu cordis analylica. 

 Montpellier, 1698. 



248. Perrault, Claude (1613-1688). Mernoires pour servir a 

 I'histoire des animaux. Paris: Acad. d. Sci., 1671-1676. 



249. Gall, Franz Joseph (1758-1828) and Johann Caspar 

 Spurzheim (1776-1832). Recherches sur le systeme ner- 

 veux en general, et sur celui du cerveau en particulier. 

 Mem. Inst. Paris 1808. 



fc: 



fig. 28. Above: Gall and Spurzheim's map of a skull with 

 certain areas marked for correspondence with different mental 

 acu Ities. Below, for comparison : Gall's skull on the left, that of 

 Spurzheim on the right. Although Gall's own ideas were chan- 

 neled into phrenology, they were influential in directing interest 

 to the study of cerebral localization. (The skull of Gall is in the 

 Musee de I'Homme in Paris and is reproduced here by the 

 kindness of Dr. Ardvege; that of Spurzheim is in the Warren 

 Museum at the Harvard Medical School, and has been photo- 

 graphed by permission of Dr. P. L Yakovlev.) 



overshadowed his more important work on the fiber 

 tracts of the white matter of the brain, work which 

 clarified the pre\iousl\- contradictory ideas as to the 

 anatomy of the commissures and of the pvramidal 

 decussation. But, while his contemporaries were con- 

 cerning themsehcs with sites for sensory and motor 

 functions. Gall was propo.sing localization of mental 

 faculties and he may be regarded as a pioneer in 

 emphasizing the importance of the grey matter for 

 intellectual processes. It was when, together with his 

 pupil, Spurzheim (250), he proceeded to assign 

 separate 'organs' in the brain to the different mental 

 faculties and to relate these to bumps on the skull 

 that he isegan to be challenged. All the same, in spite 



250. Gall, F. J. and J. C. Spurzheim. Anatomic et physiologic 

 du systhne nerveux en general et du cerveau en particulier, avec 

 des observations intellectuelles et morales de r hotnme et des ani- 

 maux, par la configuration de leur teles. Paris: Schoell 1810— 

 1819 (vols. I & II by Gall & Spurzheim; vols. Ill & IV 

 by Gall). 



